preparing to spend 4 years in Mediterranean : copper coat or regular anti foul?

[AlexKT7]

Greetings, we are heading to Med this summer and are not planning to return for at least 4 years. Do we copper coat or use regular antifoul? For the last 3 seasons, we have had ultrasonic antifoul and Hempel Tiger Xtra Antifoul doing a good job. But our boat was out every winter. In med, we plan to stay in the water most of the time. Someone suggested we look at the copper coat. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
thanks

 

[PlankWalker]

The biggest cost of putting on Coppercoat is the removal of the old paint and the preparation of the hull, even though the cost of the coppercoat is expensive.
If your bottom paint is in poor condition and needs removing anyway, then it may be worth doing, but if its not, you wont get your money back in 4 years.

 

[JFowler]

We are in the Med, Greece at present and have Copper Coat. It’s the best investment we’ve made- wouldn’t be without it.
In spring we launch within 24 hours of arriving in the boatyard whilst our friends are busy sanding and painting the hull!

 

[Frayed Knot]

We are in the Med, Greece at present and have Copper Coat. It’s the best investment we’ve made- wouldn’t be without it.
In spring we launch within 24 hours of arriving in the boatyard whilst our friends are busy sanding and painting the hull!

That’s one plus-point certainly, but how does it compare with your friends’ boats after three or four months with similar use and maintenance?

 

[geem]

That’s one plus-point certainly, but how does it compare with your friends’ boats after three or four months with similar use and maintenance?

Build a hookah. Scrub the copper coat under water. In the high fouling Caribbean we do it every six weeks or before a longish passage. It's great to have a perfectly clean hull without scrubbing off your ablative bottom paint.

 

[Tranona]

Coppercoat every time with that sort of plan.

 

[Sandy]

I was copper coated the summer before lockdown. The boat hardly moved for 18 months. I had her lifted and jet washed off, the yard said it was the easiest job they had ever done. Just a layer of slime. This year I did 1500 nm and out for the winter, I hosed off the slime.

The key is preparation. Blast all the old antifoul off and get it sprayed on, a few yards do this, ideally indoors. I had mine done during the summer as the ambient temperature was higher.

 

[Graham376]

That’s one plus-point certainly, but how does it compare with your friends’ boats after three or four months with similar use and maintenance?

With a decent antifoul, we find just slime needs washing off after 11 months in similar temperature waters.

 

[geem]

With a decent antifoul, we find just slime needs washing off after 11 months in similar temperature waters.

Fouling isn't just related to temperature. Nitrates, sewage, etc can vastly increase fouling rates. There are spots like Simpson Bay lagooon in St Marten where it doesn't matter what is on the bottom. The fouling is horrendous. The advantage with Coppercoat is you can scrap off the barnacles rather than the ablative paint

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Wish I had done mine before I came to the Med. Heavy fouling in Valencia and no cheap haul outs nearby. I got by with a hull scrub year 1 but year two I had to haul out and re-paint. I had to scrub before I could haul out as it was a 5 hour sail up the coast and I had the great barrier reef growing on my hull! I'm starting to look for places in the western Med where I could get her copper coated so If anyone has and recommendations I'd be glad to hear them.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

You can not go wrong with Coppercoat, but, the hull has to be prepared and it must be dry, if there is moisture trapped between gelcoat and coppercoat, there will be a lot of blisters over time.

 

[JFowler]

Our CC comes out fairly clean after 3 months. The yard pressure wash as part of the contract, but otherwise I won’t bother.

 

[Daedelus]

I had coppercoat professionally done and after 3 months back in the water the boat had to be lifted out and pressure washed to remove a mat of weed about 2 inches long, it was like coating the boat in fertilser.
Change d back to international and no further problems.

 

[AlexKT7]

I had coppercoat professionally done and after 3 months back in the water the boat had to be lifted out and pressure washed to remove a mat of weed about 2 inches long, it was like coating the boat in fertilser.
Change d back to international and no further problems.

were you based in the Mediterranean? If I were to stay in UK waters I would not bother with CC, but going Med presents different question.

 

[geem]

I had coppercoat professionally done and after 3 months back in the water the boat had to be lifted out and pressure washed to remove a mat of weed about 2 inches long, it was like coating the boat in fertilser.
Change d back to international and no further problems.

There is professional and proper. Don't mix them up. Did the hull get burnished before launch? Our 'professional' job didn't do this. If it's not done then you basically have an epoxied bottom with little active copper. Burnishing exposes some copper. Over a few months the bottom should go from copper coloured to green.
If it's dark red when the job is done and not the colour of new copper it's not been burnished. It does make a huge difference

 

[Tranona]

were you based in the Mediterranean? If I were to stay in UK waters I would not bother with CC, but going Med presents different question.

Antifoul works equally well in the Med, although like here it varies from location to location. However if you think it is expensive here then Med prices will come as an unpleasant shock. also, it depends on whether you intend being in the water all year or hauling out for off season. If you haulout AND DIY then no big problem using annual coats. However if you don't want to waste time DIY then getting somebody to do it is expensive - and in some cases you have no option.

Despite the odd bad experience, for which there is usually a sound explanation, the product works as an antifoul and does not need annual haulouts for anything other than a wash, which you can do in the water if you are so inclined. The financial calculation depends on how long you plan to keep the boat and whether you can avoid expensive haulouts and/or professional antifoul plus the non cash benefit of not doing the horrible job each year.

 

[Bobc]

Just remember that you'll probably still end up having the boat lifted to clean and grease the prop and replace the anodes, etc. So you probably won't save any money by using CC, and it takes about the same time to scrub and abrade CC as it does to slap a coat of AF on the bottom, so you probably won't save any time either.

Up to you really, but personally, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Daedelus]

It was in the UK, so being in the Med may make a difference. No, they didn't burnish it and when I spoke to Coppercoat they said there was no need. When I had the boat lifted at the end of the season I burnished immediately before re-launch 24 hours or less. No difference. There was still loads of weed.

 

[geem]

It was in the UK, so being in the Med may make a difference. No, they didn't burnish it and when I spoke to Coppercoat they said there was no need. When I had the boat lifted at the end of the season I burnished immediately before re-launch 24 hours or less. No difference. There was still loads of weed.

The American version of Coppercoat website says burnish. The instructions for DIY are also far better on the USA website.
Over here in the Caribbean good antifouling is really expensive. The cheap stuff simply doesn't work. The payback on materials only between good bottom paint and Coppercoat was a little over two years when we did ours 4 years ago

 

[capnsensible]

Wish I had done mine before I came to the Med. Heavy fouling in Valencia and no cheap haul outs nearby. I got by with a hull scrub year 1 but year two I had to haul out and re-paint. I had to scrub before I could haul out as it was a 5 hour sail up the coast and I had the great barrier reef growing on my hull! I'm starting to look for places in the western Med where I could get her copper coated so If anyone has and recommendations I'd be glad to hear them.

Try Isla Verde in Algecieras. It's inside the port duty free zone, so no taxes to pay. Makes it very competitive and the workforce is very skilled.