Recommendation for antifouling in freshwater?

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andrewbodenham

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Next season I will be keeping my recently acquired 20' clinker halfdecker on a swinging mooring on Windermere.
What do forumites recommend in the antifouling department? Should I go eco-friendly and not apply anything; is there a concoction which works well in a freshwater environment; or do I just slop on something toxic from the chandlers?
Not sure what the existing paint is - it's blue and soft!
Advice from other lake sailors very welcome.
 
I kept a sportscruiser on Windermere for a few years, it was bare gel coat.

I just used to pressure wash it once a year and it was ok. Dont know how the "blue and soft paint" will fare.
 
In a previous existence I ran a dinghy sailing school and we kept Wayfarers and rescue boats on freshwater from April to end October each year. No antifoul at all. At the end of each season, all they had was a thin coating of slime which came off pretty easily with a scrubbing brush as long as you did it is as soon as the boats came out of the water and did not let it dry.

Hope this helps.
 
I used be on windermere antifouled every 2 years complete wasteof time and money.If its coming out each year jet wash is enough.
 
As per previous replies, kept my boat on Thames for 2 years. No antifoul, just bare gelcoat. Just a jet wash and scrub to get rid of thin layer of slime once a year.
 
You'll almost certainly need antifoul while in seawater. Not going to do any harm having it while in freshwater.

You will find that anything that grows on it in seawater will die very quickly once in freshwater, but that doesn't help protect from barnacles etc, as they don't drop off when they die.
 
Just seen your thread. I have an 18ft grp boat on Windemere. If you have a/foul at the moment what are you going to do about the remains? (is it that rather nice grp day sailer that was for sale at Shepherds?)
I got my present boat with a patchy blue coating and used Blakes Broads Freshwater A/foul as an experiment.

blakesbroads.jpg


The last boat had the usual blue Tiger or something soft paint on it and was of little use.
On Windermere the slime "grows" up above the waterline and looks awfull

Subdirty.jpg


So it's better to extend the antifoul up or put a gloss boot topping on. You can see how the old blue antifoul on my present boat is well above the waterline.

scabby%20bow.jpg


After recoating in Blakes black freshwater it looked a lot better. If you don't have any boot topping the slime will look horrible.

blackantifoul.jpg


So it's now disguising the slime nicely

oiledwood05.jpg
 
probably worth while a call to one of the antifoul manufacturers and ask them what they recommend for you planned use.

Blakes do a Broads which is stated to be medium strenght, and suited to fresh and saltwater, though I suspect you'd be better off using a full strength seawater variety, and not worrying too much about freshwater usage, as the growth there will be less, and a sea water variety should cope fine.
 
If you spend a continuous 6 months on the sea you will need to antifoul. The best policy of all is to be on the sea for relatively short periods, e.g. up to a month, then when you return to fresh water any fouling will fall off after three or four days. We kept our boat in Holland for 7 years in fresh water, sailing in seawater at weekends and holiday cruises, and never had any fouling problems.

Normal seawater antifouling is used in fresh water: all the usual brands and varieties were sold at our local chandlery in Hellevoetsluis. I never saw any specific fresh water antifoul in Holland.
 
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