Sant Carles antifoul recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter GSL
  • Start date Start date
PowerYachtBlog said:
so Mike no debate with the standard Epoxy paint versus Velox....
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No - but we've moved on a bit.
The little ?uggers seem to like to eat the primer!!!
Thats the bad news - the good news is that it sticks quite well.

I'm going to try some Coper Coat next year.
Based on it being an epoxy with copper in, it does exactly what I was going to try anyway.
Having had the experience with the two part primer sticking, I was going to try adding copper granules like TCM did for his AF but Coper Coat seems just the stuff to try.

Its all very experimental though.

All the best though
A quietly confident Mike (again)
 
GSL said:
Mike.....

Are you going to try Coppercoat on shafts and props? My hull was Coppercoated 18 months ago, it is just the stern gear I am concerned about.

Graham
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Me too - I'll stick to normal antifouling for the hull - it seems a lot of effort removing the old AF before you can apply Copper Coat.

No I think its worth trying it on the metalwork. My experience is that nothing seems to stick to props etc but I have had a certain amount of success with an epoxy based primer sticking so my next plan was to try mixing copper granules into the two part epoxy primer. This, of course, is exactly what Copper Coat is. At SIBS, I asked Copper Coat themselves about the galvanic argument of putting copper on the props and he thought that it would be OK - apparently, the epoxy in the mix is enough to resist the flow of electricity significantly. I'm not worried anyway because the Noble value difference between copper vs bronze/stainless is significantly less than that of copper/bronze/stainless vs zinc of the anodes. So, I think that next year, I'm going to try some of their Copper Coat, knowing that it will probably come off during the season - but it may just work.

If it does, lots of people on this forum would be interested, I'm sure.

Just put me down as someone who is in search of the ultimate prop treatment.
 
I spoke to the Coppercoat people on the phone yesterday, and they said that it was not suitable for props and sterngear. I have been very happy with the hull cleanliness in the Solent for 9 months, and then 6 months in the French canals.

I am currently trying to find out what the local fishermen use on their props etc, I spent enough time dodging them all on the overnight trip from Marseille, there are no stortage of them in the area for sure.


Graham
 
GSL said:
I spoke to the Coppercoat people on the phone yesterday, and they said that it was not suitable for props and sterngear. I have been very happy with the hull cleanliness in the Solent for 9 months, and then 6 months in the French canals.

I am currently trying to find out what the local fishermen use on their props etc, I spent enough time dodging them all on the overnight trip from Marseille, there are no stortage of them in the area for sure.


Graham
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The Copper Coat guy at SIBS wasnt keen until I said that nothing sticks anyway. I still think its worth a try - being epoxy based it might work.

We tried very hard to find out what the local fishermen use - dont forget though that they are using their boats daily so the little critters dont get a chance to attach themselves.
You might like to try the Co-op though - they are the local fishermen's shop. Its very close the the marina - you will find the position of it on my map on the SCMCHAT forum - its a really cheap source of chandlery bits anyway and worth a visit - they seem to do all the usual makes of AF as well. Best of luck communicating though - no English but really nice people.
 
I understand that its the two part primer that Hempel recommend - thats what I've got on my props at the moment - It seems to stick quite well but the AF seems to come off the primer.
Although others have had different results.

I believe that the Hempel guy who is based in Barcelona has been planning a visit to SC to show us all how to apply their products - talk to Neil (the marina manager) - he was arranging it for us. He will probably say that you have to apply the A/F whilst the primer is still tacky. I waited 24 hours - maybe thats why mine came off. I'm sure though that we have done the bare prop prep correctly though - spent quite a long time cleaning them and then roughing them up with the correct grade of sandpaper etc. Also made a point of not touching them with our fingers before the primer was applied.

As to how effective it will be - I have my doubts.

I'm full of silly ideas - here's another one.
JW is berthed at the end of a run of pontoons - facing north / south.
As a result she gets the morning sun down the full length of her starboard side whereas the port side is obscured from the sun by the alongside pontoon.
In late August when the water was at its hotest, she had virtually no growth on the starboard prop and rudder whereas the port ones were completely clogged up.
In fact at the time, I put a mask on and dived down to look - only looking at the starboard prop.
Happy that there wasnt much growth, I took her out for a quick spin and the engine electronics complained when I asked them to synchronise.
Anyway, the point here is that the growth is affected by sunlight.
This supports a theory that I was told earlier this year - if you hang clear polly bags filled with clear water around the boat, sunlight will refract and keep the sterngear clear of the little critters.
So, a more useable solution might be to suspend UV lights under the boat - it would look weird at night but maybe on a timer set during daylight hours might be enough to stop the growth.
Thats the end of that silly idea.

My strategy at the moment is to keep on trying different treatments and go for the cheap lift and scrub regularly through the summer.

Incidentally, the growth isnt a problem during the winter months when the water temperature falls - so dont judge any treatments until they have been used through the main part of the summer - late june until begining of November seems to be the biggest growth.
 
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I like the UV light idea, most sewage treatment plants now use UV light as the final stage of treatment because it's a very effective biocide, so i'd guess it would work.

By the way, Coppercoat is a water based epoxy, rather than a solvent based, so may have different stickability properties to your props. I found Coppercoats advice a bit ambiguous on the galvanic effect, so i'd probably use one coat of virgin epoxy as a barrier layer, followed by the reccommended number of coats with copper mixed in.
 
Nick_H said:
I like the UV light idea, most sewage treatment plants now use UV light as the final stage of treatment because it's a very effective biocide, so i'd guess it would work.

By the way, Coppercoat is a water based epoxy, rather than a solvent based, so may have different stickability properties to your props. I found Coppercoats advice a bit ambiguous on the galvanic effect, so i'd probably use one coat of virgin epoxy as a barrier layer, followed by the reccommended number of coats with copper mixed in.
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Both points interesting there, Nick.
Maybe the silly idea isnt so silly after all.

On the galvanic bit (Copper Coat), the guy at SIBS showed me a treated panel and said that you could put your multimeter on the surface and it wouldnt conduct electricity. Well, everything has an impedance, of course, but his explanation that the epoxy provides enough separation from the copper to resist the flow of electricity.
Add that to the fact that we are drawing a current through the whole system to the anodes and I think the risk to galvanic corrosion is minimal.
 
Mike,

Not sure if you were around when Irish Rover was lifted? 1 year old boat and coppercoated hull, props and running gear from new, but fouled just as bad as everything else we have seen. Nothing seems to work here. I have resorted to regular cleaning of my props, Velox, undercoat and antifoul as you know all washed off, or failed to prevet growth. Thankfully not too much of a problem when you can lift the stern drives up enough to reach down from the bathing platform to clean the props, thank goodness!
 
John100156 said:
Mike,

Not sure if you were around when Irish Rover was lifted? 1 year old boat and coppercoated hull, props and running gear from new, but fouled just as bad as everything else we have seen. Nothing seems to work here. I have resorted to regular cleaning of my props, Velox, undercoat and antifoul as you know all washed off, or failed to prevet growth. Thankfully not too much of a problem when you can lift the stern drives up enough to reach down from the bathing platform to clean the props, thank goodness!
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Yes, John

I managed to have a look at Irish Rover a few minutes after she had been lifted.
In fact, the Copper Coat was working well - on the hull.
I know he said that he had put it on the stern gear as well but further quizzing and it was clear that the props hadnt had any treatment.
It was this lift that encouraged me to use Copper Coat for the props etc.
 
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