Silicone antifouling ..... good or useless ?

Neeves

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It is also soft and easily damaged, if you hit a bit of wood in the water or the slings when you slip. It is very difficult to repair any damage to the coating.

If you need to remove most yards will demand you are 'tented off' as any dust on adjacent yachts will ensure any new conventional AF will not stick as the silicone dust resists adhesion.

If you read the Health and Safety data for the coatings some suggest that some of the components may be carcinogenic. If you ever see professionals working with silicone coatings they wear full hazmat suits with respirators. The coatings are sufficiently new that full detail of the health implications are not yet known - and no-one is taking any chances.

Silicone coatings were the next big thing for commercial vessels - some have rejected the technology and reverted to conventional AF. Maersk use a conventional Jotun, Carnival have replaced silicones on some (all?) for conventional.

The big success story seems to be Prop Speed - but it is a very niche part of the market.


As I said earlier.

If it was successful and problem free - we would know about it. Success would engender press releases in every marine publication, industrial or leisure, and every surface coating manufacturer would have the product in their portfolio. Internet forum (and the influencers) would be full of positive stories and advice. Development is not over - Prop Speed recently introduced a stripper for silicones (but its taken at least a decade for that to happen). It is indicative of success, or not, that International are not touting a product......

Jonathan
 

Ekotek

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Moment of truth : the only viable market for biocide free AF is for larger ships and that's because they care a lot for the ~20% fuel savings since it saves then millions on each trip so they can justify the extra cost.
 

Hot Property

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Moment of truth : the only viable market for biocide free AF is for larger ships and that's because they care a lot for the ~20% fuel savings since it saves then millions on each trip so they can justify the extra cost.

And fast planing leisure boats....

I expect to gently pressure wash waterline slime in May this year.

Next year same again and a touch up of any physical abrasions incurred in the last 365 days. Rinse and repeat year 3.

Year 4 I'll do 1 coat of Silic one.

It saves me bucket loads compared to annual lift out, chock off, paint and relaunch fees.
 

Ekotek

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Actually the hydrogel silicone FR coatings work in static water as well as moving water, they feel slimy to the touch as soon as water hits them, there's an amphiphilic additive being added that aids in this mechanism but no company has solved the durability problem.
 

Hot Property

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Actually the hydrogel silicone FR coatings work in static water as well as moving water, they feel slimy to the touch as soon as water hits them, there's an amphiphilic additive being added that aids in this mechanism but no company has solved the durability problem.

I guess durability means different things to different people.

For my circumstances it works well. Boat in water 364.5 days a year, just floated onto the trailer then recovered onto the boatyard slipway.

Quick gentle pressure wash to get slime off the waterline, engine service then back in.

I'm sure repeatedly trailering with Silic One will have a detrimental effect.
 

Rappey

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A while back when i was reading about silicon a/f they sold a barrier coat where you could seal the biocide a/f rather than having to strip off all the existing coatings before applying the silicone.
 
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