Quandary
Well-Known Member
Our boat is five years old now and having been antifouled twice on delivery(colour change) and once a year thereafter the surface is becoming rather flaky. I attribute the premature arrival of this problem to the first application never having been immersed as the separation seems to be at that level, also the boat stays in fresh water and no longer gets out racing two week nights and every weekend, probably only about 3-400 hours under way per year these days.
On other older boats I took it off about every seven years and on each one applied five coats of epoxy primer (Awlgrip Hullguard on the last one) but I am questioning the need with modern resins. The crane comes back in April and the chances of having 15 degrees for three days (two coats a day plus first antifouling coat) are slim indeed, the cost at over £100 per coat is also a factor; Seajet epoxy primer is a lot cheaper and claimed to work at +10 degrees C, but would you trust that claim?
The hull appears to have a single coat of pale turquoise coloured epoxy over translucent resin.
My options appear to be A - slap the antifouling straight on the hull after a good rub down with industrial scouring pads or wet and dry? B - prime with Primocon then antifoul; C - apply one or perhaps two coats of the cheap epoxy plus antifouling; Or D - do the full anti-osmosis treatment with five coats epoxy.
What would you do? and perhaps why.
Some background regarding my experience so far for you if you are faced with the job.
I do not need to do the keel yet possibly because the epoxy over the lead is much thicker and seems to a different product as the colour is different. The rudder may not need stripping yet either possibly because of better erosion so I will probably leave them for another year. I have been stripping using a Bahco pull scraper, it takes it off in one pull except for above the waterline where it is adhering so well that I may have to use stripper or abrasive. I stop after about 60 to 90 mins. each day because by then it gets hard to maintain concentration and avoid gouging, I expect the stripping of the whole hull to take 15 -20 hours at that rate (33 foot AWB) I wear boiler suit, rubber breathing mask (you need a good fitting one and change the filters frequently) eye protection and cap but am now permanently coloured blue particularly my ears, neck and feet. I try to work from the windward side if possible but you finish up underneath working above your head sooner or later. I find that if you hone the corners of the tungsten blade to reduce the risk of gouging, the blade looses a lot of it bite and needs more strokes, with sharp corners if you work in from the clean edge pulling with your right hand and applying pressure with the left you can take the blade width off clean leaving just the epoxy. I have over half of it done and the first blade edge is still working well so the Bahco Scraper is certainly quick durable and effective compared to trying to use a stripper to soften it up, the harder the top coats the better they seem to come away.
On other older boats I took it off about every seven years and on each one applied five coats of epoxy primer (Awlgrip Hullguard on the last one) but I am questioning the need with modern resins. The crane comes back in April and the chances of having 15 degrees for three days (two coats a day plus first antifouling coat) are slim indeed, the cost at over £100 per coat is also a factor; Seajet epoxy primer is a lot cheaper and claimed to work at +10 degrees C, but would you trust that claim?
The hull appears to have a single coat of pale turquoise coloured epoxy over translucent resin.
My options appear to be A - slap the antifouling straight on the hull after a good rub down with industrial scouring pads or wet and dry? B - prime with Primocon then antifoul; C - apply one or perhaps two coats of the cheap epoxy plus antifouling; Or D - do the full anti-osmosis treatment with five coats epoxy.
What would you do? and perhaps why.
Some background regarding my experience so far for you if you are faced with the job.
I do not need to do the keel yet possibly because the epoxy over the lead is much thicker and seems to a different product as the colour is different. The rudder may not need stripping yet either possibly because of better erosion so I will probably leave them for another year. I have been stripping using a Bahco pull scraper, it takes it off in one pull except for above the waterline where it is adhering so well that I may have to use stripper or abrasive. I stop after about 60 to 90 mins. each day because by then it gets hard to maintain concentration and avoid gouging, I expect the stripping of the whole hull to take 15 -20 hours at that rate (33 foot AWB) I wear boiler suit, rubber breathing mask (you need a good fitting one and change the filters frequently) eye protection and cap but am now permanently coloured blue particularly my ears, neck and feet. I try to work from the windward side if possible but you finish up underneath working above your head sooner or later. I find that if you hone the corners of the tungsten blade to reduce the risk of gouging, the blade looses a lot of it bite and needs more strokes, with sharp corners if you work in from the clean edge pulling with your right hand and applying pressure with the left you can take the blade width off clean leaving just the epoxy. I have over half of it done and the first blade edge is still working well so the Bahco Scraper is certainly quick durable and effective compared to trying to use a stripper to soften it up, the harder the top coats the better they seem to come away.
