To Copper coat or not ??

if you plan on keeping the boat more than 3 years absolutely. total no brainer
good antifouling, very very smooth bottom so use less fuel, and osmosis protection too.
 
It's like Marmite, the people that have it can see no wrong and the people that don't can't see the benefit,

It's expensive to a apply, it has a long payback against trad antifouling. We lift a lot of boats and in my view it performs no where near as well as trad anti fouling.

So where is the benefit?

If we are talking mobos it is essential to lift annually to check everything and to replace anodes.

With mobos it is preferable to lift, inspect and pressure wash partway through the season.

With copper coat you need to lift after 6 months to clean the weed off and check and replace anodes etc.

I would not go for copper coat on my boat and I know a number of people who are over coating theirs with trad anti fouling as they do not believe that CC performs as well.
 
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NDB said:
Any ideas or opinions on copper coat ? I'm moored in SQ and have water all the time. Is it worth the money ??
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Works on my saily boat in all sorts of water over the past 8 seasons.

Expensive, front loaded investment but it pays off over time.

In my case, at least 8 lift out and 8 lots of antifoul and the hassle. But we do have to take the boat out somewhere once a year to wash her bottom, check the anodes and give the copper coat a run over with scouring pads.

So, we have saved the antifoul and that looks like £100+ per time, not to mention the rollers and stuff that is necessary too.

Finding the right weather and diary schedule to get the boat out, scrubbed off and prepared....

Also the environmental stuff.
We spent several years in The Netherlands and Belgium where the regulations regarding antifoul are very strict, so we won out there.

Looking at the sums it might be cash neutral, but very positive convenience factor.
 
Bandit said:
It's like Marmite, the people that have it can see no wrong and the people that don't can't see the benefit,

It's expensive to a apply, it has a long payback against trad antifoing. we lift a lot of boats and in my view it performsm no wherep near as well as trad anti fouling.

So where is the benefit?

If we are talking mobos it is essential to lift annually to check everything and to replace anodes.

With mobos it is preferable to lift, inspect and pressure wash partway through the season.

With copper coat you need to lift after 6 months to clean the weed off and check and replace anodes etc.

I would not go for copper coat on my boat and I know a number of people who are over costing theirs with trad anti fouling.
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If you need to change your anodes that often I suggest you have other things to worry about and have lots of stray voltages around. Galvanic isolator?
 
Bandit said:
It's like Marmite, the people that have it can see no wrong and the people that don't can't see the benefit,

It's expensive to a apply, it has a long payback against trad antifoing. we lift a lot of boats and in my view it performsm no wherep near as well as trad anti fouling.

So where is the benefit?

If we are talking mobos it is essential to lift annually to check everything and to replace anodes.

With mobos it is preferable to lift, inspect and pressure wash partway through the season.

With copper coat you need to lift after 6 months to clean the weed off and check and replace anodes etc.

I would not go for copper coat on my boat and I know a number of people who are over costing theirs with trad anti fouling.
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Lift an hold cheaper than lift and block off. Way cheaper. And you don't waste good boating time with the boat out of the water. Saves fuel - read Greg copps test in mby. Financial payback rapid, hassle reduction factor huge. Let me guess, youve never tried it yourself .........
 
boatingdave said:
If you need to change your anodes that often I suggest you have other things to worry about and have lots of stray voltages around. Galvanic isolator?
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Yes, I thumping agree with you. It was almost two years from when our boat was last lifted, til it came out a couple of months ago. From what I found of anode wear, I reckon I need not lift again for close to three years.

Really important in my opinion is to take power off when not on the boat. Absolutely no need to leave mains power connected to boat. Just cannot understand why so many do so?
 
PhilipF said:
Yes, I thumping agree with you. It was almost two years from when our boat was last lifted, til it came out a couple of months ago. From what I found of anode wear, I reckon I need not lift again for close to three years.

Really important in my opinion is to take power off when not on the boat. Absolutely no need to leave mains power connected to boat. Just cannot understand why so many do so?
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Heater, dehumidifier, fridges and battery charger all seem to work that much better when it's plugged in. No risk as long as you have a galvanic isolator.
 
PhilipF said:
Yes, I thumping agree with you. It was almost two years from when our boat was last lifted, til it came out a couple of months ago. From what I found of anode wear, I reckon I need not lift again for close to three years.

Really important in my opinion is to take power off when not on the boat. Absolutely no need to leave mains power connected to boat. Just cannot understand why so many do so?
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What, & let the beer get warm ????
 
No food in the fridge? Oh no, not that thread again :-). I fitted a galvanic isolator for all of the reasons stated. With the copper coat and isolator we've only changed the anodes once in five years and half of that time was before the isolator was fitted. Marinas are notorious, it's not usually your own boat as yours is often the one that ends up providing protection for the boats around it. I do recommend reading the article stated earlier in the thread if there the reason is unclear.
So with the copper coat and galvanic isolator you need to leave the power connected as you have much more time to enjoy the beer in the fridge! I'm an absolute convert to both.
 
We went through this last year when we had all of our antifoul off back to GRP.

In the end our surveyor put us off having it done. He reckoned all it would do was trap any moisture already in the hull in there and most probably compound any later osmosis issues. Makes sense I suppose!

Eventually we opted for standard antifoul again. We have the boat out every winter anyway.
 
CX54WEK said:
We went through this last year when we had all of our antifoul off back to GRP.

In the end our surveyor put us off having it done. He reckoned all it would do was trap any moisture already in the hull in there and most probably compound any later osmosis issues. Makes sense I suppose!

Eventually we opted for standard antifoul again. We have the boat out every winter anyway.
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Actually that doesn't make sense to me. It will be sitting in water so will be compounded if Osmosis is present. The coppercoat is copper suspended in a layer of epoxy hence sealing the surface so the only way to allow the moisture 'out' would mean it sitting on the hard until dry? Sorry, logic doesn't stack up. :-)
 
CX54WEK said:
We went through this last year when we had all of our antifoul off back to GRP.

In the end our surveyor put us off having it done. He reckoned all it would do was trap any moisture already in the hull in there and most probably compound any later osmosis issues. Makes sense I suppose!

Eventually we opted for standard antifoul again. We have the boat out every winter anyway.
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so without the coppercoat how does the water get out? (it makes no sense at all)
 
Can't comment on its value on a MoBo, but it works very well on a sailing boat provided it stays on. We had it from new on our previous boat - it had never seen the water till after the Copper Coat was applied. It was professionally applied and cost quite a few grand. When we hauled out to clean up after the first year, the boat was very clean, but it became obvious that quite a lot of it was falling off. We had sold the boat and the purchaser's surveyor didn't notice it - the last I heard, they were in dispute with both the surveyor and the company that applied the stuff a year earlier.

We did think about it on the new boat, but ended up opting for conventional anti-fouling. I must say that I did miss it earlier this spring when I was under the boat with a roller applying Cruiser Uno, but I will not be losing sleep wondering if my two or three grand of Copper Coat is shedding itself all the way down the Thames Estuary.
 
maby said:
Can't comment on its value on a MoBo, but it works very well on a sailing boat provided it stays on. We had it from new on our previous boat - it had never seen the water till after the Copper Coat was applied. It was professionally applied and cost quite a few grand. When we hauled out to clean up after the first year, the boat was very clean, but it became obvious that quite a lot of it was falling off. We had sold the boat and the purchaser's surveyor didn't notice it - the last I heard, they were in dispute with both the surveyor and the company that applied the stuff a year earlier.

We did think about it on the new boat, but ended up opting for conventional anti-fouling. I must say that I did miss it earlier this spring when I was under the boat with a roller applying Cruiser Uno, but I will not be losing sleep wondering if my two or three grand of Copper Coat is shedding itself all the way down the Thames Estuary.
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Ah now this is a different point :-). It has stuck very well to our current boat, not had any shedding issues. Sounds as if the challenge was valid against the 'professional'.
 
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