Which Antifoul for Club Racing a Cruising Boat

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roblpm

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Hi

On a club racing boat does it make a jot of difference which antifoul you use? Ie how smooth it is likely to be?

I would have thought one that kept the most amount of weed off is better? I bought the PBO special this month and I think the best for Port Edgar was Seajet 033 Shogun (though that's from memory). I have used Cruiser Uno before as thats what the previous owner used. Wet Sanded down a bit each year. The bottom is smooth but not super smooth!!
 
Fellow club member who by all accounts did well in Impala nationals used to spray hard racing onto his hull and then sand with 100 grit wet and dry. Plus lift our and scrub before races. Whether this is why he won or sailing talent I dont know.

Its surprised me when manning the OOD boat to see how many cruisers come past the start with dirty bottoms. I dad a bottom scrub last year when the bottom was a bit weedy, no crustaceans. Did a lap of the non tidal sailing area immediately before and after at the same engine revs in flat calm. The scrub made slightly more than half a knot difference on both log and gps. Convinced me that a clean bottom is vital and a scrub is needed. Antifoul alone isnt enough.
 
awol said:
I think you missed a "0". 1000 grit is much more likely though 800 isn't bad.
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I always did like a bit of rough! :encouragement: But you are right of course.

Personally I would consider coppercoat for a racing antifoul. Takes a bit of effort but you can get the surface really smooth and then you are talking about just the lift and washes needed. No re-prep each winter.

Or maybe, depending on where you bare based, no antifoul at all and just bare polished gel coat + scrub.
 
birdseye said:
Personally I would consider coppercoat for a racing antifoul. Takes a bit of effort but you can get the surface really smooth and then you are talking about just the lift and washes needed. No re-prep each winter.
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That's what we use. Not the best actual antifoul but it doesn't matter if you scrub every month. Get a good surface once and forget about it.
 
Seeing as it is a bit dead in here i thought i would at least update this thread. Not thrilling for sure......

So as we have antifouling envy ee started taking off the cruiser uno today. Only trouble is its like thick porridge so wet sanding just moves it around!

Had reasonable success with interstrip af but ran out so one of the brave crew is going to carry on next weekend!

So interstrip af, then wetsanding to take it down to the very old coppercoat which is pretty smooth.

The guy at international paints said then a coat of primocon and then we are going to do International Offshore VC but I think we might skip the primocon!!

Hope we don't end up with a worse finish than we started with?!
 
I have had good results with International VC Offshore but I wouldn't skip on the Primocon - it really helps with the adhesion of the antifoul and might save a lot of work next time round.
 
Depends .lots of factors. Type of fouling in your club racing area . Type of berth, marina , drying or mud . Not least the handicap/ rating system used in the club. A variable handicap system will make up , over time for any short comings whereas a rating system requires some attention
 
VC 17m is without doubt the worst antifoul I've ever used. Ok it's baby's bum smooth but it is a bitch to apply. Second coat pulls the first one off ...

Oh, and it works like fertilizer; the boat was based at Deacon's at the top of the Hamble. Pretty high concentration of chemicals, one would have thought, but I've never seen growth like it. Have you ever had pink anenomes on your hull?

The only thing that really works is to dry sail.
 
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