Any thoughts on Copper Coat or Plate

[Capt Jeff]

I’m looking for anyone with experience with this product. I have not had good luck with mine.

[Lance]

It can depend on which product there are at least two.
The initial application is important , ie you must keep stirring in the powder .
I used a painting tray and a strong rake made

from stiff neoprene 25mm.
The proper product epoxy is a water based missable product ie it works like an ablative anti foul.

After the initial application of several thin coats you need to fine sand the surface.
The end result is not set and forget .
You must still wipe the slime off at least every six weeks but it comes off easily.

[Jim Cate]

there have been endless threads on this subject. A search for them will give opinions ranging from wonderful to worthless. You get to chose which to believe.

As for me, I think "it depends..."

Jim

[Delfin]

Used it on my 36' Cape George cutter. Expensive, and didn't work that great. I ended up putting bottom paint over it, so I'm not sure it is worth it.

[billknny]

I know a lot of people, with a LOT of boats.

I know personally of three boats that installed coppercoat and then stripped it off because it didn't perform as they felt was needed.

I have heard there are people who were happy with it, but have never actually met one.

The manufacturer gets an awful lot of mileage out of blaming bad applications.

For the high cost to make economic sense, you need to not haul your boat for years. I know on my boat there are other underwater parts that need maintenance and inspection at haulout. Even if I did not need to paint, I STILL need to pay for a haulout every 24 months or so. If you factor that in, the economics get very thin...

[Zai]

I am starting out year 4 with my copper coat and I am pleased with the results so far.

There were some issues with the original application, but it seems I am working through them.


Copper Coat is not a paint and forget system as mentioned. I wipe the bottom once a month with a 3M pad, takes about half an hour and I get to inspect closely at all of the important underwater stuff. I am quite pleased that my transducer and water wheel doesn't have a chance to accumulate growth (because of the frequent cleaning).


Before I was using ablative bottom paint and the boat got a coat every year and at the end of the season had quite a bit of growth, now the boat comes out of the water the same condition as it went in.


I have a sail drive and I didn't use it on the drive (couldn't bring myself to use copper coat on the aluminum drive), which I do lightly sand and apply a new coat of Velox to each year, which is an easy job.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Zai

I am starting out year 4 with my copper coat and I am pleased with the results so far.

There were some issues with the original application, but it seems I am working through them.


Copper Coat is not a paint and forget system as mentioned. I wipe the bottom once a month with a 3M pad, takes about half an hour and I get to inspect closely at all of the important underwater stuff. I am quite pleased that my transducer and water wheel doesn't have a chance to accumulate growth (because of the frequent cleaning).


Before I was using ablative bottom paint and the boat got a coat every year and at the end of the season had quite a bit of growth, now the boat comes out of the water the same condition as it went in.


I have a sail drive and I didn't use it on the drive (couldn't bring myself to use copper coat on the aluminum drive), which I do lightly sand and apply a new coat of Velox to each year, which is an easy job.

Ah yes, it is coming back to me now. When I pointed out the growth on my Copper coat, the applicator told me all I had to do was clean it once a month, then every couple of years, sand a bit of the epoxy down to reveal more copper. Which, of course seems like a lot more work and expense than just painting the bottom every couple of years.

But you're right - if you are willing to clean the bottom monthly, the stuff probably works great.

[Steve_C]

If you are cleaning the bottom every month, wouldn't you need to do the same thing with other types of paint to properly compare? Did you clean monthly with the ablative?

No trying to be argumentative but genuinely curious

[CatNewBee]

CopperCoat - We have done it last spring ourselves (strip down all bottom paint to the gelcoat, clean and degrease surface with isopropanol, apply 5 layers of coppercoat, light sand it to activate the copper before going back in the water), works so far in the Med, no monthly cleaning at all...

Will tell you in 10 years how it performed. A boat next to mine has re-applied coppercoat after 15 years of sailing, he had had it for 13 years on, for the last 2 years he put abrasive antifouling on top of it, but decided to go back to coppercoat.

[hellosailor]

We tried it some years ago. Worked fine over fall and the winter in the water. Hauled, cleaned, sanded, but it fouled miserably the second year. Back to Micron.

I keep thinking, if the product has been out for 40+ years, and there's no guarantee unless you PAY one of their highly paid authorized installers, and after 40 years they still claim there are only some 1000 installations in any year?

The world has not beaten a path to this better mousetrap. Considering that most of us would kill to find a paint that didn't need a diver on it every two weeks...I can only figure most of those thousand installations every year have failed, because they sure didn't each tell two friends, who told two friends, who...by now would have tens of thousands of eager fans, instead of just the one or two, here or there, with no specific water (brackish? saline?) or cruising speeds and miles to indicate when or why it might or might not work. (Like every other bottom product.)

Not having to haul every year to repaint, would make it priceless. Then again, I know one boat that is dry sailed, hauled every weekend, stunning graphite-grey Baltoplate bottom on it, longboarded and polished to a fare-thee-well.

[Kenomac]

My impression having looked into the product... one’s money is more wisely spent purchasing a hookah system, taking scuba lessons, then cleaning the hull once a month yourself. Less hassle, less money, less time fighting warranty carp.

[CatNewBee]

only time will tell. You need to change the anodes anyway 3very second season at least, so give it then a scrub or a wash down and off you go for the next season...

You can also beach her to clean the hull, it is a kind of slimy cover, easy to wipe off.

[DEAN2140]

My boatyard told me they would have to strip the original paint to apply Coppercoat and it would cost me $10-12K, as compared to a normal bottom job @ $2k. Even though I don't have an accounting degree, I could see the numbers don't work out. No free lunch.

[Sailing August]

Highway robbery!
Here in Florida waters, I have found that the cheapest bottom paint from West Marine ($104) a gallon last two to three years.
After haul out, the bottom job costs no more that $500 on a 42 foot boat.
I dont make a big deal about it. I just scrape off whats loose and paint it again. Weekend job.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by DEAN2140

My boatyard told me they would have to strip the original paint to apply Coppercoat and it would cost me $10-12K, as compared to a normal bottom job @ $2k. Even though I don't have an accounting degree, I could see the numbers don't work out. No free lunch.

I have done it myself. Was a lot of work to strip all the old antifouling down to the gelcoat, but was worth it.
I have done it with a scraper and excenter disk sander. Took me about 2 weeks on the hard for both hulls of the cat, you'll feel great when it's over and you can start painting.

Painting was done on 2 days - one day per hull with 6 layers of coppercoat, 2 painters and one mixer.

Costs about 2k€ for the marerials and a lot of ellbow grease plus beer as pain killer in the evening.

I am stil happy with the result.