Is Coppercoat anti foul worth it?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by reed1v

We(family) have owned and operated boat yards for almost 200 years in Maine,so think we have some idea what we talk about. Guess your knowledge is limited to visiting West Marine stores?

Just because you can slap a coat of paint on a boat doesn't mean you know how that paint works. Your previous inexpert attempt to explain it is proof enough.

[David B]

We have had Coppercoat (the genuine stuff) on our boat for five years now. In the Med, and we shake our heads in amazement each time we see a boat being hauled and new antifouling paint being slapped on (or worse - the layers of old stuff scraped off first). Looks like we will get at least another 6-8 years out of it, but perhaps will need another couple of coats around the waterline area in 4-5 years or so. Has saved us a lot of money and a lot of hassle so far. Frankly, can't understand using normal antifouling paint other than it looks better when it is just done.

[Salty Mike]

[mholtzberg]

Contact the Sailing Uma crew sailing.uma@gmail.com Dan and Kika they have a their boat in Fort Pierce, FL they are doing a bottom up restoration on their boat that they have been documenting on YouTube. They completely stripped the bottom of their boat, repair a lot of failures in the glass and used some sort of Copper bottom coat on their boat which I believe they applied somewhere around July or August. So they can tell you what they applied and when. I think Florida is an excellent test for an anti-foul.

[David B]

Originally Posted by mholtzberg

Contact the Sailing Uma crew sailing.uma@gmail.com Dan and Kika they have a their boat in Fort Pierce, FL they are doing a bottom up restoration on their boat that they have been documenting on YouTube. They completely stripped the bottom of their boat, repair a lot of failures in the glass and used some sort of Copper bottom coat on their boat which I believe they applied somewhere around July or August. So they can tell you what they applied and when. I think Florida is an excellent test for an anti-foul.

Yes, that's a good video channel to watch - we enjoy their videos, and following their adventure. The trouble is they used normal epoxy resin, so the copper powder is trapped in the resin, and when the surface layer of copper oxidises away, they will have to sand the resin back to expose fresh copper. This is a mistake many make. With the real Coppercoat as we have on ours, the resin looks after itself - no sanding in five years, and just a light layer of film each year to brush off.

[David B]

Originally Posted by David B

Yes, that's a good video channel to watch - we enjoy their videos, and following their adventure. The trouble is they used normal epoxy resin, so the copper powder is trapped in the resin, and when the surface layer of copper oxidises away, they will have to sand the resin back to expose fresh copper. This is a mistake many make. With the real Coppercoat as we have on ours, the resin looks after itself - no sanding in five years, and just a light layer of film each year to brush off.

A bit off topic, but on the subject of hauling and anodes, we are finding remarkable life of our anodes. I fitted a galvanic isolator (our model has stray current monitoring) and all is good. Plugged into shore power for a full year and virtually no erosion. Just another reason for hauling minimised.

[reed1v]

Of course if you got the budget for it, just have your hull sheathed in copper. Once done, your good to go for as long as the boat will last, or until you damage the bottom. Still will need periodic wiping to keep the slime down.

[stillbuilding]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Of course if you got the budget for it, just have your hull sheathed in copper. Once done, your good to go for as long as the boat will last, or until you damage the bottom. Still will need periodic wiping to keep the slime down.

My understanding is that pure copper does not work well and copper plating was used in times past as a physical barrier for teredo worms.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forums lily hhrn

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by stillbuilding

My understanding is that pure copper does not work well and copper plating was used in times past as a physical barrier for teredo worms.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forums lily hhrn

Copper or copper alloys work quite well but they do need to be cleaned. It does provide a barrier against worms if you got a wooden hull; but will keep other marine organisms from becoming fixed to the hull. The advantage is an exceedingly long, durable anti-fouling solution: again, with periodic wipe downs: figure two to three times in the tropics and probably once in temperate areas.

[Ribbit]

Copper works extremely well on lichens and mosses, etc., on roofs in clean air areas, to keep them like new, so it's not just worms it's effective against. Just bed exposed copper strip (if coated just sand the coating off) in the bedding for the ridge tiles, so the rain runoff can go all over the roof. If you get moss growing on fibre cement slates, the roots will go through them and your roof will leak like a sieve.

If you have a beautiful and well fitted random slated roof with good texture, or a genius slater* has done perfect mitred hips for you (there aren't many that can do those, and if they aren't perfect, they look a complete mess), you don't want to hide it under lichen and mosses.

Plus if you want to kill a tree that's a liability (can be a lot easier and safer to handle felling, once it is dead and dried out, though not always the case, I've had to use them on a couple of trees that were semi safe enough to be left for a while, after being blown against other trees in the hurricane we had here about 1988), hammer some copper nails into it.

So it would appear to be quite a range of plant life it is useful for as well.

As an aside, some people like to keep their roofs looking new, and some like to have them aged as fast as possible to blend in. To rapid age, get some live yoghurt (not tried it with low fat but it might work) and crumble the most attractive local lichens into about a half bucket of it, mix well, and spatter it all over your new roof (or concrete or whatever) on a dry day.

Manure runoff is a bit better, but not enough better than yoghurt to make it worth substituting and acquiring the manure stink as well (manure runoff was what was traditionally used).

* Not me. I wasn't a bad slater even if I say so myself, but I have helped a true genius slater do a couple of mitred hip jobs, and the extra 20+ years experience he had, put him in a completely different league to me.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by reed1v

...with periodic wipe downs: figure two to three times in the tropics and probably once in temperate areas.

So you're maintaining that copper sheathing is a more effective anti fouling solution than copper-based anti fouling paint? Do you have firsthand experience with a copper sheathed hull in the tropics? My guess is that you don't. Because the cleaning frequencies you suggest seem pretty unrealistic.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

So you're maintaining that copper sheathing is a more effective anti fouling solution than copper-based anti fouling paint? Do you have firsthand experience with a copper sheathed hull in the tropics? My guess is that you don't. Because the cleaning frequencies you suggest seem pretty unrealistic.

Go back to cleaning your boat bottoms. From what i understand from folks who know you, you do not even have a yacht. Anyways, yes copper works, or works in Hawaii, quite well. Old relic next to my boat had a thick copper bottom that was never cared for. it had the typical slime and some growth near water line, but otherwise no coral, nor shell growth at all. And it had been sitting in the Ala Wai for decades.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by Ribbit

Copper works extremely well on lichens and mosses, etc., on roofs in clean air areas, to keep them like new, so it's not just worms it's effective against. Just bed exposed copper strip (if coated just sand the coating off) in the bedding for the ridge tiles, so the rain runoff can go all over the roof. If you get moss growing on fibre cement slates, the roots will go through them and your roof will leak like a sieve.

If you have a beautiful and well fitted random slated roof with good texture, or a genius slater* has done perfect mitred hips for you (there aren't many that can do those, and if they aren't perfect, they look a complete mess), you don't want to hide it under lichen and mosses.

Plus if you want to kill a tree that's a liability (can be a lot easier and safer to handle felling, once it is dead and dried out, though not always the case, I've had to use them on a couple of trees that were semi safe enough to be left for a while, after being blown against other trees in the hurricane we had here about 1988), hammer some copper nails into it.

So it would appear to be quite a range of plant life it is useful for as well.

As an aside, some people like to keep their roofs looking new, and some like to have them aged as fast as possible to blend in. To rapid age, get some live yoghurt (not tried it with low fat but it might work) and crumble the most attractive local lichens into about a half bucket of it, mix well, and spatter it all over your new roof (or concrete or whatever) on a dry day.

Manure runoff is a bit better, but not enough better than yoghurt to make it worth substituting and acquiring the manure stink as well (manure runoff was what was traditionally used).

* Not me. I wasn't a bad slater even if I say so myself, but I have helped a true genius slater do a couple of mitred hip jobs, and the extra 20+ years experience he had, put him in a completely different league to me.

Sound like Martha Steward. She recommended using the Yogurt stuff on stone walls to make them moss covered. Good old Martha. BTW: saw copper stripping at the roof's apex on houses in tropical rainforest conditions. Always wondered about that. Now I know. Thanks.

[sailorboy1]

I always read the Copper Coat threads to maybe gain some knowledge fir where the time comes that I may consider it. But, for the most part I don't think I get much out it because out of 100 post there might be 2 from people with use experience and 30 for someone saying it doesn't work in the Bay over and over.

It's pretty much a copper epoxy gun thread.

[nauticalnomad]

Open an account with a supplier and purchase a drum of commercial antifoul.. Mine is supposed to last 3 years. It is thick and gunky and requires proper stirring and is an effort to roll on. Better if it was sprayed on.
But mine was rollered on and it dried fine.