Help - my paint is falling off !

[Dave-Fethiye]

I recently put my wooden (planked) boat in the water after painting her.

I had sanded the wood and then applied a coat of marine primer before applying two coats of antifouling.

After putting the boat in the water two weeks ago, in about four places there are now patches where the paint has come off!

The areas are about 6" x 4" and the bare wood can be seen.
I have no idea why the paint came off in those areas. What can I do about it ?

Will my planks start rotting ?
Someone wrote that you can apply anti-fouling under water - is that correct ?

Should I do that or should I just leave till the next haul out - maybe four months away ?

The boat is in the mediteranean sea ( South West Turkey).
Thanks for any advice.

[windthief]

It sounds like you may not have gotten the anti fouling paint on as the primer was "kicking off". To get the proper chemical bond the timing is pretty important.
We had the same problem with Windthief, at our last haul we had the hull stripped and then we re barier coated and painted.

[Alan Wheeler]

No you can not put Anti-fouling on underwater.
No the wood will not rot as you are in Salt water.

To be clear, is it the primer that has come off, re- "and the bare wood can be seen" or is it just anti-foul paint. ??

[little boat]

its not rot you need to worry about, its worms.

[hellosailor]

If you can't haul or careen, I think about all you can do IN the water is to find some thin copper sheeting (as thin as you can, roofers use copper "flashing" that is available in rolls) and tack it over the bare spots. That will stop worms and marine life until you can haul and paint. Perhaps just a thin line of glue around the edges, to keep critter spawn from getting in under them.

Once Upon A Time that was high-tech bottom protection.

[defjef]

Is it where the slings were when the boat was lifted?

jef
sv shiva

[defjef]

Your paint or your pants?

[Dave-Fethiye]

Thanks for the warnings about worms etc.

How about if I dive down and rub grease on the wood - will that stop the little blighters ? Someone said that grease sticks to wood under water.

[Alan Wheeler]

Well there is a product you can do this. It is by International and is called ???? (shoot I have forgotten)It is a grease like product that stops rusting and acts as an anti-sieze compound and we used to use it to protect boatyard winch cables in the water. Great stuff, sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, has a copper colour, but I am not sure it has copper in it. Which brings me to another thought. Go get some copper rich Anti-sieze for bolt threads etc and wipe it on. These products are as water prrof as you can get and should work well. Failing all the above, if you can get copper powder, then mix it into grease and make your own coating.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

Well there is a product you can do this. It is by International and is called ???? (shoot I have forgotten)It is a grease like product that stops rusting and acts as an anti-sieze compound and we used to use it .

You guys in NZ should know lanolin....it comes from sheep!!

[little boat]

that stuff wheels mentions sounds great, i've never heard of it. i seem to recall that your boat is lapstrake so copper sheeting is unfortunately out. i've heard hot peppers are effective, but never known anyone who actually used them; maybe you could grind some into wheel's grease stuff. is there no sandbank you could use for a quick careen? the yard might let you hang in the straps overnight for less than a haulout. i know this is a drag; i ran aground 5 minutes out of the yard and a fresh bottom job in my wood boat and took the paint off the whole bottom of the keel, so you're not alone.

[Dave-Fethiye]

I was inherited two cake tins of copper powder when I bought a house. These tins were in the shed and I kept them for 2 or 3 years but could never figure out what the stuff was for !

Now I have learnt of one use.

I think I throw then away but they might be in my shed in London (of the next house I bought). That doesn'reallt help much because I now live in Turkey.

Anyway - what sort of tradesman would have this stuff - copper powder ? What is it used for ? If I know this, just maybe I can find some and mix it with grease.

BTW Why is copper used ? Does it kill the worms - or do they just not like the taste ?

Thanks
David - in Fethiye, Turkey.

[Alan Wheeler]

Copper and Aluminium powder (or flake) is what is used to give the "metalic" sheen in some paints. Here in NZ, it can be bought at paint supply shops. I don't know if you would have the same luck in Turkey, but....

Copper is a metal that most creatures and plants simply don't like. Tin was the original paint additive, but was too toxic. Copper is far less toxic (as far as we know so far), but aquatic life seem to distaste it greatly.

[Boracay]

If you ever get tired of having a boat made of untreated pine and decide to dry it out and saturate it with epoxy then the copper could be used (mixed with epoxy) as a first antifouling coat.

When contemplating maintenance on a boat it seems to be a good idea to aim for a duty cycly of 25 years.

[Roy M]

Ask your local fishermen. They will probably tell you to quit worrying so much about four months exposure, unless, of course, the teredo worms are so much more powerful in the Med than elsewhere.

As for putting copper powder in epoxy and expecting it to do anything, forget it. The Gougeon Brothers played with it and it doesn't work as an antifouling. The copper is completely encapsulated by epoxy and doesn't leach out.