Off with the coppercoat

[Pete7]

Miran, I have some bad news on a previous mooring we also had the same problem using antifouling paint. The problem is drying out on mud twice a day. Tried everything but it wasn't until the marina was dredged and the boat permanently floated that things improved. This was Gosport, Hants.

The mud clogs the antifoul paint then beasties latch on.

Pete

[Clivevon]

Re: Coppercoat. Bad luck with your experience - as for me, I am now 5 years into second application. Am now in Portsmouth UK but previous application lasted 10 years in the Balearics in the Mediterranean. Boat gets lifted and pressure washed at end of the season, thats it... Works for me.

How long had the Coppercoat been in place? why not just try another coat over the top of it?

[Bikesailer]

I am on the River Medway and have had copper coat on for the last 3 seasons. It needs scrubbing every 6 weeks, although the antifouling paint on my keels is still clean. My boat is afloat all the time. Have decided to give up on it and paint it over with antifouling.

[crankysailor]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

Not sure why you are upset with the Coppercoat. 2018 is only 3 months away. Sounds like the Coppercoat performed as expected. As others have posted, there should be no problem painting over it. Sand, prime and paint. No different really than painting over a typical epoxy barrier coat.

well I didn't really see it that way I guess.. it really started failing early this year after putting the boat back in the water back in may.. So in my head it is still one year to go.. but fine I guess you have a point. However I still think that such a dramatic failure to deliver in short a time span might be more related to the sudden change of environment from the cold waters of the North Sea to the warm Mediterranean... I mean it was really like turning off a switch! it throws big doubts in my mind about the coppercoat

[crankysailor]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Erick, were is the boat moored and how old is the coppercoat? is it proper coppercoat or was it one of the alternatives because it should last 10 years so long as its sanded to expose fresh copper every so often.



Pete

In the south of Spain.. the water here is actually not dirty at all but warm and full of life for sure.

[mikedefieslife]

Similar situation here. Not with the real Coppercoat but with a copy.

I bought a boat with it on, and the growth has been bad overall but terrible in certain areas. It's 4 years old though so is probably at the end of its life. Interestingly the manufacturer Reactive Resins has pulled it from sale.

I was going to sand it down using a 40 grit then apply 4 coats of the proper Coppercoat product see if that is better, but I just had a quote of around £110 per litre, so think I'll be adding a primer and some other form of hard or self-polishing paint not sure which yet.

[Jim Cate]

Warning: Anecdote follows, apply at your own risk!

During our recent week on the hard, a ~ 50 foot timber motor vessel was slipped next to us. It was quite old, and had been coppered (that is, thin sheets of copper metal were nailed to the hull, covering it completely). It was covered with growth of all sorts, soft and hard, including barnacles, mussels and oysters.. The owner said it had been cleaned about six months previously, and that the growth was typical of what he had always seen. He further said that in his view, the only purpose of the copper was to keep the shipworm out, and that it had done so successfully for many years.

This observation is in agreement with historic practices. I've never understood how the copper metal powder in Coppercoat was supposed to do better.

Jim

[Fore and Aft]

I surveyed an oldish cat that had copper coat applied from the day it had left the factory. The copper coat was only applied as an osmosis protector and then had traditional antifoul applied over it.
The cat was osmosis free so maybe even if it does not work as intended maybe it helps keep those water molecules out of the fiberglass laminate?
Cheers

[crankysailor]

actually I had left out a part of my own anecdote out. during the winter on the hard, some chips of paint had fallen off around some of the hull openings. I simply sanded that down a bit and put some unknown regular antifouling around the holes... these were just small 10cm patches or so around them. I didn't even buy the stuff, my neighbor on the hard gifted it to me from some leftover bits he had laying around....

As bad as the growth underneath is, the small patches of regular antifouling are actually still clean!

Anyhow this wasn't supposed to be a coppercoat bashing thread to be honest. I just wanted some opinions on whether one could paint over it etc and I pretty much have my answer I think. Thanks folks!

[Lambada]

I have sprayed cuppercoat on my boat and very happy with it. Ones a year you must put the boat out of the water an clean it with low pressure water (up to 10 bar).then you sand it a little and back in the water . I now boats who have don this for ten years or more with only 1 application.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Lambada

I have sprayed cuppercoat on my boat and very happy with it. Ones a year you must put the boat out of the water an clean it with low pressure water (up to 10 bar).then you sand it a little and back in the water . I now boats who have don this for ten years or more with only 1 application.

But then isn't the expected cost savings defeated by having to haul out once a year to clean and sand? With our ablative paint, the boat can remain in the water for 2-3 years without the rather expensive €1200 euro annual haul out and clean. In our case, we'd be saving over €2400 euros over a three year period minus the €400 cost of the new ablative paint application by yours truly. Ignoring the original cost to strip the hull and apply primer and four coats of Coppercoat, none of which would need to be done if we simply continue to use ablative paint, which never really builds up.

Don't get me wrong, I was seriously considering the Coppercoat until I read the many complaints and excusses. Personally, I need to know..."Where's the beef?" Where's the savings

Even though we do end up from time to time with barnacles (Montenegro), it seems like the Coppercoat crowd ends up with the same issue in the same locations. All I do is slap on a single ablative coat once every 2-3 years... cheap and finished, then scrub the bottom once every 4-6 weeks during the season (twice this year). But our boat does reside in fresh water six months per year, then salt water the other six.

[seashine]

The original coppercoat is a water based epoxy, applied over epoxy paint. I spent quite some time getting my hulls back to epoxy primer stage so I could then apply coppercoat. In two years I've scrubbed her bum three times, beaching her each time. Officially supposed to do it every 6-8 weeks but work, play and a shoulder injury intervened! One of the great things about cats is we can find a protected beach and careen, and with coppercoat the environment receives no toxins when you do this - which is why I chose it. One of the careenings was a veritable octopuses garden, however she had sat in a high fouling marina for 12 months (shame on me!) and it all came off with a scrubbing brush, very few barnacles and they weren't stuck on well. Cruising the warm - and fertile - waters of Queensland Australia ☺

[nomisfarms]

I wonder if the coppercoat was applied properly in the first place, just a thought.

[SF Bay Dude]

I have been on the fence - I really want to use CC - but I keep hearing issues that make all the extra work balance on the debit side. I am with Kenomac on not wanting to haul every year for a power wash. What good is an supposed savings if I spend it in haulouts that I was trying to avoid? Trinidad SR is most likely in my future.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by nomisfarms

I wonder if the coppercoat was applied properly in the first place, just a thought.

Anytime anyone says Coppercoat didn't work well for them, you always get someone with some snide remark about it not being applied properly. I find it hard to believe that every single person who it's not worked for didn't have it applied correctly. The instructions are simple and most have it applied by an approved yard.

Coppercoat even come out and said that it's no better at antifouling than any other decent antifouling application and that it depends on the location you are cruising in.