Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY
Keep in mind that CopperCoat isn't necessarily a more effective anti-fouling covering, but it is a much longer lasting and effective anti-fouling coating. It is a hard coating as opposed to an ablative coating.
N.B. I have not used it yet so the following comments are based upon conversations I have had with those who have and from what I have read from those who claim to have used it.
Claims from many who have used it:
Long lasting; ten to fifteen years before the need to reapply.
Roughly as effective as anything out there.
Very easy to wash off or brush off any growth at the end of the season or when diving on it to remove any growth.
I read one review by a British yachting magazine who tested it and they gave it high marks. They confirmed the above comments.
A few who have used it did not like it for generally one of two reasons; first some found it no more effective than their current coatings yet it was more expensive; it didn't last long.
It is important to note a few trends among the complaints. First and foremost, it is easy to complain but few take the time to either provide complete details; generally more will complain than compliment.
Second, many who complain had unrealistic expectations. A lot seemed to think it was dramatically more effective and they wouldn't need to occasionally clean the bottom of their vessel. CopperCoat themselves point out that while it is at least as effective as most bottom coats, it is long lasting and cleaning is easier.
Third, CopperCoat requires careful preparation. It is not difficult based upon what I have seen but failure to follow the directions can result in poor longevity. In many ways that is really no different than any bottom coat, or any work for that matter.
I have read similar comments for ultrasound anti-fouling. The end result seems to be that it works within reason, but care must be used when applying it. My thought is that if it indeed does last ten or more years, and if the cost vis-a-vis a traditional bottom coat that lasts at most three years, then it is worth it. I will save time and money (if hiring a diver on occasion) and above all not have to haul every two to three years.
I am going to give it a try the next time I haul out. Before I do though, I will ask them if they will send me a small panel I can drop in for a test. If there is a small charge for the panel it may be worth it. If they won't send the panel, I will get a small amount of it and use it on my hard dinghy which stays in the water al year and see how it works on that. I also want to try the ultrasound system.
Good luck with whatever you decide. |
Very balanced, and very much inline with our findings.
We have had Coppercoat on our hull since 2012 - so to date, that's 8 seasons, and it is still going strong. During that time, we usually haul for
winter storage, but not always. On one occasion we left the boat in the
Med in a marina with high fouling. The
boats around us were testament to that with nasty hard fouling on their hulls. Ours after a full year of going nowhere, just had a layer of 'mud' around the waterline that fell off when I brushed my hand over it. Feeling down as far as I could (not swimming in that marina!!!), underneath felt pretty clean. We sent a diver down, he scraped the hull, but came up to report nothing much there at all. So in that case, Coppercoat outperformed all the other coatings in the marina by a mile.
At other times, typically we haul, and there is just slime or light green furring on the hull. A year ago however we picked up an infestation of tubeworm - it pressure washed and scraped off without any difficulty, but I thought it may be time to burnish the Coppercoat (so this was now 7 seasons since application). I did the
rudder and the
keel, but ran out of time for the hull. When we hauled later this year, the
rudder and
keel were almost totally clean, the rest of the hull was generally slime, but no sign of tubeworm, despite being again where we were the previous year. So from that, I figure the hull could do with a burnish (first time since application in 2012), but it's not urgent by any means - if I get the time I will, if not, another year will not hurt at all.
So that's our experience - not perfect, but at least as good, and often a whole lot better than any regular antifouling
paint we see in our travels.
Over those 8 seasons, Coppercoat has saved us a lot of work and a lot of expense, and I have to say I just shake my
head when I see the annual antifouling sanding, scraping and re-painting going on each year in yards we see in our travels. Yes, you can get some pretty
cheap antifouling
paint, and yes, Coppercoat is about double the
price of decent antifouling paint, but the saving in effort alone, let alone the expense over 10-15 years just makes sense to me.
For another perspective, I was following the Golden Globe
Race, and noted that the vast majority of competitors had serious fouling issues with Goose Barnacles etc - bad enough to cause withdrawal in some cases. There is an article on it in Practical Boat Owner (Jan/Feb/Mar 2019 or thereabouts). Apparently the only one who did not have issues put extra coatings (5 from memory) of ablative on, and did not launch the boat until the last minute sort of thing.
I compare that to the Clipper
Round the World fleet that were all treated with Coppercoat prior to the 2017/18
race. There's a video around (I think you can find it on the coppercoat.com website) of them being lifted at the end of the race (the hulls were apparently not touched during the entire race). The video shows the lifted hull as being very similar to ours - a light coating of slime and that's about it.
So there's another comparison.
As to application, I have to touch up areas on ours from time to time (a significant time was where I had to re-build the bottom of our rudder when a marina berth we were put in revealed a rock right under the rudder when the tide went out - Grrr; plus little spots from time to time that reveal shiny
gelcoat underneath where the yard did not sand before application - Grrr again !).
The application process is not difficult at all - just mix the resin and hardener 50/50, stir in the copper powder and roll it on. Of all the little touch-ups I have had to do over the years, they are hard or impossible to pick a year later once the copper has oxidised to the same patina.
I wonder if those who report issues have applied too thickly (so the copper powder sinks below the surface of the resin) or not enough coats, or it was not burnished correctly prior to launching.
All I can add is look at the success of the company - that has to tell you there are plenty of happy boaters out there, and I am one of them.
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