Is Coppercoat anti foul worth it?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

You didn't answer my question. Why does a boat with a particular product in Austrailia have to be repainted yearly but a boat with the identical product in California only need repainting every 3 years? Luck certainly has nothing to do with it and to infer as much is fairly ridiculous.

Good question, I would be delighted with only painting the hull every 3 years rather than annually. The question is what paint to use to achieve this that is readily available in the UK and what maintenance regime is required to keep the hull clean. My yacht would still have to be dried out annually to check the anodes but that is a lot less work than painting it every year. Sadly I haven't yet found the winning solution and looking around the boat yards each spring nor have my fellow sailors.

Pete

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Probably not, Practical Sailor will want to protect their content.

Peter

And will want to keep their advertisers. But that's only my opinion.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Pete7

The question is what paint to use to achieve this that is readily available in the UK and what maintenance regime is required to keep the hull clean.

In California, only the softest ablatives (think Pettit Vivid and Interlux Trilux 33) and a few thin-film vinyl paints typically give a year or less of good service. Pretty much all other products are going to perform relatively well for two or three years or more. This, of course means cleaning these products regularly and frequently- here in the Bay Area that means 4-6 times per year and in Southern California expect 12-15 cleanings annually. While that may seem like an expensive maintenance regimen, the cost of annual haul outs and bottom jobs is far greater, I assure you.

Originally Posted by Pete7

My yacht would still have to be dried out annually to check the anodes but that is a lot less work than painting it every year.

Hauling out merely to check the anodes? That's crazy talk, I tell you!

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Roger that. Wierd since Practical Sailor has done all these tests and reported them over and over again. Why duplicate what is already available, and under controlled conditions? Suspicious to say the most.

In addition to what others have said I think it's important to point out that fstbttms plans to clean one of the test panels quarterly, something that was not done in the PS comparisons and will provide data that more closely mimics real-world practice.

[Salty Mike]

How bout you folks in Fla and the Caribbean how often do you clean your bottoms?


On your boats.

[Rustic Charm]

Well, I've finally got the Coppercoat on.

The first coat went on almost transparently. The second coat a little better. The 3rd coat was just about a complete coat with hardly any primer showing and the fourth coat entirely covered the hull. It took 12 Litres as initially worked out, though I had half a litre go óff' on me and had to be thrown away. Mixing was not difficult at all, but to make adding the copper easy, it required two people. I had four people rolling. 36 foot boat took 4 hours to do. fingers crossed.

I have to sand it before going in the water. I'll put up some more pictures next winter when she comes out for a clean which will be around the 14 month mark.

[reed1v]

Uh oh, the first coat was almost transparent? Does not sound quite right.

[Salty Mike]

Thats down right purdy..

[Wotname]

RC, did you use any thinners and if so, how much?

[four winds]

Originally Posted by Salty Mike

How bout you folks in Fla and the Caribbean how often do you clean your bottoms?


On your boats.

On the gulf side up to the panhandle. Using hard paint.

About every month, maybe five weeks, I scrape very small barnacles that cover the hull down to about a foot below the waterline. Below that there are very few and scatered about randomly. If the sun shines more on one side than the other because of prevailing winds and staying in the same anchorage for a while I can tell the sunny side has more.

I free dive and only go to the keel bottom every other cleaning. It wears me out and not needed anyway. Always dive the prop and shaft and check anodes.

Paint is a year old now and always the same need except the first couple of months were mostly slime only.

One thing I noticed, with the new bottom paint they don't grow big and appear grey. Not healthy and scrape off very easily.

In the colder months the need occurs after maybe 7-8 weeks. Not as thick as well.

Just cleaned it the other day. Brrrrrrr. But heading out tomorrow for an offshore overnighter to Ft. Myers area.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Uh oh, the first coat was almost transparent? Does not sound quite right.

Its exactly what the manafacturers advise will happen, and if you go to the site, have a look at the application video, the same thing happens.

The first coat is a bugger to get on. Play with it too much and it lifts.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Wotname

RC, did you use any thinners and if so, how much?

Recommended thinner is max 5% which is 50ml. The tech guy recommnded trying to get away without using any. But it was hot here so the first coat we used 45ml. But, the first coat then took an hour to dry enough to put the second coat on. With the second coat i made up one litre with zero thinner, but then two of my volunteers complained it was too hard to roll. So, then i tried 20ml and they though it was great, so from then on we used 20ml. With 20 ml's we only had to wait 15-20 minutes to start the next coat.

The thinner is just iso ethonal, alcohol, which i purchased from local cleaning wholesaler, which was $36 for four litrs. I used it to clesn the hull before first coat too.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Recommended thinner is max 5% which is 50ml. The tech guy recommnded trying to get away without using any. But it was hot here so the first coat we used 45ml. But, the first coat then took an hour to dry enough to put the second coat on. With the second coat i made up one litre with zero thinner, but then two of my volunteers complained it was too hard to roll. So, then i tried 20ml and they though it was great, so from then on we used 20ml. With 20 ml's we only had to wait 15-20 minutes to start the next coat.

The thinner is just iso ethonal, alcohol, which i purchased from local cleaning wholesaler, which was $36 for four litrs. I used it to clesn the hull before first coat too.

Interesting...
The WA tech guy told me to use 5 to 10% thinners (ethanol) otherwise he wouldn't guarantee it's performance.

And yes, the first coat was both hard to apply and almost transparent.

Nice job

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Interesting...
The WA tech guy told me to use 5 to 10% thinners (ethanol) otherwise he wouldn't guarantee it's performance.

And yes, the first coat was both hard to apply and almost transparent.

Nice job

The written guidelines if using a roller is a max of 5% (15 to 20 % for spraying) . I think David is the WA tech guy and he suggested to me trying not to use any. He said he usually doesn't use any himself.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

The written guidelines if using a roller is a max of 5% (15 to 20 % for spraying) . I think David is the WA tech guy and he suggested to me trying not to use any. He said he usually doesn't use any himself.

How weird!

The tech guy came out to supervise the application ( 80km round trip) and was insistent that the thinners must be used - not so much for application but for the in water performance.

His explanation was the thinners were required to insure the cured epoxy was ever so slightly porous - it flashes off during curing leaving voids in the epoxy which allows geater contact of the seawater with the copper.

I have no idea if this is dinkum but it sounded propable

Regardless, I am happy with its performace and it has been in the water 6 years and on the boat maybe 8 or 9 years.