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Hard Antifoul


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Apparently the ggr boats that got really fouled on their way around the world had coppercoat on them.

 

We use ultra, with about a 1m square patch of vivid around the sail drive to keep the copper away from the sail drive.

 

I find that the vivid fouls more quickly than the ultra next to it, but also that the vivid seems to stand up to cleaning better and last longer overall. I mostly swim and clean with a soft brush but we get a couple of waterblasts each year too.

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Apparently the ggr boats that got really fouled on their way around the world had coppercoat on them.

 

That is partly correct.

From the May 2019 issue of Yachting World, page 84:

Uku Randmaa (251 days, lost 20 kg body weight) used the same antifoul as Van Den Heede (winner).

 

Randmaa was severely affected by goose barnacles, Van Den Heede wasn't. 

 

Quoting from the article:

 

"Randmaa applied one coat of Seajet Shogun before the start in Les Sables d'Olonne.

 

Van den Heede applied 4 coats of Seajet, three base layers of self-polishing Shogun and a final topcoat of Platinum, which contains an anti-slime agent called Zineb.

Van den Heede also kept his hull covered with tarps - a technique popular in the 1970's, which resembles a 30ft tent drawn up around the boat, containing chlorine to kill microorganisms that turn into biofouling.

 

"A number of skippers reported problems with barnacles, despite having applied Coppercoat's epoxy based antifoul.

A Coppercoat spokesperson pointed out that the company has no knowledge of how well the product was applied. Correct application requires five thin coats to be applied wet-on-tacky, all in the same day in warm conditions. 

"No competitors contacted us before the race to use Coppercoat", said Ewan Clarke of Coppercoat. "We heard of one that didn't do it properly."

 

End quote.

On a personal note, we have been surprised at the number of times we have had to explain the importance of following the directions to people when applying coppercoat. This is fundamental to getting the product to work, and to adhere to the hull properly. I would have thought it the same with any other marine paint product. Attention to detail...

The main issue is mixing the pot every time you put the roller in it. In addition to getting the weather / application conditions right. With a heavy suspension of metal in the liquid, it will drop out of suspension if you don't mix it, meaning you apply patches of product with no active compound in it. The short story is it is essential to have at least one (or two or three) paint stirrers on a power drill. Trying to cut corners, or do as you normally do with conventional AF, such as stir with a wooden paddle by hand etc, will lead to disappointment. We applied our own CC.

 

The attention to detail bit fascinates me. The big example being van den Heede. Big attention to detail, made the difference in this case. Randmaa used the same AF as van den Heede, the difference between winning and a cluster-f*ck was the attention to detail...

 

As a note, the Clipper Round the World Fleet use Coppercoat, CC use the Clipper boats for all their ads in the UK sailing magazines.

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It is not suitable for ppl that dislike detail.

 

Life can be cruel sometimes...

 

I thought you made a homemade thing with West 105?

Its hardly coppercoat if you made it yourself. And if its too hard to sand off, it will be ideal for barnacle basis to stick to, they'd get ideal adhesion. 

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I have brought some of the new gen Tri-lux 2 , it is a hard AF for anything Aluminium and has some sort of Copper based compound in it. I'm no chemist but I guess  it is in some form where It won't cause the Aluminium to corrode, we will see how it goes on the bulb and the sail drive.

 

Speaking of which what do folks recommend for gluing the fairing Boot to the hull ? I have used one of the Sikaflex compounds in the past it was OK but still needs re-doing after 4 - 5 seasons.

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I helped a mate apply it on his 40 cat all in one day and followed the rules. Very happy with the results and performance up the tamaki river. And a very smooth finish that was noticeably faster. Yes we still had to scrub occasionally but it wasn’t hard and it didn’t remove the coating. Going through the whole Antifoul process every year is a pain.

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