Jump to content

antifouling


Guest

Recommended Posts

Many people wish they could live with a paint job like yours KM but the problem is getting the special brushes, textured rollers that makes your finish especially unique

 

:think: :thumbup: :think: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

Link to post
Share on other sites
Hehe, I can usually tell it's used up by all the weed growth on it :wink:

 

And the best scraper then to use is a shapened spade, good handle grip, balanced and you avoid wearing the marine growth!

 

Just read another tip from Sailors Secrets. Collect polystyrene blocks from the seashore for free. Then a bucket of nice fine sand. Now you can sand the bottom for free. Especially useful in saving those cruising funds for rum and similar essentials.

Link to post
Share on other sites

hello

 

Strange you are still speaking of antifouling

more and more boats here in Noumea dont use any antifouling at all.

you just buy a plastic cover 10m by 8m in a warehouse put it around your boat with an opening at hte back. to be able to leave the marina.

 

In noumea there are more than 50 boats using this and they are very clean. my friend had his antifouling 2 years old on his aluminium boat when he clean it underwater and put his plastic thing.

4 years now and he tell me it looks like a three month old antifouling.

 

The story is to keep the light out of the hul and the closer it is the best it works.

 

So you put some plastic bottle arond the plastic to make it float arond your boat( not when sailing)and a door at the back you lift. easier with cruising boat than deep keel racer but young 11 got one too.

 

Ill try to do some photos;;;;;

Link to post
Share on other sites

That is going to be one heck of a big cover for some of us :)

Yes I have heard of this. Never seen anyone do it. And it does make sense and I have heard it works well. But the cover itself gets a bit growth on the outside of it, and it means more plastic in our rubbish dumps afterward. Whether that is better or worse than Anti-foul, who knows.

Oh by the way, you can place a small bilge pump at the bottom of the "bag" and suck the water out. The back then "sucks" against the hull and having no water in it, no growth and the cover really sucks against the hull and stays there.

Link to post
Share on other sites

There are a number of alternatives to paint. For example

 

http://www.ultrasonic-antifouling.com/u ... boats.html Not my cup of tea but I suppose it will work although it says not to be used on wooden boats.

 

http://www.brightspark.nl/site/anti-fouling%20(211).html This looks cool but is very expensive.

 

http://www.maxiglide.com Interesting concept.

 

And top points on a forum for imagination and out of the square thinking go to:

 

Something you may want to try is just car wax, a few coats of it. I have seen a 20 years old sailboat that only had such wax applied every year since new and the underwater gelcoat was still as new ! I believe this is only an option if the boat is hauled out of the water every fall but who knows, with more coats of wax, it could possibly last longer. Advantages are presumed as follow :

 

You save money

 

You protect the environnement

 

You preserve the look of your hull and make it available for a much better appreciation of its condition should you ever want to sell it.

 

You gain in performances !!!

 

Oh, and I almost forgot, you become the center of the discussions as other witness your audacity, boldly going were few have been before.

Link to post
Share on other sites

They are trying some sonic wizz bang device thing on a Pine Harbour Ferry (alloy) and have found it is staying a lot cleaner a lot longer, going faster and using less fuel. Word is they are about to fit it to all their boats.

 

But it has limits somewhat lower than the marketing would suggest. Isn't that a surprise.....knot.

Link to post
Share on other sites

lets be honest If these Sonic anti-fouling worked all the contaner ships, tankers etc would have them ! what do they use, traditional anti foulings

Link to post
Share on other sites

Two or three months back, PBO mag did a test on these things. I was really looking forward to reading the article. But when I did, I was really disapointed with the article. None of the evidence was anything you could take as being conclusive. In fact, most of what was fouling free was what you would expect from high turbulant area's on a hull anyway. If the things did indeed do anything, then it was very small localised areas. I really would have to say the same with the AKl ferry. A fast consistantly used vessel.

The real test would be to have two identical boats in the water, in the same marina in close proximity and to move around both boats together. Not practicle. So the next step would be two boats in same marina and covering same basic areas of the area and same speeds and same distances and same berth times.

Concerns I have with these systems. Top of the list is, they are really really expensive, so you should expect equivilant results for the price right? First concern from them is, Shellfish and plants don't have ears. It could be argued that shellfish can feel vibration, but no one has studied if sonic vibrations have any affect on them at all. As for Algae, there is no scientific study to say they are affected at all. There has been statments made by makers and by readers of thier info that the sonic sound makes tiny bubbles. to be able to do that, you have to have such intense power, there is no way these devices can do what they are saying they can. Maybe, just maybe the face if the transducer itself can vibrate high enough. But here is a argument against. Has anyone seen the face of thier sounder transducer clean as a whistle upon haulout??? That is any unpainted one that is. Well these things produce sonic vibrations also. The most common normal operating area (some commercial and special products operate outside the normal) is anywhere from 50Khz up to 200Khz. But they also produce sound right down into audible areas purely by the mechanical properties being affected by intense magnetic pulses. You can hear the clicks from each pulse in otherwords.

Lets go back to the evidence then. Well so far, what I have studied is that if there is indeed any affect from these things, it seems to be very directional. The entire Hull is not cleaned. Only areas very close and in direct clear line of sight. This is actually true in how very high frequency propagates. So that could be read as evidence that sound does in fact work. If I give it the benifit of the doubt and say it does, then that leads us to the problem that it is not a device that covers the entire hull well. In fact one article I read suggested the device being used in conjuction with Anti-foul coatings. Well at the cost, you may as well just use the really expensive 3 and 5 yr coatings available.

But I have also found that those area's they say that are clean, tend to be worded like, significantly reduced growth. But those areas still have some growth. And to add, those areas always seem to be the high turbulant areas, like leading edges and propellors. They seem to place the transducers so they fire at these areas, but at the same time, could one expect the same result on these areas without the transducer anyway.

Even in tank applications, which is where this technology first entered the market place, it ahs been very debatable as to the effectiveness and even if they work full stop. So till someone can come out with a detailed scientific test and result, my jury says I'm not buying the idea.

Link to post
Share on other sites
lets be honest If these Sonic anti-fouling worked all the contaner ships, tankers etc would have them ! what do they use, traditional anti foulings

 

 

antifoul - but speced to last at least 5years, and it does last five years when applied correctly.

Have come across a very slippery "antifoul" that is very very expensive to apply, I was told the vessel had had the stuff applied something like 15 years ago, there was no growth on the hull. She was a high speed vessel and that speed was part of the hull staying clean, they did have her alongside for about a month and a slime developed but after her first run the hull was clean again

 

on another issue Cathodic protection is dealt with in different ways.

some use the traditional "Zincs" and some use impressed cathodic protection, an electical system that balances / the natural field that the vessel generates, someone else can explain it far better than me. Smallest vessel I have worked on that had this system was a 66m long AHTS

Link to post
Share on other sites

The real test would be to have two identical boats in the water, in the same marina in close proximity and to move around both boats together.

 

That's what they did with the PH ferries. There was some scepticism by all so they fitted a unit to one boat, tweaked it and then ran for a while. As all boats are identical and used identically they had a good measure.

 

Units now going in all boats so that would suggest someone did see a benefit in having them. And knowing the price of these units, roughly, I'd say they must have found quite a big benefit as they ain't cheap. I believe the units do have limitations and some hull constructions / materials used don't suit anywhere near as well, if at all, than some others. The PH boats are all alloy.

 

They can make antifouling paint to last a lot longer than it does. It just appears they don't want too.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello

Well, here in noumea you dont get much chance to keep anifouling more than one year befre barnacles.

The cost of plastic thing is about 500$ if you go with a professional sewing it. Last about two years.

 

 

And especially clean for propellers as nothing works in hot water on aluminium or bronze.

most of aluminium boats used them as there isnt good antifouling for aluminium boats.

Some racers too as the hull stay clean as a two month antifouling"

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Dry Reach
Well I'll be f*cked, cos whatshisname Brown(?) from Altex said thin it but no more than 10%. If you're using a roller you'll get a better finish this way. PS, I've been thinning my antifouling for years and providing you stick to an absolute maximum of 10% you'll be fine. Of course perhaps 2 years for an ablative isn't very long but I thought it was pretty good!

 

But if you don't want to thin it then don't. :D

 

OK I edited my bad language. :lol:

 

 

Well that Bad Ass whathisname was correct. Apparently...you may have to thin in conditions where the product is drying to fast as to result in difficult application and or poor finish (roller or brush marks...). Every reputable producer of paint has a Thinning recomendation to allow all paint to be applied to spec in varying conditions from very cold to extremely hot.

 

Thixotropic paints and high solid paints need thinning for brush and roller application or the end result (in a hot humid )will be less than satisfactory.

 

In cool conditions you can apply A/fouls without thinning and with the correct roller, loading the roller up as mush as possible, and applying a max film build so as to allow the product to flow you can get excellent finishes. Spreading the product to thin will always result in fast "set up" and leave roller / brush marks.

 

 

 

Wheels is right for Airless spray (60:1 pump or bigger) where these units need no thinning of paint to go tru them and produce great results. I would always use A/foul unthinned with a airless unit and an airless spray unit is the best and 1st choice for getting the best smoothest result (when applied correctly)

 

But for pressure pot units you will need to thin to get the product thru even the biggest of tips.

 

But remember to thin with the correct thinner and no more than 10% ( or the solids will drop out of the product real quick )...Apparently.

Link to post
Share on other sites
wanting to know a approx price to anti-foul a 30ft yacht :?:

 

and how to do it, do you need to sand right back or not

 

cheers

 

Give Jim a call at the Westpark Marina hardstand. I just got a great deal on the full monty for my 42fter,

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Dry Reach
I guess that is one major Bonus with being here. Lift, waterblast, AF, anode and splash usually a day or two later is about $1K for my 45ft.

 

 

and without any Aucklanders around :thumbup: :lol: ... while looking out towards the sounds!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...