Has anyone used Harken McLube Antifoul Speed Polish

[rossd 16]

I know it is designed for racing boats but I am going to have to make a decision to antifoul or not when I put my yacht on a  mooring in Raglan harbour. The problem is there is no haulout facilities here so if I use comventional antifoul I have a big problem in a year or 2 when it needs redoing. The yacht is a bilge keeler so can sit on the bottom for a sponge off. How many weeks would I get out of this Harken stuff if applied on a good smooth epoxy finish? .  

[w44vi 17]

The manufacture says it lasts for days or even weeks 

[harrytom 642]

having a bilge keeler in raglan with no haul out facilities,why not go the extra expense and apply coppercoat,then you only need to beach boat for wipe down,should get more than 5 yrs from coppercoat.(something i need to think about.)

[rossd 16]

5 Years now you are talking. I will look into that. Expense may be worth it. Thanks 

[Fish 0]

We've got copper coat on in the Weiti River, and so far it is the bomb. Think it is about 2 years old, and is performing better than the old ablative International stuff we used to use.

Manufacturer claims ten years. It's a two pot epoxy with real copper dust in it. It is possible to apply it yourself but it is essential to get the timing of each coat just right, must go on wet on tacky. Limited pot life, we wrote down the time every pot was mixed (1 litre at a time, 12 litres for the job I think) and kept very close attention to painting times etc. two of us did a 37 footer, was on the verge of needing three people. Also protects against osmosis. You do need to do a mint as clean back before applying, I.e. New interprotect or whatever undercoat system you use.

 

I think we last dried out in January 2014 for a water blast, boat has had very little use, and there is just a moderate layer of slime, no grass, no mussels, looking very good.

[Black Panther 1,584]

How did the cost compare Fish?

[Fish 0]

Well I can't remember the exact details (I can't even remember if we applied it before or after number one was born, who is two tomorrow) but I do recall on cost of the product alone it had a five year payback on the International antifoul, assume a 2 yearly application of the regular antifoul and ignoring all the sundry haul out costs and faffing / time component of doing regular antifoul.

 

I beleive the International we were using cost about $600 for the boat, and the copper coat came to about $1,400, excluding sundries like rollers etc

As stated in the previous post, we applied it ourselves. Copper coat may have a reputation for being comedy expensive if you have it applied professionally for you - that was going to cost an eye watering amount. Chuck on a professional preparation job to that, I.e. Removing all old antifoul and re undercoating the sub strait, and the cost got into moon beams. Depends on your approach to boat ownership and maintenance I guess, apparently some people get their boats cleaned and antifouled professionally all the time. That would be great but we couldn't afford a boat if we did that.

 

Doing it yourself makes it a viable and cost effective option. You do need to be competent, understand what you are doing regards the two pot and procedure, and have sufficient competent labour on the day, but it is possible to do a good quality application yourself.

 

We are expecting it to last 10 years, and the early indications are good. Having not used the boat for a full 12 months there is only a moderate amount of slime on it, very impressive for a river with a reputation for fouling. The last lot of International had hair and barnacles growing after 6 months ...