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Hard Antifoul


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I have vivid on my boat, it’s not a true hard antifoul but it’s excellent stuff. Hard enough to stand up to scrubbing but soft enough that it falls off when spent.

That looks to be an Aluminium- safe product,ie no copper, the bulb is the worst part of the boat for barnacles, I'm not sure it would work out for my situation.You have given me a thought though, perhaps copper coat might do the trick.

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I have a 930 like SMU and currently have # 10. I'm moving to vivid as it is the next best thing. It is great as it availble in smaller volumes than many of the other brands. Reality is that due to Ministry of Environment concerns around Heavy metals the AF products are arguably not as effective as they once were. Vivid is a so called semi ablative...it is quite soft but it works. I have had a trial on our rudder blade in Marlborough and am impressed with its performance thus far.

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That looks to be an Aluminium- safe product,ie no copper, the bulb is the worst part of the boat for barnacles, I'm not sure it would work out for my situation.You have given me a thought though, perhaps copper coat might do the trick.

Copper coat's main weakness is probably against barnacles, so if you are looking to apply it specifically to deal with barnacles, you may be disappointing. This is based on my own experience with CC. In saying that, the barnacles seem particularly verilent this / last season. I haven't heard of any AF that is effective for them. Doesn't BoI have major issues with barnacle spawn?

 

Also, the surface prep is significant to apply copper coat. It is a 10 yr plus product, so you have to get the substrate tip top perfect. If you are planning on doing the whole hull its one thing, but just doing specific patches could be a pain. It does need a different maintenance regime to regular AF. Basically it gets a light film of silt / growth on it quickly, and stays like that for a long time (i.e. doesn't really get much heavier layer over many months). Not a problem if your cruising, but if you want a perfectly clean bum for racing, you need to wipe it down regularly. Complete hard product though, so you can scrub it with anything you want, as often as you want.

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We used ultra 2 on Kick which is supposedly a hard anti foul? Lasted 6 months and had to apply another 2 coats and we are now another 6 months down the track and she needs it again.... very dissapointed!

 

Best product i have used was vivid petit as i would get 12-14months.

 

Boat comes out in October for a full bottom job so will be trying something different again

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Pretty much my experience too with DIY copper epoxy.

I thought I could keep up the clean/ burnishing, but ahh, not so much.

Migrated to micron ultra2

We don't bother with the burnishing. I haven't noticed any difference with it.

Use a couple of plastic plastering trowels to clean the hull down, and a hose off. Steel putty knife for the stickier barnacles.

We do often give it a once over with a scotchbrite pad, that is mainly to get the last of the really sticky biofilm off. That might be anough to burnish it, but we certainly don't try and burnish it. Not sure if its to do with the CC, but there is a type of particularly sticky biofilm that grows on it. Waterblasting was slow and noise, hence the plastic scrappers. Once dried out on piles, its a quick job to clean the hull, maybe an hr or 2. Then have a cup of tea while the tide comes back in.

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We used ultra 2 on Kick which is supposedly a hard anti foul? Lasted 6 months and had to apply another 2 coats and we are now another 6 months down the track and she needs it again.... very dissapointed!

 

Best product i have used was vivid petit as i would get 12-14months.

 

Boat comes out in October for a full bottom job so will be trying something different again

I used Ultra 2 last year. Have had on for 12 months and only waterblasted once. Not racing though. That was at Pine Harbour for 6 months then Whitianga for 6 months.

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Did you blast the Ultra2 dry docked or scrub in water?

And, how often?

Never blasted, just soft pad in the water.

 

It would come off in clouds! Good thing is there isnt much left so easy for the bottom job we are about to do!

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