Coppercoat Antifouling

[ChrisH]

Hi,
We are considering using Coppercoat antifouling next year.

The plus side should be reduced fouling, a smoother hull therefore better speed (always a dubious claim!), reduced maintenance - it only needs hosing off and abrading each year, and a long life - ten years plus claimed. Also, if it fouls with mud a quick hose should fix it, that is if you haven't used the boat in the meantime.

The minus side is initial cost - just over 600 quid for our Quest 31 - plus all the old antifouling has to be removed first. Having said that about cost, last years antifouling bill was about 180 quid. Weight should not be a problem as I have been told that for our boat the quantity I will need weighs in at 20 kilo, which is not far off what 2 x 2.5 litre tins of usual antifoul would weigh I guess.

Our berth is a mud berth at springs, floats the tide round at neaps, up at Fareham which is Barnacle City it seems!

Anyone any experience of using Coppercoat?

Anyone got any comments about going down this route.

Chris

[zoar]

Hi, we copperbottomed Zoar, 37' Elite, last July while doing a partial re fit, the thoughts being that if we get into the med, she is in Brittany at present, we would not need to haul out etc for many years. I was pleased with the application other than we suffered trying to get two days without rain, also the big rollers provided with the 'paint' made very heavy going for a man and wife job, six coats continuous mixing and painting was really hard going and if possible better to enlist a couple of helpers. I found small normal anti foul type rollers far easier but the job was half complete before I gave up with big ones.
We have not launched yet so don't know its anti foul capabilities but most reports indicate that I wont need to do that job again, and it's a nice smooth bottom. good luck B and B 'ZOAR'

[ChrisH]

Hi,
How did you remove all the old antifouling? CopperCoat said it all had to be removed, which is logical as it is a two pack which will not go over a single pack normal antifouling, and so I will have to go right back to the epoxy (two pack) primer and hope not to remove that, but I'm not looking forward to it.

I didn't really consider the big rollers to be hard work but now you mention it it seems obvious!. Hummm! And SIX coats? CopperCoat say just four is required. At least you will have a good layer!

Regards, Chris

[zoar]

removed all the old antfoul with a Harken! scraper and sharp woodplane blade wrapped in cloth to save the hands, needs to be sharp. The sound VC tar below remained but the not so well applied came off, which did not worry me because obviously spending the money on the CB you need to know it's going to stay on. I then abraided and applied more VC tar before the copper, CB worked out how much I would need and I just kept applying until it was all used up, which probably meant that I was too thin at times but that saved any problem with runs, and kept a nice smooth hull.
The large thin foam rollers supplied, which I was washing between mixes, did not stand up very well, and the washing out between mixes was a pain in the butt, the smaller rollers made life much easier, I have always removed back to gel coat/epoxy the anti foul whenever I have bought a boat so that part of the job was no problem, I like to start from scratch if you know what I mean.

[ChrisH]

Hi Zoar,

Just looking back on the exchange of messages re CopperCoat. We haven't done it this year for several reasons but now possibly next spring will do so, if the necessary readies can be found!

How long did it take you scrape back the old antifouling? We have had a quote of 'soft' blasting which would remove the old antifoul but not the epoxy primer underneath and it all adds to the cost, like another £460!, so thinking of doing it by hand (well, we are retired now).

Also, how has the Coppercoat performed in action?

Are you now down the Med or still in Brittany? We have a place there and a mooring in South Brittany has a certain attraction, like being warmer than the UK.

Kind regards, Chris

[MORA]

Hey sailors, any news till now about your experience with Coppercoat?
For me, one of the most positive aspects of Coppercoat should be that you can haul your boat for different periods a year and the antifouling shoul remain well.

Mora - a Snowgoose in Ionian Greece

[Ianca]

We applied Coppercoat to our 1989 Elite this summer. The hull was gritblasted to remove heaven knows how many layers of antifoul & previous non branded copper antifoul. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how many pinhole & larger faults in the gel coat the shot blasting exposed, these were not Osmosis just faults in the layup. All had to be filled & sanded after which 2 coats of Coppercoat recommended Epoxy paint was applied. A light sanding again & then 5 coats of Coppercoat applied, all 5 as you know have to be applied in one day. At least with a Cat you can do one hull at a time!
My wife & I did one hull alone, too big a job, we managed but believe me it is hard work. Mixing just 1/2 pack at a time because any more & the 2 of you cannot apply it quick enough before it starts to harden. The 2nd hull we recuited a fast working friend ( I mixed 1 full pack at a time) but even with his help I think it took us about 8 hours.
We used at least 8 rollers on each hull, Coppercoat supplied these, I think they were 7'' & even they get very heavy after a while.
We are pleased with the finish, no runs, no orange peel & no fouling so far. The cost of the job was about £600 for the shot blast, I think we used 13 packs of Coppercoat at about £75 per pack, a bit under £1000. Epoxy paint 2 x 5 litre was about £200. Epoxy filler was about £100.
My wife & I are in our late fifties so maybe we made hard work of the job, who knows! The local chandlers told us a proffesional boat yard would have charged £7000 for the job so that cheered me up!

[MORA]

Has anyone experienced if Coppercoat have really been worked for many years?

[François]

I read that many have applied, with great pain, this copper bottom protection. What was the result?

[Snow Goose dreamin']

I read that many have applied, with great pain, this copper bottom protection. What was the result?

i have no personal experience with the copper coat. it has interested me and i have poked around the net. it seams there are severely mixed results. some have had horrible things to say and show pix of bad growth. while there are others that seam to be satisfied. i would say expand your info request to the web in general youtube and google as there is a lot of info out there. i tend to think that many of the bad experiences have been due to not following the proper preprep/application and prep before launch. but i have also seen comments indicating that copper will slow the growth of most but if hard stuff does grow it can be a real pain to get off as the epoxy base is rock solid. unlike a sloughing antifouling