I need to antifoul, boat currently has Micron 66, having just acquired the boat and intending to keep it for many years I am considering copper coat. Read all the forums and watched all the youtube video's and it seems to be a cost effective solution ( in the long run) with some environmental benefits if applied correctly and a big disaster if not.

Another boat I looked at prior to the one I purchased had copper coat and the owners were very pleased with it's performance, it was close to 10 years old, been around the world and no sign of failing.

I am considering engaging a professional to apply the product if I go ahead with it as concerned I may botch it myself. Any one have experience with the product or know of a business/contactor in SE Qld that is experienced in applying it.

Hello Cammd,
no personal experience, but I'll watch this space as I'm interested too! On big cost is the prep required before you begin with copper coat. I've gone 1/2 way away from Micron or ablative coatings. My region is renown for barnacle growth, and I found ablative would be rubbed off with the scrapping required every 3-months or less. So using a hard AF applied last Xmas still fouls the same, but is not destroyed by hand scrapping or rubbing with a scotch pad. I scrapped and sanded my previous 10 years of AF off first, using a industrial orbital with appropriate dust extraction was hard yakka, in the end I broke up the coating with a hand scraper, then sanded. 4-days later I happy with the surface then sone barrier coat the AF spiced up with some extra CU
you won't need the barrier coat so one step less I guess. But I believe your copper coat needs a burnish after drying to expose/activate the copper particles. You would want to leave barriers from rudder bearing and sail drives etc.

First day of sanding!

cheers Richard

Have a search in the "Sailing Britican" channel on the tube, they put Coppercoat on and had major problems with it and it had been applied by professionals. It was so bad in their opinion that the company sent a tech rep out to inspect and supervise the re-do.

I've never used Coppercoat. Friend of mine has it on his boat and stuck it out a few years before reverting back to an eroding antifoul. The yacht has to come out on a regular basis for a rub down to expose the copper and do all the usual stuff anyway. I have seen plenty of yachts on the local slips having the copper coat over painted with antifoul. I'm sure there are success stories out there somewhere.

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LooseChange said..
Have a search in the "Sailing Britican" channel on the tube, they put Coppercoat on and had major problems with it and it had been applied by professionals. It was so bad in their opinion that the company sent a tech rep out to inspect and supervise the re-do.

Yeah I have watched that video done by Sailing Britican and that is a scenario I would not like to be in however thousand's of boats use the product successfully so one horror story doesn't cancel out all the successful applications.

Its a tough decision, I want to believe it will perform as advertised, I have spoken to different people with different opinions on it and that makes it difficult to decide as its a big call, the prep work seems to be difficult and expensive and even the application is labor intensive not to mention the product itself.

I have 5 kids that are adults so I can recruit some cheap labor to apply it myself but thinking a soda blast or use of professional services to remove the old antifoul would be in order. Sucking in Micron 66 for a few days while sanding doesn't sound appealing and not sure of the effectiveness of a chemical stripper.

Other issue I have right now is time, booked into a bike ride up to the Cape in a few weeks and that has taken a chunk of my leave, booked it before I bought the boat. I would like a week or more up my sleeve to make sure all the prep work is done correctly rather than be in a rush so I am thinking maybe just a quick in and out antifoul this time around and be better prepared next time to give the copper coat a go.

Three of my friends have used their own version of copper coat on their cats. They use normal epoxy with more copper than copper coat. I was just talking to a friend who has had his on for 6 years - but he scrapes it every month. He doesn't sand it, just scrapes it. Another friend has had his since he launched his cat 14 years ago. BUt he needs to scrape it still.
The work to get rid of old antifoul is considerable. One used a wallpaper remover and that seemed to work okay and was non toxic. But it took him about a week. I would think that substantial time is required.
I am presently running down my antifoul. I sand it once a month, hoping to reduce the amount on the hulls when I slip her in September. I will add my own West system 105 copper coat and then get set to sand it every few months. Cats are a pain to slip in NSW so we have extra incentive to use a coating that does not require regular refreshing. That said my mate with the 6 year job is going to put two new coats on now that he is out of the water.

I applied Copper Coat to one of my previous boats, an Adams 10, which was a hell of a job, very expensive and very time consuming making sure we did it all by the book.. The finished job looked fabulous and we had no problems with the the product on the boat except it was crap as an anti fouling. We tried the lite sanding to reactive the copper which made bugger all difference. To keep the boat with a clean bottom for racing, we had to wash the boat before each race especially in summer , being no better than a cheap hard antifouling. It may work better in colder water but in Moreton bay (Scarborough Harbour) where the water temperature in the harbour can be up to 30deg in summer it was a total waist of money and time. I have been using Micron 66 and now International Micron AP and getting far better performance giving me 3 years between antifouling. I am currently at 2 years and the bottom is perfect. To keep the bottom in tip top condition I do have a diver give the bottom a wipe over each month. My advice is to stick with a quality antifouling.

Thanks everyone for taking time to reply, appreciate the tips and hearing your experiences.

Jode5 I was having a look at a photo of your Hanse, pretty sure mine was its next door neighbour until recently.

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Kankama said..
Three of my friends have used their own version of copper coat on their cats. They use normal epoxy with more copper than copper coat. I was just talking to a friend who has had his on for 6 years - but he scrapes it every month. He doesn't sand it, just scrapes it. Another friend has had his since he launched his cat 14 years ago. BUt he needs to scrape it still.
The work to get rid of old antifoul is considerable. One used a wallpaper remover and that seemed to work okay and was non toxic. But it took him about a week. I would think that substantial time is required.
I am presently running down my antifoul. I sand it once a month, hoping to reduce the amount on the hulls when I slip her in September. I will add my own West system 105 copper coat and then get set to sand it every few months. Cats are a pain to slip in NSW so we have extra incentive to use a coating that does not require regular refreshing. That said my mate with the 6 year job is going to put two new coats on now that he is out of the water.

What sort of copper are you using to make the brew and at what ratio ? I'm thinking it might be good on trailer boats that get left in the water for the odd month or so & dragged up a beach now and then

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cammd said..
Thanks everyone for taking time to reply, appreciate the tips and hearing your experiences.

Jode5 I was having a look at a photo of your Hanse, pretty sure mine was its next door neighbour until recently.

Cammd, yes your boat has been parked beside me for a few years. It will be good to see the boat being used as it hasn't been used for a quite a number of years. With a little TLC you should have a good boat.