Following my previous post "Damaged Centrerboard", and following the arrival of the brand new hanger assembly courtesy of Colin Winter, the time has come for me to start the repairs on the board and trunk, and lift it back into the boat.
So what anti-fouling paint should I apply for the board, and (eventually) the whole underside of the boat? I know everyone has their own preferences, but the boat already has some sort of anti-fouling which the PO told me was Copper-Tek. This was applied in 2012 apparently, and although Copper-Tek has a 10-year guarantee the boat's hull arrived covered in barnacles and weed. I did comment on this, but when the PO contacted Copper-Tek they told him it was probably down to poor preparation, which I'm quite prepared to believe. Copper-Tek also seems quite laborious to apply and quite expensive too.
As the boat is going to be mostly trailered off for a week's cruising and then returned to storage, it won't be sitting in water for months on end. However, I want to take advantage of the fact that I can lift the keel, beach the boat, and let it dry out between tides, so perhaps some covering that will be more resilient to abrasion than others?
Any suggestions most welcome.
If you are only going to be in the water for no more than a week or so I would be tempted not to antifoul at all. Unless you are in an exceptionally high fouling area a pressure wash after a week to 10 days sailing should be sufficient.
I have had good results with Blakes in the past but as the contents of antifoul have become less potent over the years due to concerns about marine pollution none of them seem to work particularly well. My mooring stage is unfortunately next to a field drain outfall and I have a considerable covering by the end of the season.
That is a pity as I was seriously thinking of applying Copper Tek in the new year. Hope the PO had the hull 'sandblasted' down to the gel coat before applying, after which, so I am told, it is fairly straight forward but a bit arduous.
10 years of not having to apply anti fouling seems very appealing and cost effective.
That said, I would suggest a hard anti-fouling suitable for motor boats . That what what I was told so I pass it on on that basis. I applied a primer/undercoat before painting, gave it 2 coats and just presure hose it down occasionally. It has lasted 2 years so far but as I am still in the water, I haven't had a good look since June so don't know what the state is now.
Thanks for the replies; one of the reasons I want to give it a coat of anti-fouling (or at least a good hard-wearing paint, polyurethane perhaps?) is because it looks so terrible at the moment. There are also some patches which have flaked off exposing a very clean white gel-coat, and I'm not sure whether to use filler on these areas, or sand them down and just repaint. I think the answer would be as you suggest Simon, and have it sand-blasted and start from scratch, but I'm trying to avoid too much cost obviously, and this sounds like a professional job for sure. Pictures of my less than beautiful underside ;) follow...
2014-10-27 12_opt
2014-10-27 12_opt (1)
I have used copper coat in the past and it is indeed all about the preparation, This was on a new boat so I had to lightly scour the surface and apply a primer coat before application. Copper coat is very expensive and could get damaged with frequent launches and road movement when towing. It did last a long time and I have a clean hull even after 5 years but I was in a relatively low fouling area in a Jersey marina. I think that your first hull picture looks like a normal hull after pressure washing and I would just apply my antifoul on to that. In your second picture there looks to be a little damage to the gel coat which would benefit from a repair. There are some excellent gel coat repair videos on You Tube that I have found most useful.
We keep our boat on the Hamble which has a reputation for high levels of weed growth. The boat next to us in the marina keep their tender in the water and it is amazing how much weed grows on the bottom of their tender which they have to clean every 2 weeks in the summer. International Micron Extra 2 has worked very well for us. It is not the cheapest but for us it has worked very well. The last application lasted for 2 seasons as stated in the International marketing materials. From the photos though it looks as if the hull needs a good sanding down first. I would also check on the International website to see if the anti-foul can be applied to copperxxx or whether a primer is needed. International also sell an epoxy filler which is easy to use to fill in the gouges/scratches.
Would anyone be able to tell me what is the area in square metres of the anti-fouled part of the hull on a 26X, please? I may be able to pick up some anti-fouling at the Boat Show and I'll need to know the area to calculate the quantity. Unless someone can just give me the number of litres from past experience?
I seem to remember there was a post (by Rick maybe?) with all the dimensions of a Mac 26X, but couldn't find it!