Antifoul

[Wedger]

Time to make up our minds as to the most appropriate antifoul to apply.

 

We're not sure what's on there at the moment as we left on what was there when we bought her. That said observations tell us it IS quite toxic as the grass under her died whilst she was layed up. Secondly it is quite a hard finish as it's been on fo at least three years to our knowledge. Very little fouling this year........ just a little slime that sprayed off in half an hour even after 8 months in he drink. It's looking patchy now and rough where new has been topped on old without much prep. (before we had her)

 

Any opinions out there on what might be best practice and material?

 

Ah yes.....and

mooring will remain on the river, mainly fresh water, for now.

[great white]

Not sure what works best in the fresh water of the river, It may pay to talk to Owen in the boat shop or the lads at the yacht Club at wick.

 

I am using Black International interspeed extra, but its too early to know how good a choice we made. [although I used ten years experiance at work as a guide ] darker colours seem to work best.

 

If you are rubbing well down it may pay to use a primer or tie coat such as International Primacon or the Blakes equivilent, prior to applying the anti foul.

 

If the river has a strong flow and considering the speed of your boat I would avoid self polishing soft antifoul, they will work well enough but get washed off by constant tide flows.

 

Charlie

[Mike Fox]

Trev,

We scraped two of our boats back to bare hull when the old stuff got very flakey. We found that half inch wood chisels were best for the job. Dust masks are essential if you do that - the toxins also affect humans! Oh, and antifoul will flake off a bare hull - so a primer is essential, as Charlie said.

 

We use a soft erodable antifoul, but most power craft we know use the hard types that withstand 20 knots worth of pounding. We once spent a season on a swinging mooring, and the tide and current almost washed off all of the antifoul in just one season.

 

Mooring in fresh water and having trips to the sea is a great combination - seaweed is killed by fresh water, and vice-versa - so long as you keep using it and don't let the weed build up.

 

As a result, I'd consider one of the cheaper hard varieties - the expensive stuff might be wasted. On the other hand, if the old stuff lasted 3 years, you're doing better than us, and maybe a good one is a good investment?

 

Mike

 

 

[Wedger]

Thanks chaps,

 

All this helps expand my thinking.....

 

[toerag]

I use micron optima on my marina-moored MI and it works very well. Being a soft AF it does wear away over the course of the season, but as long as there's 4 coat's worth on the hull at the start there's no problems. The waterlines in the sun do suffer from green hair weed growth, which scrubs of easily with a brush or sponge, but the AF is so soft you can easily scrub it all away. I've tried putting Trilux on the area to combat this this season. I know it's expensive, but the big advantage is that it's water soluble, so there's no nasty fumes and cleanup is a doddle. There is also no fouling other than a bit of slime as long as the 4 coats rule is kept up, and it doesn't build up in layers that start flaking off either. Any 'high spots' can be 'sanded away' using a damp sponge! I change the colour each season so I know where it's worn off. I reckon it takes an hour to do a coat by the way, and I normally use a whole

[Wedger]

Many thanks Toerag, very useful guide.

 

By the way what's different about the Mi 21 'special flexy hull edition'

[toerag]

By the way what's different about the Mi 21 'special flexy hull edition'

It's not built properly - I've had holes in the hull TWICE where it's flexed inwards and the sprayrails have suffered compression failure. It's been cured by glassing longitudinal ribs inside the cabin after repairing the holes. Original MI's and Souters won't have this problem so you'll be OK.