When is it time to scrape off antifoul ?

[Mistroma]

I left my old Southerly until it started to develop flaky bits and bumps. I think it had a mixture of eroding and non-eroding antifoul (dating back to 1980, TBT and similar). It was fine every year, until is suddenly wasn't. I think I could have had a decent mould by then if it could be removed in one part.

I hadn't felt any need to remove the paint before then and would agree with previous comments. i.e. Leave it until it starts to be uneven and flakes.

Fortunately, removal was easy with my Bosch wood chisel and I took the hull back to shiny virgin white gel-coat in one weekend with little effort. Large flakes on ground filled a couple of buckets when brushed up. Virtually no dust and the mask was still pretty clean at the end.

I repeated the process many years later on my 42DS with the same result. Didn't work for everyone though. I lent it to a friend and it did nothing because he had soft antifoul. It just moved it around a bit, like chewing gum. Pity Bosch discontinued the chisel. Multi-tools don't work as they move from side to side. The chisel vibrates forwards and backwards to shatter brittle antifoul.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Curious to know how you do it. Do you scrub with a stiff brush or with green scourers or other?

How much does a little slime slow you?

Slime, about a knot. I have a sponge, a green nylon scratchy, and a brush all on lanyards clipped to me so I can select my weapon for any stubborn bits. I’m in the water in a wetsuit for this, often at anchor in Newtown. If you think there’s nobody home, look under the tramps.

And for the rough bottom guys, do you buy your boat new with a craterous bottom? You’d think they would offer the option.

 

[Zing]

Slime, about a knot. I have a sponge, a green nylon scratchy, and a brush all on lanyards clipped to me so I can select my weapon for any stubborn bits. I’m in the water in a wetsuit for this, often at anchor in Newtown. If you think there’s nobody home, look under the tramps.

And for the rough bottom guys, do you buy your boat new with a craterous bottom? You’d think they would offer the option.

I let my Coppercoat get badly fouled recently - 2 months of Caribbean build up and that’s a fair bit and I took it for a sail. I reckon I lost 1.5 kts. So down from 8.5 to 7kts.

An interesting observation. The keel was re-done and performs hugely better than the old stuff on the rest of the hull, which is 10 years old. No barnacles vs a lot, but plenty of slime though, which comes off so much faster and a lot would surely come off without scraping with a vigourous sail. I’m going to try to abrade the old coating now and see if I can revive it. If I can’t, I’ll be over coating probably, or maybe going to conventional. I think it works better.

 

[Chris H]

Propspeed has also worked very well for me. In the past I would lose perhaps 3-4 knots of top speed and see the consumption increase by 10-15% from June to September, with a further 1-2 knot / +5% deterioration over the winter months. With Propspeed applied I'm experiencing almost no loss of performance during the summer months and only 5-10% over the full year. It's expensive to apply, but definitely worth it when you factor in the better performance and lower fuel consumption.

My props are stuck out the back of the boat, in the sun, which doesn’t help but also means they are accessible.

 

[Bouba]

Well the weather has taken a little turn for the worse....cloudy, drizzly, windy....so in order to make hay while the sun shines I have booked the boat to come out for her annual (is that the right spelling ?) inspection. She will be jet washed by the yard, I will replace all anodes, the hull will be carefully inspected and I will do any remedial work....and the yard can antifoul and polish the prop....paint the rudder and flaps. Shouldn’t take long and plan to be back in the water at the first sign of boating weather

 

[andy59]

Been to busy this year so doing a lift scrub and hold over night to clean props/ shafts and change anodes. Have been lifting every 12 months for 7 years and the hull always looks fine with minimum growth so we will see how it goes over the summer, several people i know seem to do 2 yearly with a summer scrub/ anodes so le's find out.

 

[jointventureII]

Went out on Monday.

Top speed down by 4 knots (22 rather than 26) so I stopped to scrub what I could in half an hour.

Top speed is now down by around 1 knot. I've been bin bagging the sterndrive leg and it's still smooth as a babies back side.

 

[Bouba]

I was hoping that we would come out tomorrow when conditions are calm…but no, we got the call from the yard…despite the blustery conditions can we come now

 

[Bouba]

The river was in full flow from yesterday’s rain …windy…and the water was rough…the wife said I made it look easy

 

[Bouba]

If you don’t believe me…there was at least 100 kite surfers outside the river entrance

 

[Bouba]

The yard did a good job jet washing…this evening I went back and gave the hull a close inspection..,,and (touch wood) it all looks good…very pleased. Tomorrow I will don my old work clothes and begin my jobs..,then the yard can paint her. Hopefully relaunch within a week

 

[Bouba]

Just bought €200 worth of zincs…I swear I could hear my car groan

 

[Bandit]

I was hoping that we would come out tomorrow when conditions are calm…but no, we got the call from the yard…despite the blustery conditions can we come now

Bouba
It looks as if they are lifting you with the rear sling on the stern tube is that correct?

 

[Bouba]

Bouba
It looks as if they are lifting you with the rear sling on the stern tube is that correct?

There are lifting marks on the hull.....I couldn’t find them in any photo....but tomorrow I will look for them and let you know

 

[Bouba]

Bouba
It looks as if they are lifting you with the rear sling on the stern tube is that correct?

Ok I have found a picture in my archive

 

[Bouba]

As you can see the red lifting dot is on the tube