CobberCoat experiences

[BrianKjaerskov]

I have just removed all antifouling paint from my Dragonfly 800 which was a cumbersome and dirty job. Now I am considering applying CobberCoat and want to hear if anyone in here has used CopperCoat on you Dragonfly and what your experience is with this product?

Pros for CobberCoat:
- No repainting every year, meaning less work and no building up layers of paint as with conventional antifouling paint.
- Hard and smoot surface, which can be sanded.
- Apparently more environmental friendly then conventional antifouling paint
Cons:
- Heavy, 4 layers of epoxy with copper powder weigh more 2 layers of conventional antifouling paint.

The alternatives I'm considering:
- Hempel Silic One
- International VC 17m extra
- Hempel Hard Racing or similar
Like to hear experiences with these products as well

I use my Dragonfly 800 for small trips and occasional racing(nothing too serious though), most of the time it will sit in the marina berth . I have access to lift the boat 1-2 times during the season for a quick cleaning of the bottom.

Hope to get some responses, Thanks
Brian

[schleisurfer]

Hi Brian,

we sail our DF 800 on the Schlei near Schleswig and the Baltic .
in this environment VC 17 sucks, i would recommend
International Micron Extra.

Regard

HM

[Steve B.]

Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol isn't what it used to be.

Grr...

[BrianKjaerskov]

Hi Brian,

we sail our DF 800 on the Schlei near Schleswig and the Baltic .
in this environment VC 17 sucks, i would recommend
International Micron Extra.

Regard

HM

Thank you for your input schleisurfer. From what I have heard VC 17 is for fresh water, where as VC 17 M Extra is for saltwater.

[BrianKjaerskov]

Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol isn't what it used to be.

Grr...

Hi Steve

I don’t understand your comment Would you be so kind to elaborate.

Thank
Brian

[Steve B.]

A good friend keeps his Cal 34 at my dock along with my Dragonfly 1000.
He doesn't sail much, and I don't sail anywhere near as much as I like.
I live in the Pacific Northwest on a salt water canal which gets rain runoff.
Fouling is considered light to moderate.

Ten years ago, he hauled and painted his boat with Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol,which is supposed to prevent grass growth.
I used VC17, because that's what was originally used. I didn't know it was not recommended for salt water.
He had a diver clean the bottom each year, although it only had a bit of slime and no barnacles.
On the tenth year, the diver said, "It's time to repaint."
Meanwhile, I had repainted mine, annually dove on my own boat to wash the bottom. After only one year, it grew grass at the waterline and down a couple feet. I had to clean it weekly.
After three years, I repainted.
Three years later, I did it again.

So, I switched to Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol, and he repainted with the same. We used different yards to do the work.

Less than one year later, both of our boats grew grass at the waterline.
I suspect even though the can SAID it contained Irgarol, it did not.

[BrianKjaerskov]

A good friend keeps his Cal 34 at my dock along with my Dragonfly 1000.
He doesn't sail much, and I don't sail anywhere near as much as I like.
I live in the Pacific Northwest on a salt water canal which gets rain runoff.
Fouling is considered light to moderate.

Ten years ago, he hauled and painted his boat with Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol,which is supposed to prevent grass growth.
I used VC17, because that's what was originally used. I didn't know it was not recommended for salt water.
He had a diver clean the bottom each year, although it only had a bit of slime and no barnacles.
On the tenth year, the diver said, "It's time to repaint."
Meanwhile, I had repainted mine, annually dove on my own boat to wash the bottom. After only one year, it grew grass at the waterline and down a couple feet. I had to clean it weekly.
After three years, I repainted.
Three years later, I did it again.

So, I switched to Pettit Trinidad SR with Irgarol, and he repainted with the same. We used different yards to do the work.

Less than one year later, both of our boats grew grass at the waterline.
I suspect even though the can SAID it contained Irgarol, it did not.

Hi Steve

I haven't considered Irgarol, and have never heard if this product before.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[vonnehring]

DF 1200 Nice Tri. We have had Copper Coat on the boat since March 2019. Salt water canal Ft Lauderdale Fl. We try and sponge the hull monthly, but with all goings on, sometimes as much as 3 months between cleaning. Previously had Micron Ultra.

Light weedy growth forms, easily wipes off with sponge. Takes us about 1.5 hours for two of us to sponge boat. Now over two years later, hull still smooth. Occasionally a barnacle forms that a plastic spatula easily bumps off.

Not going back to scrapping clams with with Micron Ultra

[Martin W]

The poll seems to have expired, I’d be voting ‘No, but might try it’. My wife and I are going through the extremely painful and messy process of removing what appears to be 20 years of antifoul from Chiara. The bostyard took a look and quoted us £2.5k, so we got on with it. 20 litres of Strippit so far, and 3 x 10 litre buckets of scrapings. We have yet to start stripping the amas. What to replace it with is the question. Think it will be conventional, but open to persuasion.
One thing it absolutely definitely won’t be is Silic one. We were the experiment boat for it in the XOD fleet. It was utterly and completely useless after one year. I think what was happening was that spores had got embedded in the coating, and even after annual recoating, it all just regrew immediately. The fouling was horrific, the boat useless for racing. Eventually, after threatening Hempel in no uncertain terms, they found us a couple of cans of silicone remover, and a very nasty business it was. We’re quite good at stripping boat bottoms now.

[sseyfried]

Positive after fist season.

I'm sailing on the West cost of Norway. Had taken the boat out of the water most winters, and typically had to manually scrape hard pocks off the hull, high pressure washing off other marine growth, an losing some antifouling in the process. After leaving the boat in the water one winter, without moving it, there was a long beard and the hull was full of pocks. Did not make me happy since it cost quite a bit of speed.
Being more someone who likes enjoying a fast sailing and nice looking boat, rather than crawling over and under it so much, I got copper coat professionally applied winter 2020/21.
After the first season, when taking out the boat for this winter, there was a bit of thin sludge on the hull only, really easy to wash off with a pressure washer. Not a single pock to be found! And of course, the copper coat does not peel off when treated with the HP washer.
One might argue that the greenish copper colour at the water pass is not the prettiest - but I like that a lot better as compared to the green and brown beard that I otherwise find end of the season.

Believe, since the Copper Coat is hard wearing, it is overall the better environmental solution, leaking overall less toxic substance into the sea.

So yes, happy with it. If buying a new boat, I would specify this right from the yard.