Abrading Coppercoat.

I recently came across this thread on the YBW forum about abrading Coppercoat and it was nice to read of a customer doing this after 12 years and having a clean hull after 18 months afloat, even in a high fouling area like Sant Carles!: Abrading Coppercoat

Should I be abrading Coppercoat?

We are often asked by customer when they should abrade Coppercoat and what we mean by abrading. We recommend that after the initial application, Coppercoat will benefit from a light burnish with a fine grade of wet-and-dry paper or an abrasive nylon burnishing pad. This removes the thinnest outermost layer of epoxy, thereby exposing more copper. This allows these particles to oxidize more readily.

We use the term burnish, as the word abrade implies removing noticeable amounts the surface. When burnishing existing Coppercoat, you should not attempt to remove the verdigris green colour, as this is active antifoul.

Annually we recommend a lift and a pressure wash is all the maintenance required.

Occasionally, during the long life of Coppercoat you may benefit from lightly burnishing the surface again with 600 grade wet and dry paper or a Scotchbrite sanding pad. This should only be done if there has been a noticeable drop in the performance of Coppercoat. A light burnish will remove any surface contaminates and resin masking the Coppercoat and expose fresh copper.

Burnishing can be achieved by hand or using a random orbital sander. When burnishing, it is recommended that you use the same sort of motion as you would when polishing a car i.e. in overlapping circles. We suggest using a sanding pad, rather than wet and dry paper as the pad will get into any undulations on the surface more successfully.

Please note we do NOT recommend that this burnishing is done annually as this will simply make Coppercoat perform less well.

If you need any advice on whether or not to abrade you Coppercoat, please contact us at info@coppercoat.com or call us on +44 1258 861059