Recent Forum Postings

Wotayottie

YBW

250kts

Rib.net

After 4 years continuous sitting in the water of Poole Harbour, with only a few wash downs, the RIB was lifted at Southampton Dry Stack and given a good power wash to remove some light growth. The pictures show that the Coppercoat is in perfect condition and still doing the job. Very impressed. The dark marks are damp patches and where the forks were. The next boat will have the same treatment ……

Anders_P42

Surrey

YBW

I’m happy with the performance of Coppercoat so far, no barnacles on hull and only mild slime to jet wash off. I’ve found copper coat good so far, berthed in Haslar. I’ve used sealift a couple of times, slime washes off easily and relaunched in an our. I booked a three pack of lifts in a year for just over £400 for 10m boat, which seemed reasonable. There are no strap marks with sealift either, so you leave with completely clean bum with just a lift and hold.

EugeneR

Hamble

YBW

The big difference with coppercoat is that, while you may have to have it lifted for a wash or two, you no longer have to scrub, sand, prime, paint and re-paint every year. Which means, a few more March / April weekends on the water rather than on the hard. So, even if you’re going the coppercoat route – like we have – you don’t get away from having to scrub some bits and replacing others e.g. anodes etc

Roman8

Portsmouth

YBW

CopperCoat once again lived up to it’s claim, I have had two boats treated with CopperCoating the first boat was moored at Warsash for a year then we moved to Haslar and on lift out at Warsash only slime was found then we moved to Haslar Marina and when we lifted it out we found only slime and the boat yard commented that there were no barnacles- he was impressed! Out new boat which is identical to Anders Antares 30 was treated with CopperCoating has once again performed the same with only slime which was cleaned by Sealift2 with a pressure wash, the rudder anodes were virtually spent so we fitted a galvanic isolator which fixed this on the next lift to what one would expect to have a rate of decaying.

Malcolmj

England

Cruisers Forum

Next time use Coppercoat, costs three times as much as paint, lasts 10 to 17 years with just light scrub/power wash periodically. Did my Moody 38 in the UK, sailed to the Med, Canaries, Caribbean, USA, up to Canadian border. Sold the boat after 5 years bottom still clean and smooth. No annual scraping and painting on anti-foul. Just bought a Saltram 31 cutter rigged double ender, will Coppercoat this winter.

Pendana

North East England

YBW

My boat had coppercoat put on by previous owner and is now in 9th season. I lift out every spring and merely pressure wash off the slight covering of slime. Never had a large build up of fouling apart from a bit of a beard at the water line that simply brushes off every couple of months. I guess I’m with Elessar on this one, it seems to do what they claim. Eddie

KevB

London

YBW

I put Coppercoat on my boat about 4 years ago and am totally happy with it. Never had anything but a bit of slime on the sides. Once a season I anchor in a shallow bay and give it a gentle rub over with wet and dry.  Works well for me. The trim tabs have conventional antifoul and are always covered in worms.

Rivonia

Med

YBW

Difficult to believe, BUT we have been in this marina TRNC for a year (due to unforseen circumstances) and our Copper Coat which is three years old is working great. I snorkel down and with a big wallpaper scraper all the slime just comes off. Thank you coppercoat. Hot HOT here in the eastern Med. We set off sailing (thank God) next week. Peter

KevB

Solent

YBW

I have a 35′ motorboat and the cost for the coppercoat was £600 plus we paid £400 to get the old antifoul blasted off. Applied it ourselves over a day, coats need to be applied whilst the coat underneath is still tacky so generally has to be done in one go. On our boat by the time we finished one coat it was time to start the next (4 coats). Five years and still working brilliantly. Once a year I anchor in shallow water and give the sides a quick rub over with fine wet and dry. Coppercoat as saved me a small fortune in time and effort and already paid for itself in overall cost when compared to normal antifoul.

tollhurstorganic

Emsworth, Oxfordshire

YBW

I have been following this thread with interest as “Naida” my hand built Pinky ketch was treated by myself with CC during her build. She was launched 15 months ago and have just dried her on a grid at Emsworth a very quick clean off had her bottom looking like new. So for me the product definitely works and looks great too. This is a moulded wood hull. I understand that for most people the issue is generally divided equally between the cost effectiveness and the efficacy of the material and for most users CC seems to satisfy at least one of those points. But there is another reason to use the product which seems to be overlooked by most people and I am surprised that the suppliers do not make more of it. As an organic producer and enviromentalist I wanted to know that I was not going to poison the planet with my craft, CC offered the only low toxin alternative to conventional AF materials, the fact that it lasts and works is a bonus. Conventional AF has a range of nasty chemicals to kill things, not as nasty as they used to be but still very damaging to aquatic life. Copper is a simple compound that has a low environmental impact, and the fact that you don’t have to remove layers of material every few years as with conventional AF reduces its impact

duncan99210

San Carles de la Rapita for the winter

YBW

We have the reverse of Vyv – coppercoat on the hull and normal antifoul on the keel. The hull coating is now 12 years old and is still soing at least as good a job as conventional antifoul. SWMBO used wet and dry this winter on the coating to cut back to a new layer of copper, which has worked wonders on it. I reckon we’ll probably get another year or two before cutting back again, after which we’ll probably wait another couple of years before applying 4 new coats of the stuff to cover the next 15 years or so.

timchapman

Southampton

YBW

No question properly applied Coppercoat works. Now three years with CC and in the Canaries. I had the opportunity to experiment recently. 2 weeks ago I was out the water in Lanzaorte. I painted a patch about 1 sqm with Trilux as the CC had become damaged there. Yesterday I dived down and the Trilux had a very thin layer of slime, like grease to the touch; the coppercoat had nothing. As another experiment I coated half the bronze P bracket and half the shaft with Lanolin, applied with a blow torch. Yesterday the uncoated bronze was slimey as above but the coated half, although not slimey had no trace of Lanolin on it. The stainless shaft uncoated half had a very thin, very uniform ‘corally’ film on it. The coated half had a patchy ‘corally’ film and again no trace of Lanolin. My conclusions; – Lanolin is a waste of time on stern gear as it quickly comes off – CopperCoat is better than Trilux antifoul, (and probably other antifouls too). CC does need to be wiped with a sponge, preferably every two weeks but at least every 6 weeks so to be successful you are better off in warm waters where you’re likely to do this. I would add that the same applies to anti foul. My experience of CopperCoat in UK waters, without sponging was similar to a good antifoul but you didn’t have to replace it.

macd

Ionian

Cruisers Forum

Coppercoat has worked for me in UK waters, the Med and Caribbean. It lends itself to warm waters, certainly for liveaboards, because what little marine growth it does allow is easily scrubbed off by snorkelling. As others have said it is not a barrier coat (but then nor does it leach to any significant degree, which I think is why the US Coastguard, amongst others, has endorsed it). As to its general effectiveness, I’d put it about level with a good conventional antifoul applied annually. Anyone expecting a quantum improvement is in for a disappointment. But, of course, its longevity is the main attraction. The chemistry of Coppercoat can take a little while to get going, however, which is why Ewan and his gang recommend a light surface scrub after new applications in areas of high fouling. I’d suggest this is particularly necessary if the boat isn’t likely to do much moving in the first few months after application. For a boat that isn’t routinely hauled out annually, particularly one someone has gone to the trouble of stripping and barrier-coating, I’d say Coppercoat is a no-brainer. Not least, I’ve met at least half a dozen owners who have gone to that trouble and not Coppercoated. Their view now is “If only…”

Old Varnish

Cruisers Forum

I tested it in widely varying conditions and was well pleased. I did have a diver give her a scrub in Salvador but she had been standing for three months in, effectively, hot soup. I had her hauled in the Azores on the way back and there was not a trace of weed after two months in the tropics.