So I just finished the longest haulout ever. (Which is even longer than forever for a liveaboard who has to climb up a 12 foot ladder to go to sleep.) I was out a whole month due to rainy weather. And to boot, I found blisters~6 years after I did the interprotect 1000-1001, 2000-2001 barrier coat. I thought that the Barrier coat was a once in a lifetime fix, but now find that it is usually only a 5 year fix. AGH!!! Anyway. I painted over them all like I did not see them. I plan to haul again spring 2008 and have sandblaster come in; then do a west system over the whole kit and kaboodle and do another interprotect barrier boat. We'll see who laughs last! Anyone else have suggestions?
I have also taken a permanent position here in Norfolk. I am the clinical practice specialist for the emergency department woohooo. I am not quite sure that permanent is in my vocabulary, but I'll give it a shot. Ya'll come see me!!
Congrats on the new job, Pam. :) Bummer about the blisters, they suck. :( It would seem to me that the barrier coat should last longer than 5 years. I'd never thought about variations in the products used, and how they might affect performance over the long term. Anyway, I think that your paint will hold them in place until you can get around to them. ;) The West Sytem treatment you write about sounds like it should do the trick, if you get the hull good and dry after the sandblasting.
Now that you presumably have better/more 'net access, you'll have to write up your journeys and experiences for us to read about. :)
For the record, what year was you NorSea made?
Pam-
Welcome, and if you're still down there next year, I'd love to meet you. My in-laws, Gee's family, live in Tidewater Virginia, and I'm planning on sailing down to visit them next summer.
I have a 1977 (Hull #6) aft cabin Norsea.
Norfolk has a great sailing community. Lots of marinas to chose from, lots of brains to pick if you have issues.
I bought a 1976 26 Pearson for my son (on EBay-$378 :D) and we worked on that all summer. It still has the mast down as we need to complete the shroud rebuilds, but ther than that I learned soooo much. I am a fiberglass queen and together; we paint like the boat was dipped in liquid plastic. If I ever give up nursing, there are jobs in boat work for me (and they pay more!)
Quote from: pamdemonium on November 06, 2006, 04:14:21 PM
If I ever give up nursing, there are jobs in boat work for me (and they pay more!)
Isn't that the truth? There has been a lady here for a couple of weeks now, she came up from Florida a couple months back and set up 'appointments' ahead of time. After they saw the first boat she did, the capt's were lining up to hire her. Her specialty is polishing gelcoat. She is making a mint here, charging ~$20/ft+ to make all the big sportfishermen boat hulls (45'-60') nice and shiny. She spends two/three days per boat.
Good money, that...
This posting caught my arrention - just bought a 35' challenger with 10 year old barrier coat needing plenty of TLC.
If the barrier coat has lifted and the bottom paint doesnt stck - what to do ???
kris - hauling out this month to fix...
SODA-BLASTING ???
have researched that and at least 1 person has said "sandblasting is not a good idea"
Will only make a decision when she is on the hard and stripped of obvious problems. But keep posting - more info is good - I can sort it out OK (I think)... ;)
kris
Soda blasting is far gentler to the gelcoat than is sand blasting. It uses baking soda as the medium, rather than sand. You can read more about it here (http://www.tidewatersodablasting.com/).
Pam, I am a nurse too and getting ready to take a break and head out for about a yr. It is nice to know I have options if I need some extra cash flow along the way. I have not done hands on nursing in about 10yrs and hope I do not have to go back to that. I have been doing case management. I too just did my bottom. Not a fun job!! I have some issues that I will definetly have to deal with on the next haul out. Some were fixed, but some were overlooked and I painted over as well. I like to think of them as freckles...or more like moles. :) I have a concrete haul, so it is not so bad to have them there I guess. Her bottom sure looks pretty though. :D
Connie-
I think anything that we learn to do along the way is life skills and icing on the cake. You never know where you might end up "out there", and to have a sundry of skills lets you be more comfortable in knowing that things will be "okay". Course boat repair pays better than most. Take a sewing machine and practice, take some repair books so that you have a "reference library", be open to a learning experience, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.
Have a great year! Where are you going?
Since Spring is here, or at least is supposed to be here... I saw something that might be of interest to those of you who have boat bottoms to sand. Even though it is meant for drywall sanding, it might be useful.
QuoteSand & Kleen Dustless Drywall Sanding Dust-busting drywall sander
Sanding drywall is messy and nasty— it's hard on both your tools and lungs. With this system the majority of the dust is sucked up right at the sanding pad. The sanding head, which uses standard sanding screens, is attached to a hose that runs to the Aquair Water Filter, a five gallon bucket that has a another hose you attach to a Shop-Vac (not provided). As you sand, the dust is sucked through 36 little holes on a pad attached to the sanding head. When the dust hits the water it goes into suspension, and doesn't reach (or ruin) the Shop-Vac. Note: after a good bit of use, you will need to change the water.
You can see the item here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005A1K8).
Dude.......
They should call that...
"The Bottom Bong"
Awesome
LOL... If you put a big glass bowl on it, I guess it would work for that too.
Outside of not inhaling ;D those are a standard sanding attachement for drywall. You can pick them up at your local Home Despot. They work for drywall, so it'd make sense that they'd work for pretty much any hand sanding. You need a perforated screed though. They don't work with regular sandpaper.
I think they'd probably work with the dust extraction port on most power sanding equipment too.
They would indeed, but it is likely you would need to put some addititve into the water so that the static charge on the particles (fibreglass dust especially) does not render them hydrophobic, letting them skim the water while staying dry and still getting into the vaccuum.
I am also not really happy that they have opted to have the intake pipe exit two inches ABOVE the waterline instead of having the pipe go down into the water and have perforations below waterline to allow small bubbles to discharge their contents inot the water while submerged.
The method they have chosen puts less straign on the shopvac...but it suffers in terms of results at water filter.
Now if it were me, I would go and grab a 20ltr bucket with a lid, two plastic through hull connectors and some hoses from the cheap yacht supply shop...and have my version of one of these built in less then twenty minutes.
About three table spoons of vegetable oil into the water will do wonders for catching dust at the surface....
Alex.
Alex-
On the unit my friend has, the intake pipe is below water level. Now, where did you find a cheap yatch supply shop???
Dan
Well, I recently finished barrier coating and bottom painting the Pretty Gee. I just put her back in the water on last Thursday, after completing the application of a boot stripe. I thought you might like to see some photos... so here are a few of her as I was finishing up the painting and boot striping, and one of her in the water.
Let me know what you think. :D
(http://www.flauntintimates.com/files/ccbp1.jpg)
(http://www.flauntintimates.com/files/ccbp2.jpg)
(http://www.flauntintimates.com/files/ccbp3.jpg)
(http://www.flauntintimates.com/files/ccbp4.jpg)
Looking good!!!! What did you use as a barrier coat?
Interlux Interprotect 2000. It's a two-part epoxy-based barrier coat.
Looks Great! I'm thinking of a barrier coat next spring. How did the Interlux go on?
TrT
It went on pretty easily, but you really need to stir it a lot to mix it up properly. The other problem with it, is that since it is an epoxy-based finish... it is easier to apply when the temperatures are more moderate. The working times are shorter with higher temperatures, but still fairly reasonable.
More questions??
RE-doing the bottom as the bottom paint I applied the beggining of last year was worthless. Would like to bring the hull down to gelcoat and lead. Here is my question:
on my Westerly Nomad I want the best paint for the bottom which is part glass and part lead (both keels are solid and unincapsulated). I want it to stick and I want it to kill stuff.
On my previous sailboat and my current one I always went with ablative paints before and now am wondering if nonablative would be better. My Westerly is easy when it comes to labor as compaired to my last boat which was a nightmare to haul and repaint. So the idea of repeating process every two - three years is no longer an issue.
We plan on being in relatively cool West coast of the United States water for the next one to two years possibly running between Puget Sound area and San Diego and then it is off to Chile. So we would most likely repaint before heading to South America. What is the best bet for paint? We want nasty, nasty killing stuff and are curious about buying copper powder down in Mexico and adding it to a certain kind of paint that will last 10 or so years but know nothing about the process. Will the copper react with my lead keels. I can just see them melting or something :-) Or should we go with something more standard? ???
Thanks in advance for the advice which is very much needed.
-L
(http://f9g.yahoofs.com/groups/g_18553995/4727/__sr_/9ce2.jpg?grAX_BHB6kec6ZAY)
the 'real stuff' copper powder and epoxi. I assume that there is a few different 'copper powders' around.
I am VERY interested in this product myself, but as yet haven¨t been able to get any first hand experience...
Anyone here ??
http://www.coppercoat.com/
Funny you should ask... I just put CopperCoat on my boat. I had imported it from England last year, and finally got around to soda-blasting the bottom, barrier coating and putting the CopperCoat on the boat this summer.
The boat has been in the water for almost four months, and there is nothing growing on the bottom as far as I've seen. This year has been really bad for barnacles and such in my marina... yet my boat doesn't seem to be having any problems at all.
The real test will be to see how many years it lasts. Several people who recommended the paint to me are going on six, seven and twelve years respectively. Their boats are in the water year round, which isn't the case with my boat. It is currently out of the water for about five months of the year.
While CopperCoat is significantly more expensive than regular bottom paint, especially since I had to import it from England as Hazardous Materials via Air Freight,, if it works as claimed it will be worth every penny. If you calculate the time it takes to prep and sand the boat and add the cost of bottom paint and multiply it by five, figuring that you have to do it once every two years—the time to prep and apply the CopperCoat and the cost of the paint is probably comparable.
I'll keep you posted. If either of you have any questions regarding it, let me know.
Quote from: AdriftAtSea on October 05, 2007, 09:27:20 PM
The real test will be to see how many years it lasts. Several people who recommended the paint to me are going on six, seven and twelve years respectively. Their boats are in the water year round, which isn't the case with my boat. It is currently out of the water for about five months of the year.
While CopperCoat is significantly more expensive than regular bottom paint, especially since I had to import it from England as Hazardous Materials via Air Freight,, if it works as claimed it will be worth every penny. If you calculate the time it takes to prep and sand the boat and add the cost of bottom paint and multiply it by five, figuring that you have to do it once every two years—the time to prep and apply the CopperCoat and the cost of the paint is probably comparable.
Great! It is true, what the company claims then. They referred to 'someone' who has had the 'paint' working like a treat for 10+ years. And you actually spoke to someone who can verify that. Great news. I am definetely going to have it before taking off on my looong cruise (circumnavigation?) next year. From where I live, it could probaby be an idea to take a cheap flight to the UK and then carry it over the border... just an idea. Or sail to the UK ,haul out and do the job there. In the Baltic all antifoulings containing copper is strictly forbidden due to environmental reasons. BArnacles grow as never before, and DIY boat-owners are fiddling with all kiinds of strange, and potentially hazardous stuff to make the bottom paint do what it's supposed to do... keep growth at a minimum.
We may go for the coppercote. If we do I will let you know how it was to order, etc.
I also know of a guy who effectively made his own coppercote by combining copper powder he bought in gallon cans from somewhere and mixed it with his own epoxy.
I met him in Mexico and watched the whole process and it seemed like it was substantially cheaper than buying the manufactured epoxy that already has the copper in it. He covered a 53 foot stinkpot bottom with it.
I want to look into that as well (money saved is money earned ;-)
(http://f9g.yahoofs.com/groups/g_18553995/4727/__sr_/98de.jpg?grom_BHBfi55cTcJ)
I know of I guy here in Sweden who 'made his own' Coppercoat too. He claims it to be fine. Sure is a few bucks to save. On the other hand, what if you spend a couple of days struípping all the old paints off the boat, then apply your own 'mixture' just to find out a year later that it was crappy? ???
Cgoinggal-
I know several people who have tried to mix up their own version of it... however, there are to problems that I see with doing that.
The first is getting the epoxy mixture right, so that it allows the copper to be effective, yet is still effective as a binder layer for the mixture. The second is getting the copper in a fine enough form to work effectively.
The copper powder supplied by AQM, the makers of CopperCoat, is very, very fine, finer than most dust is...and from their description and my observation of the stuff—spherical in nature. The stuff would go through the filter bag on my hand vac, but not the HEPA filters on my bigger shop vac. According to the manufacturer, the paint ends up being almost 85% solid copper after the paint dries. This seems to follow with my observations of the stuff.
BTW, each liter of CopperCoat comes with a kilogram of powdered Copper. The weight of the eight liters I bought was quite substantial, heavier than I had expected.
Also, the work involved in stripping off a failed version of an epoxy-copper anti-fouling home forumlation is going to be extensive. Hard-epoxy based paints, especially ones that are basically epoxy with copper as a high-density filler, are probably going to be very difficult to sand off.
MaxiSwede-
It would definitely make sense to get the paint in England and do the work there if you're planning on stopping in the UK. This paint is less toxic than most other bottom paints from what I understand, since it doesn't have the same toxic compounds that are found in the normal bottom paints. Instead of using a toxic form of copper, the paint used pure copper, which doesn't leach as quickly into the water or environment.
The ablative paints are far more toxic and dangerous to the environment IMHO. I believe it also leaches far less copper products into the environment than the hard epoxy paints, given the fact that the more effective copper-based traditional anti-fouling paints have a fairly high proportion of copper-based toxins.... but become ineffective within two years as a general rule.
AdriftatSea-
Thanks for the additional info. Dunno about painting in the UK. My plan is to haul out here in Sweden next spring for a paint job and some additional refitting aswell. Seems a bit awkward to make another haul out two weeks later. In addition, haul outs and time on the hard is a lOT more expensive in the UK. On the other hand, practically everything sold by a chandler is cheaper...
IIRC it was 2 kilograms of copper pr litre of epoxi resin. I guess it weighs up a bit, yes.
If you would like to make your own copper paint, google epoxyproducts (one word). This manufacturer sells copper powder to add to epoxy. The web site is a little difficult to navigate, but there is a page that discusses which epoxy to mix the copper into and suggests some mix ratios. However, the site does not make any claim to the effectiveness of the suggested ratios. All risks are born by the user.
MaxiSwede-
I do believe you're right about the weight of the copper per liter... BTW, don't try carrying 8 liters of the stuff in a big plastic box... ;) Since you're relatively close to the UK... you could always fly over for a weekend and buy it...and then pack it in your luggage and bring it back. That really wasn't an option for me.
Many of the websites seem to reference Copperpoxy, which went out of business a while back IIRC. The three remaining major players in the copper-supsension paint market seem to be Aquarius Marine Coatings, makers of CopperCoat, and Synthetic Solutions Ltd., who make CopperGuard, and Benring Ltd., who make C-guard bottom paint.
I've found a source for .015" (and thicker) bondable teflon sheets, that is, one side is treated to accept adhesives. I've used this stuff before on the companionway slides for Toucan, which you can open with one finger the stuff is so slick. I've used both epoxy and cyanoacrylic glues on it, both with great results. Neither will even begin to stick on the untreated side. I'm thinking that if one were to cover the bottom of the boat with this stuff, fouling, if it could get a grip at all, would brush right off with virtually no effort. It would be the end of bottom painting. No pricey paint, no haulout fees, no yard fees, all of which seem to be going nuts lately. At $113.85 per 48"x48" sheet, the payback would take a few years, but after that....
I'm thinking I might do a test panel someplace where the fouling is severe, not hard to find down here in sunny Florida, and see what happens.
So, what do y'all think of this idea?
I'll try it! ;D
(I would!)
How does the material hold up to UV exposure? Most of it wouldn't be affected, but the waterline would... Might be able to just have paint @ waterline, if it proves not good in the UV.
It would be an interesting experiment. You *can* get stuff to stick to Teflon (at least by baking it on), but you're right - you can knock it off pretty darned easy, too. Hmmm...
FWIW: I can grow barnacles pretty quickly on my Walker Bay, and they'll stick pretty good, but can be scraped off as easily as they do on fiberglass when still wet/fresh.
If I recall correctly, teflon is one of the few plastics that is pretty tolerant of UV. My recalling correctly may be another matter....research may be in order.
Evidently, teflon is very UV tolerant, as I found some info regarding its use in UV lasers.
Stuart -
If you want to, send me a small square & I'll tie it to the dock here and see how it goes. This place is like an aquatic farm, with plenty of silt- and biomass- laden water for wee nasties to feast upon... :D
Brillant!
I do like the idea of a 'test section' before you take the plunge on doing the hull of your boat.
An added advantage I could see would be to apply this to your (hard) dingy. Not only would it tow more easily, and stay cleaner, but when you put it on the foredeck the bottom paint would not mar your sails... and everything else!
Great Idea, hope it works out. (grog for out of the box thinking). ;D
I'm thinking I'll get a single sheet of this stuff to see how it conforms to compound curves. It does stretch some, since GoreTex is stretched Teflon. That takes tons of tension, but I wouldn't have to do that much. Conformity could also be accomplished by cutting "v's" into the material as required.
Faith, that's another thing. It would seem to me that would make one fast bottom! Also, the stuff is waaaaay waterproof, thereby no osmotic blistering, ever.
Where ya at CapnK?
The stuff would definitely help prevent osmotic blistering, especiially if bonded to the hull using epoxy. How thick is the stuff and how much does a 4' x 4' sheet of it weigh??
BTW, the Tenara thread used in making biminis, dodgers and sails is goretex and it is very UV-tolerant.
The thinnest they have is .015". I suspect that it might weigh less than bottom paint.
Might be worth going to one of those places that does the vinyl wrap signs onto cars/vans, and seeing their process for applying the vinyl. It might give you some hints/tips about what would be involved in putting a sheet material onto a curved form.
I'm trying to imagine in me brain just how thick .015 is. It's thin, that's for sure. Should be relatively mould-able. How does it react to a heatgun, might be something to check out.
Tanaara thread does claim great UV resistance, hadn't thought about that...
I've discovered that one pound in .015 thickness is 5.6 sq.ft.
For perspective, .015 is about 1/64th of an inch.
Here's a site that sells the stuff in .005" thickness, one third of the other, and is adhesive backed! Too easy!! It just depends on if the adhesive will stand up to constant salt water immersion. I'm gonna email these guys to find out. Check 'em out-
http://ptfe-tubes.com/ptfe-sheets-bondable.htm
Teflon is one of the main ingredients in Interlux VC-17 bottom paint, which does give a really slick finish on a properly faired bottom. However, you add fine copper powder to the VC-17 right before applying... if teflon was sufficient by itself at keeping growth and slime from adhering, I wouldn't think the copper powder would be necessary? Maybe it covers a broader spectrum of growth than just the teflon surface alone?
I suspect a solid sheet of teflon is a lot more slick than VC-17, which is pretty slick anyway, especially when burnished.
A test panel should tell the definitive tale....
Hey all...wow this topic is lengthy...
Well the sandblasting is completed...much more work than previously anticipated. The first guy had not a clue and thought that the barrier coat that I had done previously was the "gelcoat" (I am taking him to court--don't use Les Gunter in Norfolk!). I had to then move the boat to Deltaville where their sandblater did an excellent job! It now will dry until--well ...until it is dry, and then I can anticipate fairing and sanding for many weeks, and perhaps some laminate repair too, but I know it will be done right, because..it will be me that is doing it! After that another barrier coat, and copper paint...so I am all ears as to what is best out there, keep talking!
Pam on the Pamdemonium
1977 Norsea 27
Norfolk, VA
That Deltaville place wouldn't happen to have been Zimmerman Marine would it? Our good friend Rachel works there.
Hi Pam, all,
I used a product called CopperPoxy a LONG time ago. It was 10 mil copper balls in an epoxy resin. It not only lasts 10 years (+/-) as a bottom coat, but is also a barrier coat. I was VERY happy with it. It worked on the US West coast and all the way into the Sea of Cortez. It did not stop slime and soft growth, but did stop all hard growth. If you do a Google search with our last name and CopperPoxy you can read some of the long past stuff we posted. Even written reports by our diver checking and cleaning our hull.
I did not use it the last haulout, and am sad I did not!!! I was worried about buildup. As it turns out, over the 11 years it was on Guenevere, the copper was used up and none of it remained behind. As the product was about 70% copper, that left the epoxy behind that was more like a sponge. When it was pressure washed, even that came off the bottom! So my worry about buildup was unfounded!
My plan is that on our next haul we will pressure wash all of the ablative off and redo the CopperPoxy once more!!!
We found the place on line that sells the metal copper and the epoxy. I will purchase it and mix my own. We still have the instructions that came with the original stuff.
We mixed it up, about a pint at a time, and thinned it, just a bit, with Tulean (sp?). I then painted / troweled it on. Jill then used a VERY thin foam roller coated with Pam spray cooking oil to smooth it out. Once it is set hard, about 24 hours, you need to go over the bottom with a light sanding to reveal the copper and knock the high spots off of the epoxy.
I know they spray it on down here in Mexico. We may do that next time.
Another of the great things about it is that no matter how long you have the boat out of the water, it does NOT go bad like a lot of the other bottom paints.
Hope this helps!
Any questions, just ask!
Greg
Pam-
If you're going to be doing the barrier coating yourself, I'd recommend you use Interprotect 2000E. I used it and it is quite easy to use, provided that the temperatures are low enough for it to have a reasonable working time...
I wrote this reply regarding applying Interprotect 2000E on another forum, and thought you might find it useful.
QuoteAlternating the colors helps a lot with determining where you've painted, but it is also very useful for helping you coat the areas around the boat stands. For instance:
The first layer is gray, since the gelcoat is white, and you can paint right up to the boat stand pads. Then you paint a layer of white, and leave about a two-inch margin of gray paint around the pads... then paint a layer a gray and leave a four-inch margin around the pads or about two-inches of white and two inches of gray showing...and then finish with a layer of white—with a six-inch margin around the pads—with two inches of gray, two inches of white and two inches of gray.
Then when you move the boat stands, you can fill in the pads and layer the paint accordingly... adding gray to cover the white square left by the pad.. then white to cover the gray square, and so on.
Also, by alternating colors, you can see if someone has sanded through the barrier coat when you're prepping the boat for re-painting. If there's an area that is gray or grayish, they've sanded through at least the outermost layer of barrier coat. If you had all white, you wouldn't be able to tell if they had sanded down through the barrier coat as easily—if you had all gray, you could tell they sanded through the barrier coat...but not if they've sanded into it...
I hope this helps clear things up a bit.
I used a copper-powder/epoxy paint called CopperCoat on my boat last season, and if it is half as good as two of my friends report, I'll be very happy. One of my friends is on year 14 with it, and another on year 8.
Dan
Quote from: pamdemonium on May 12, 2008, 04:11:23 PM
Hey all...wow this topic is lengthy...
Well the sandblasting is completed...much more work than previously anticipated. The first guy had not a clue and thought that the barrier coat that I had done previously was the "gelcoat" (I am taking him to court--don't use Les Gunter in Norfolk!). I had to then move the boat to Deltaville where their sandblater did an excellent job! It now will dry until--well ...until it is dry, and then I can anticipate fairing and sanding for many weeks, and perhaps some laminate repair too, but I know it will be done right, because..it will be me that is doing it! After that another barrier coat, and copper paint...so I am all ears as to what is best out there, keep talking!
Pam on the Pamdemonium
1977 Norsea 27
Norfolk, VA
Dan,
What did you pay per gallon for that CopperCoat?
It's sold by the liter kit... with about 1 kg of copper powder per liter. However, I don't remember what I paid for it... unfortunately they didn't have a US distributor, so I had to have it shipped from the UK via air freight.
Thanks,
If you happen to come across the recepit for it, I would like to know what it cost. Ebb used a home brew copper on his Ariel, sure looked nice... seems like it cost a couple boat bucks though.....
Do you keep your boat on in the water? I thought it was mostly kept on a trailer? Do the bunks abrade the bottom paint?
The trailer is used for winter storage, hauling and launching... and not much else. The boat stays in a slip during the season. Last year, after doing all the work, I put the boat in the water in early July, and didn't haul her until early November. Other than slime, there were just two barnacles on the entire hull, and they came off with pressure spraying. Compared to the previous year, with an ablative.... it was a huge improvement.
I just got an email from Coppercoat. I wanted to see how it adds up. If I could purchase it and not have to make up my own I might feel a bit more at ease. NOT SO NOW! WOW!! :o :o :o :o
Quote
We supply Coppercoat in 1-litre units with each unit being sufficient to
fully treat 4 square metres to a finish (i.e. with all the necessary coats).
Therefore, on the assumption that your Nor'Sea 27 has an underwater area of approximately 28 square metres (a figure that would need to be confirmed before finalizing any order) I recommend that you have 7 litres in total for a complete and long lasting treatment.
At the current export rate of GBP 65 (approximately USD 127) per litre such
a 7-litre pack would be GBP 455 (approximately USD 890) plus delivery. When you compare this amount to the cumulative costs of lifting and re-painting such a boat each season for the next ten years or so, I am certain you will find that a treatment of Coppercoat provides unbeatable value for money.
Unfortunately we do not have an active distributor for Coppercoat in the USA or Mexico at this time. Currently we deliver goods to these regions by
air-freight (a service which takes approximately 5 days). Orders can be
placed by telephone, fax or e-mail, and we happily accept payment by the
major credit and debit cards or bank transfer. Carriage rates vary according
to quantity being sent, but as a guide I would expect the air-freight cost
to be approximately GBP 250 (approximately USD 490), depending on the size of the order and your choice of airport.
I think I will go ahead and make up my own usingthe direction from the web.
Greg
@Greg
Interesting, could you post a link to the recipe on the web?
Copper is far from cheap, so this stuff will add upp to an imposing sum. IIRC Coppercoat comes with 2 kg (4,4 pounds?) per litre...
was told the other day- current scrap price for copper is $3 a pound.i
Quote from: CharlieJ on May 13, 2008, 01:09:50 PM
was told the other day- current scrap price for copper is $3 a pound.i
And I have saved up enough scrap wire from the building projects to pay for my bottom paint the next time!
maxiSwede,
The site I was looking at was at:
http://www.epoxyproducts.com
http://www.epoxyproducts.com/copper4u.html
It's NOT an easy site to navigate, but all of the info is there, or in a link from there.
Remember, the copper has to be as finely milled as you can get! I think there may be places you can get the copper powder finer than this. I think I found at least 10 or more. I was not looking at a price yet as it may be a year before I need it.
I think the mix of copper to epoxy can be varied. Even the info from Coppercoat gives you a span of mixing it. You can see this on their web pages.
Here is a YouTube video promo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHAWtjtruW4
So, I think it will not be hard to make it up myself for A LOT LESS than they are asking. After all, it's epoxy and metallic copper. No mystery there other than to decide on the exact epoxy to use.
Greg
Interesting stuff, and - Hi Pam! Long time! ;D Glad to know you are doing well!!!
A couple months ago I scored 2 gallons of ablative for $20 each. If I didn't have that ready and waiting, I'd put serious thought into the copper coating. As it is, the ablative should carry me through until I am ready to cast off /he writes while crossing fingers/ so maybe I'll do the copper stuff last thing... :)
Greg
Thanks for the info about the copper additive. (I have followed YOUR Nor'sea adventure ever since I got my Nor'sea in 1998!) The yard tells me the moisture readings on Pamdemonium are going down ever so slowly. I fully anticipate it being next spring before she is dry enough to work on. (Good thing I have two boats! Hopefully copper prices don't rise over that time frame!
Captain K. All is well in Georgetown? Good to hear from you too!
Almost done stripping 20-some years of bottom paint off the Cape Dory 22. (Miked a paint flake at about 3/32" thick!) I'm using Franmar's Soy-Strip and will have a more detailed report on that shortly. My question is this:
The boat has been and will continue to be sailed seasonally, spending 8-9 months of the year on a trailer in the barn. There is no indication or history of any blistering, and in this case I'm hesitant to barrier coat the bottom as the current routine and the boats construction have kept it problem free for over 2 decades so far.
Having stripped the previous eons of bottom paint, would a primer coat be recommended before reapplying the bottom paint? (I'm planning to use an ablative bottom paint). The manufacturer says the paint is fine directly over an epoxy barrier coat or over properly prepared old epoxy bottom paint, but doesn't mention bare FG or gelcoat... If so, what primer would folks recommend for below the waterline?
Why not use a barrier coat, like Interprotect 2000E, as a primer. Having it on the boat isn't going to hurt anything, and may help prevent blistering in the future.
Bill,
Your Cape Dory (like my Ariel) is one of the boats made from the 'right stuff' and not known for blisters. ;D If you had the barrier coat free somehow I might apply it, however I would not spend the money for it on your boat.
I would not spend the money on the barrier coat myself.
My trip to the Bahamas was fun but I anchored in a couple low spots and some of the bottom paint was rubbed thin and had some barnacle growth. I scraped what I could off before putting into the Erie Canal. I will have to put on new bottom paint before the Oct voyage to Florida.
I am sure that I did not scrape off all of the bottoms of the barnacles off. Can I just paint over them?
Do I need to light sand the entire bottom before applying new bottom paint?
Lynx - I believe you should get a couple pro's to look at the bottom and discuss with them exactly what you are trying to accomplish. There may be an easy solution that we can't see even with good pictures. If you have to do a complete bottom job - they would be able to recommend the best paint for where you will be a cruisin.
jim
Thanks, trying to take as little time as possible to get the job done. I only have about 3 - 1 foot square places bad palces on the bottom. I agree with the paint. Fl needs highest, badest bottom paint that I can get.