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Coppercoat

DanielW

E-28 Owner
The coppercoat is on! According to the testimonials this stuff is good for 10 years. Anyone else applied this instead of conventional antifoul? and yes, that is Simon Connor's Olson 34 in the background, she's had a new paint job and mighty smart she looks too.
 

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steven

Sustaining Member
looks great. I'm thinking of doing it at next haul. What kind of bottom prep is needed? Does it take a really experienced yard, or is it pretty straigntforward to get right?
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
INterested in hearing your reports on how well it works

I had several clients that have tried it at different times.... All eventually went back to regular bottom paint in a short period of time. The last boat show I spoke with them about it, and the "new" version was said to be completely different than the older versions.

Keep us in the loop on it and let us know how it works out.

Guy
:)
 

DanielW

E-28 Owner
looks great. I'm thinking of doing it at next haul. What kind of bottom prep is needed? Does it take a really experienced yard, or is it pretty straigntforward to get right?
For plastic boats (like ours) you have to remove all remnants of previous paint so it's a really thorough sanding job; no primer needed. The coppercoat itself is very easy to roll on. Two of us did 4 coats in just under 5 hours. It's a really simple job, just apply wet on tacky. In my case we took a side each, worked front to back and by the time we'd finished the rudder we simply started back at the bow with a fresh coat. You mix in small batches as it is an epoxy product so hardens over time. The coppercoat site has instructions and videos. My yard were concerned about the time they had to put her back in the water. I called coppercoat and there is no time limit whatsoever because it is epoxy, not paint.
 

DanielW

E-28 Owner
Here are some close ups. The finish is super smooth. Apparently it will benefit from a light burnish with some wet and dry sandpaper to active the copper before she goes in the water.
 

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Carefree Sailor

Member II
I believe that California is debating banning bottom paint with more than a small percentage of copper in it. I also believe that Washington state allows no more than 0.5 percent copper.

Here is a link about Coppercoat: http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2013/02/coppercoat-a-worthy-alternative-to-bottom-paint/. My reading of the article leads me to conclude that it is okay with environmental agencies. Am I wrong? I'm particularly interested if anyone knows if the product is acceptable in California.
 

DanielW

E-28 Owner
I believe that California is debating banning bottom paint with more than a small percentage of copper in it. I also believe that Washington state allows no more than 0.5 percent copper.

Here is a link about Coppercoat: http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2013/02/coppercoat-a-worthy-alternative-to-bottom-paint/. My reading of the article leads me to conclude that it is okay with environmental agencies. Am I wrong? I'm particularly interested if anyone knows if the product is acceptable in California.

Because Coppercoat is an epoxy product impregnated with copper it doesn't leach like conventional antifoul paints. It has actually won awards for it's eco friendliness.The U.S distributor is based in Florida so I guess he would be the best person to ask about whether it is acceptable in your state. http://www.coppercoatusa.com
 

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
Does it turn green after it has been in the water? My red Tinidad SR gets a green tint at the waterline.
 

exoduse35

Sustaining Member
In the FAQ section of the website it says that it IS ok in California. I thought it was interesting that it was a specific question, but then California does like to make it's own rules. Edd
 

Phil Adams

Member I
Coppercoat - four seasons on

I'm now on my fourth season with Coppercoat on Trithena and have had poor results from it. Having read about it and all the glowing testamonials I went ahead and had it professionally applied by the local agent. The hull was soda blasted back to gel coat and then abraded prior to application and looked superb when finished. The disappointment set in when she was lifted out six months later and power washed as large flakes of Coppercoat came off! this was rectified by the local agent but since then its become an annual task to touch up the coating!!! Trithena lifted out last week and guess what - flakes off again (only small ones this time) so I have to think why bother going down this route as I'm having to touch up the coating annually! As the saying goes 'you pays your money and you makes your choice' well I for one will be going back to regular antifoul in the future!
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Copper musings

Gotta say... it's great to have first hand information, whether positive or not. Otherwise all we ever seem to get is ads full of questionable statements from phantom "happy customers" :rolleyes:

I actually do know an early customer of a similar epoxy/copper type of product, about 10 - 15 years ago. He was retired from boat building and pretty knowledgeable about coatings.
He thought that it was maybe better than many paint products, but our boating is all fresh water here and the slime growth still needed to be scrubbed off his hull regularly.

Having said that, I have used Trinidad SR for about 15 seasons and while it may "resist" slime growth, I still have to pay to have the bottom scrubbed twice a season... (Sigh)

Please (!) do keep the comments coming! The passage of time and continued inspection/experience from real owners is the very Best information that we can get.

Regards,
Loren
 

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
I wonder if it would work better if there were already an epoxy barrier coat applied to the hull? In 2008 my boat had Interlux Interprotect 2000e applied, then a hard antifouling bottom paint (something called California Bottomkote, at the time). The bottom paint was not good and I had Trinidad SR applied over it; sanded and prepped of course. So if I removed the two coats of bottom paint down to the 2000e barrier coat, I wonder if the Coppercoat would adhere better than being applied over gel coat? Was there any kind of primer applied to the gel coat prior to the Coppercoat? Seems like primer is a pretty standard thing...
 

DanielW

E-28 Owner
The one thing they do make clear is that bottom preparation is very important. You have to get rid of all of the existing paint otherwise there will be problems with the copper coat adhering. With a plastic boat there is no need to prime just make sure that you clean off all existing paint - this was very labour intensive. I guess time will tell so I'll update in a year or so :egrin:
 

Phil Adams

Member I
From watching the guys working on Trithena I have to say I couldn't fault the preparation. The soda blasting took all the old antifoul off and then the entire hull was abraded by machine & hand to allow the Coppercoat to adhere. There were three boats (one power boat and one other yacht) in all had the treatment and all three suffer the same problems.

Given that we pay around £85 sterling per litre here it doesn't seem such a good deal with the constant touching up required compared to the cost of 'normal' antifoul. I'll be interested in hearing about your experiences with it in the future and hope you have better luck with it than we have!
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Some good commentary

I will append some information from a boat builder acquaintance with over 30 years building & repairing FRP and composite hulls. I had forwarded the thread to see if he had some commentary.
His remarks are thoughtful, and based on my knowledge of his background, very well-informed.

Hi Loren,

Copper coating has been around for a long time and has been modified over the years. Looking at the photos in the thread it looks to go on smoother then the original in its current form.

The issue that someone has with it flaking off is interesting and I would assume it is being caused by one of several possibilities. The surface was still contaminated from the soda blasting or contaminated by some other sanding/degreasing or? The product application was started early in the morning and there was some dampness on the surface or perhaps there was so much salt driven into the surface over the years that it was damp. The product could have been applied on a really hot day and the tack between coats was missed. I could go on but you get the idea, it could be something like just not enough product on the hull. We had a similar problem once with a Vinylester product because after application the customer sanded the hull fair and then did not apply more product so that in some areas it was real thin. The product got small pin blisters in the thin areas.

Now the real problem or should I say lack of performance issue. Put your logic cap on, if the copper is in an epoxy resin then all the particles are coated and it will take a light sanding to expose copper to do its job. The small amount of copper exposed will need to be lightly sanded from time to time to expose fresh copper and so on. In fresh water the slime will still grow because the silt in the water gets trapped on the surface and the slime grows on it just as it does on the bottom paint. So you will still need to scrub the bottom to keep it clean.

A side effect of a bottom finish that the customer thinks doesn’t need to be hauled out on a regular basses is that things like thru hulls, zincs and bearings get looked at less which is one of the reason we haul our boats.

It is interesting to me that Trinidad works so well and in fact we do test other paints (usually on one of our employees boats) one of which was being touted as a competitive to Trinidad and when we just hauled it last week there was a small growth on to hidden (sp) in the slime that would not pressure wash off and in fact required vigorous scrubbing with scotch bright to remove. We won’t be recommending that paint to our customers.

I just don’t think there is any golden bullet out there. I use VC17 of Pettit SR21 on both my 70 and my cal 20, do I need to scrub it? Yes but everything comes off easily just as it does on Trinidad.

Enjoy the hunt,
S____
 
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