As new owners this will be the first lift out for anti fouling and am considering Copper Coat as a longer term solution. It might sound silly but what do 325 owners normally do for the lead wing and the stainless partin terms of coating with an anti-foul? Any pointers would be appreciated.
Steve
Dancer
325/34

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Hello Steve,

In spring 2009, I copper coated Pegasus (325/37). She had built up almost ten coat years of antifoul and a good scrape back to gel coat seemed in order..... All I can say is that the 100% level of cleanliness needed for copper coat application proved to be very hard work and took two of us days and days! (Scraping and sanding!) The other issue, I discovered, was that to apply copper coat as prescribed, one needs very dry weather above 10 deg C day and night. So it's not an early spring job outdoors!

With respect to the steel and lead wing, coppercoat provide you with a primer. I fount this to be partially successful, but the front leading edge of the keel has already rubbed and washed away. I have decided to not the redo this and have cleaned any other crumbly bits on the leading edge away with a wire brush back to the steel.

However, my biggest fear was that the presence of copper on the keel might in some way electrically react with the stainless steel. This has not apparently been the case, but the keel does get a very close inspection each year now. There have been no issues with the lead wing as far as I can see.

With respect to how well the coppercoat has worked, we are now entering our 3rd season with it. Except for a few days each spring where she is lifted out to blast off, hull inspection, change anodes, check ram etc, the copper worked fantastically in the first year, but appears to have worked less well since. That's not to say, however, that fresh annual chemical antifloul on my neighbours boats has worked any better! This year seems to have been a bad weed year!

So I wouldn't describe coppercoat as a anti foul silver bullet, but a good brush round just below the waterline 2 or 3 times in the season seems to be effective!

Hope this is help?

Stuart
Pegasus 325/37

Hi Stuart
Thanks for taking the time to reply in such depth, this is a great help. I think, then,it will be worth giving Copper Coat a go. I have been out of action all winter(ruptured quad tendons) so am not planning an early start. Hopefully it will have warmed up by early May.
May I ask another question ref. the ram anode, how often is it likely to need replacing?
Thanks again for you help,
Regards
Steve

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Hi Steve

If you do decide to go down the copper coat route you may want to look at
www.symblast.com 

They Slurry blast the hull to remove all antifouling
I have made a few enquiries myself into this as i may strip off all the antifouling off Cleo next winter--
i would be interested to see how you get on

Peter Lowry
"Cleo" superseal # 21

Hi Peter
Thanks for the tip, I think the slurry option will be money well spent, for me anyway, as not yet fit. I have an approx price of £15/foot so far.
I will let you know how it goes.
Best regards
Steve
Dancer
325/34

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Hi Steve,

Ram Anode? I replace once every 2 years. To be honest, because my boat sits in a mud pontoon keel up, there is so much silt in the water, that it really does not work very well. But I do change it none the less.

Slurry Clean? Thought about several of these at the time, best one I heard of was the one that used dry ice or ice of some sort. Reduced the mess especially to a neighbours boat. The young guy who helped me felt that there was no better finish than by doing it the hard manual way.... so I would be delighted to hear how you get on?

Best Regards,

Stuart

325/37

Thanks for your help already, but another question please . This is the first time out for anti-foul and ram anode, and am trying to work out , with the marina, how high I will need to have the hull blocked. As no weight can be on the keel is it OK to use a multipoint frame ( 6 pads and stern support), and can you tell me how far up from the bottom of the keel is the bolt that retains the ram?
Thanks
Steve
Dancer
325/34

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Steve,

I would guess 18in to 2ft high would be enough. I have a cradle which I made. Will gladly send you photos.

Stuart

Stuart
Many thanks for the info, the pics would be a help for making a cradle.
If you wouldn't mind sending them to parkerstephenl@gmail.com.
Again, thanks
Steve
Dancer
325/34

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Steve,

Have sent pictures.

Stuart

When I bought Rakaia some 10 years ago Bill Parker told me that the keel needed to be fully down to change the anode. If its not there is the danger that once the ram is freed it will extend and will not be able to be refitted?
Has anyone had this problem? We change the anode every two years sticking to Bill's instructions. We keep the keel raised when in the marina berth.

Roger

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Well, we bit the bullet and had the hull professionally blasted and then copper coated. Money well spent so far. After 10 months on a semi mud berth, there was only a little slime. We will now be afloat 24/7 (Weymouth) so it will be interesting to see how that works.

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Hi Steve,

Well done! Above I talked "a bad weed year" in Langstone last year. Well it's still to early to tell this season yet, but beached Pegasus to pressure hose the winter slime off and actually I felt, like a maturing wine, that the copper coat had become even more effective into its 4th year, not less. Like to hear how you are get on?

Stuart

Pegasus 325/37

Stuart - is it still working (coppercoat) interested in an updated report?

Hi Paul,

Well the coppercoat has been on for nearly 6 years on now. Pegasus lives in a mud berth in Langstone Harbour and sits in its own puddle at low water. The coppercoat has turned black in the bottom area and I think this is a reaction with the sulphur in the mud. Nothing or very little ever grows in this area all year round. Pegasus is usually lifted and serviced early summer every year for a few weeks on land and normally spends the winter in.

So is the coppercoat still working?

Answer: Yes, I think so!

Langstone is a weedy harbour at the best of times and I can only compare it with annually anti-fouled boats which are currently still in over the winter. Of these, all appear to have similar amounts of weed as Pegasus. The issue is a very thin film of mud slime settling on the hull and capturing the sunlight. This is enough for the weed spores attach and then grow, roughly one foot down from the water surface. It seems to make no difference whether one has freshly antifouled, coppercoated or not, such is the muddiness of the water at low water on the last of the ebb before we dry and just as the tide starts to rise back in.

I have found regular hull brushing every two or three months quickly solves the problem. The bad time of year is always the spring when the weed grows like mad. At this time, I often beach the boat, then pressure hose if I can or thoroughly brush and this is often enough to keep it at bay until the annual June lift.

Hope this answers your question - not perfect but passable and yes, labour intensive in its own way!

Best Regards,

Stuart

Pegasus 325/37