As the snow finally melts in the garden a young man's thoughts idly turn to the joys of fitting-out and that hoary old perennial--Which Antifouling?

Over the last twenty years or so I have used just about every popular Brand:

Titan, Tiger, and Hard Racing from Blakes.

Micron(various)from International

Gold Star from Awlgrip

Flag

Marclear

etc

They were all without exception spectacularly useless. If I am to put paint costing as much as liquid Gold on the bottom of my boat I do at least expect it to do what it says on the tin!

I have not used Teamac or Jotun.

A thread (either here or on the late lamented "Mainsail" site) recommended Witham Paints products, and from their website it appears that on the measure of %age solids they look good, BUT the available colours seem uninspiring and it seems only available in Industrial quantities.

I am inclining towards International Cruiser Uno for two simple reasons only:-

1) Its relatively cheap; and

2) It comes in a 3 litre tin, thus providing enough for two full coats on the 275.

I expect, come late June,to have to scrub from the dinghy every 2/3 weeks or perhaps dry out on the Horse at Felixstowe Ferry for a proper scrub.

Views anybody?

275/30 "Cascada"

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John, I have used Plastimo's Performance Antifouling for several seasons now and found it as good as the most expensive International paint I used in the distant past . The brand was temporarily unavailable two or three years back and had to put Teamac (I think) on. It was very poor by comparison.

PP is a little bit harder than some of the self polishing paints so suits drying out. Our local yard sells it at £57 for 2.5l so it's not cheap.

Elsa has remained in the water at Wootton Creek since March last year. I had two or three light scrubs during the season to remove the ubiquitous brown slime/weed we get here and a serious scrub from the dinghy in October (before our frosbite racing began) to remove a few barnacles where she sits in the mud. I did the same the other day and found little fouling since the middle of December.

However, this part of the coast is considered only a moderate fouling area by the pundits and Elsa does dry out on spring tides.

Hope this might be useful while remembering the fact that every area has different fouling properties!

Chris, Elsa 26 (103)

John

I have similar problems. I am on a drying mooring but don't want to use hard anti fouling which is recommended, as you then build up a large thickness, which is then difficult to remove. I had some succes with the old International Cruiser premium, which you can't get any longer.

For a couple of years I tried no antifouling - just scrubbing - relying on previous coatings. At first it was not much worse than with antifouling, but eventually got pretty bad.

I am now using Blakes Cruiser I think, which is not too bad, but someone needs invent something new - maybe dangling a copper bar nearby in the water! There's some serious money to be made!

Tim Reeder

I have a drying mud berth which rubs off the eroding antifouling so after a couple of bad years and a barnacle crop filling a big bucket International Paints admitted Micron Optima had failed. Since then I have used one coat of Interspeed Ultra hard antifouling each year. My impression is that wet summers on the river cause less fouling than hot dry ones. She still needs a scrub before Dartmouth Regatta. This winter I am switching from pale grey to see whether dark blue is more effective. At least the slime will show up less when we heel over!

Kate

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We put Coppercoat on last year, and were very happy with it. A small amount of weed had grown along the waterline and on the rudder by the end of the season, but this rubbed off very easily from the dinghy. We're on a deepwater swinging mooring in Fareham Lake - and it may be quite a low fouling area as we hadn't had any real problems with the eroding anti-fouling we used in previous years. It was expensive to do last year, but it's great not to be expecting to have to think about it at all this year - or, hopefully, for many years to come!

Gilliane

Miss Fidget, Super Seal 26, no. 69

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This months Practical Boat Owner has a feature on anti-fouling which includes a UK map of fouling types / strengths.

When Exodus was built two years ago Parkers put on Interspeed Ultra which seems to have worked, although I get a brown slime by season end.

However, having read the PBO article I am wondering if an eroding anti-foul is better - my boat remains afloat from March to November, never dries out and is never trailered, so I am thinking that Parkers default to a hard anti-foul for these reasons which are actually not relevant in my case.

I shall phone International and ask advice!

Stephen Godber

235/51 "Exodus"

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Hi Stephen,

When I had Gentoo in the river Forth Estuary I got very good results with International's Micron Extra, It's not cheap but only a very light slime at the end of the season which washed off with no effort.

Graeme

Thanks for that Graeme - I've spoken to International and they confirm what I thought and what you have said, so I'll try Micron Extra this year. The guy at International even said a year with Interspeed Ultra on first provided a good base for future years, so that has worked well!

My only debate is whether it's worth spending £90 plus for Micron Extra which requires two coats or whether in fact a single coat of Cruiser Uno will do the job - it offers slightly less protection but is basically the same product, it only needs a single coat and is 'only' £60.

That said, the chap at International reckoned that two coats of Micron extra would last 24 months - did you re-do yours each year Graeme or did it in fact last two seasons?

Stephen Godber

235/51 "Exodus"

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Stephen,

I did tend to put an extra coat on Gentoo each year, mainly because I had the antifoul left over from the previous year. I would think you may get away it lasting 2 years, but you need to follow manufacturer's recommendation regarding time to immersion, and give the hull a pressure wash or similar.

On my new boat (Moody 31) I hope to keep her in all year and lift out every second year. (with the odd dry out and scrub)

Graeme

This debate could go on for ages, every one has their favourite.

I use International VC17 Extra. Easy to put on, it's ultra thin, extremely slippery when burnished, and surprisingly for the last 4 years, fouling has not been any worse than any other type I have tried. In fact I would say on average it is slightly better.

It is very difficult to qualify this because the degree of fouling varies from year to year. I think it depends on when and where you take the boat. I never get weed I sometimes get barnacles on a few places like trailing edge of the rudder and round the prop boss. Sometimes if I go out when the barnacle spores have been at their most plentiful I have had heavy fouling. But other years there has been next to none. Aztec sits in a mud birth for most of the day, and I think the very slippery ptfe finish helps prevent the mud from forming a layer on the hull. This I believe leaves the antifouling to do its work rather than being covered by a layer of mud or scale.

I originally put on 2 coats of VC17 but now when I give it a light rub down with 180 grit prior to putting on the fresh coat it normally reveals fresh copper underneath, so I only put a single coat each year to "top up".

Mike Edwards

Seal 28 "Aztec"

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Hi John. Have just read your Feb posting, so you've probably decided which antifouling to use by now. I'm in a high fouling area (Poole), on a pontoon berth. I've used Seajet Shogun for 5 years, on both a Seal 26 and now on my Parker 275. I have been very impressed with it - much better than the International I used before. My 275 was in for 18 months until last Christmas, and I only gently scrubbed off once in July. There was only a small amount of slime which jet-washed off easily when she came out. I use her a moderate amount (went to Falmouth and back last summer for 3 weeks, and several week-long trips and lots of day sails as well). I easily got 2 coats from 1 tin, easy to apply, and there was an effective layer left after 18 months. Excellent value - strongly recommended. Tim