I had the 'old barge' (as Oz calls her) hauled last week. I had put hard
antifoul on as an experiment last year and was most impressed with its
performance. It was 13 months since she was last out and the growth was
quite small except for the sail drive that had a lot of weed (tin based
antifoul had worn off completely but the acid etch vinyl primer was
still in place). After water blasting to remove the slime, gently wet
and dried entire hull with 240 grit. Washed down with a scriubbing brush
and then applied a new coat of hard antifoul. I decided on another
experiment. I used about 30-40% thinners and rolled with a short pile
roller. The paint went on very fast and because it was very fluid left a
surface that was as smooth as a spray job. Applied three similar coats
on leading edges. Of course the paint layer is thinner than using full
strength but since it's hard antifoul I'm gambling that this thin layer
will be sufficient 'til next year. I also did not use near a whole
gallon which for a 40' boat is most economical (being a Farr she also
has a low wetted area). Anyone else here use a similar strategy? The
water here is very clean so fouling is probably less than in some other
places. I also noticed that when we went out in rough weather the slime
tended to get knocked off the hull by waves so the hard surface doesn't
seem to allow adhesion any worse than the ablative antifoul I used
before. Another advantage is that when you touch the hull you don't get
covered with ablative paint... This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

Cheers MC

Yes, that is the more normal rate but the finish is way smoooooth.
Cost about NZD$250 to slip with a hard stand charge of $27/day for Ella
(Can't say exact figs as I've not paid yet).

Cheers MC

Captain William Collin, Master of the barque Grimenza wrote:

30-40% sounds excessive...I would have thought 10% max.
'Twill be interesting to see how it goes...How much is slipping in NZ?


On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 09:52:55 +1300, The_navigator©
scribbled thusly:


I had the 'old barge' (as Oz calls her) hauled last week. I had put hard
antifoul on as an experiment last year and was most impressed with its
performance. It was 13 months since she was last out and the growth was
quite small except for the sail drive that had a lot of weed (tin based
antifoul had worn off completely but the acid etch vinyl primer was
still in place). After water blasting to remove the slime, gently wet
and dried entire hull with 240 grit. Washed down with a scriubbing brush
and then applied a new coat of hard antifoul. I decided on another
experiment. I used about 30-40% thinners and rolled with a short pile
roller. The paint went on very fast and because it was very fluid left a
surface that was as smooth as a spray job. Applied three similar coats
on leading edges. Of course the paint layer is thinner than using full
strength but since it's hard antifoul I'm gambling that this thin layer
will be sufficient 'til next year. I also did not use near a whole
gallon which for a 40' boat is most economical (being a Farr she also
has a low wetted area). Anyone else here use a similar strategy? The
water here is very clean so fouling is probably less than in some other
places. I also noticed that when we went out in rough weather the slime
tended to get knocked off the hull by waves so the hard surface doesn't
seem to allow adhesion any worse than the ablative antifoul I used
before. Another advantage is that when you touch the hull you don't get
covered with ablative paint... This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

Cheers MC




Oz1...of the 3 twins.

I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.

What antifoul do you use on your fleet?

Cheers MC

Captain William Collin, Master of the barque Grimenza wrote:

Another advantage is that when you touch the hull you don't get
covered with ablative paint... This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

None comes off but that only means it builds up and you'll be scraping one
year. Your thoughts on ablatives being better suited to smaller boats with
less speed is the opposite of what I would consider the way to go. BTW unless
you have a power boat I don't think going "fast" in any sailboat is fast enough
to remove slime. You gotta wipe it off.
BTW most manufactures do not recomend any thinning of bottom paint.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
Trains are a winter sport

SAIL LOCO wrote:

Another advantage is that when you touch the hull you don't get
covered with ablative paint... This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

None comes off but that only means it builds up and you'll be scraping one
year.

Not if it's nice and thin and you wet and dry every year back to the
previous paint... By the way I had ablative before and it built up! At
least hard antifoul sands without jamming up the paper all the time.


Your thoughts on ablatives being better suited to smaller boats with
less speed is the opposite of what I would consider the way to go.

Please explain. I would have thought a fast boat would loose the
ablative faster...

BTW unless
you have a power boat I don't think going "fast" in any sailboat is fast enough
to remove slime.

Well that's not what happened. As I said, more than a year has passed
and the thick slime was only present on bits that do not get well
slapped by the sea.

You gotta wipe it off.
BTW most manufactures do not recomend any thinning of bottom paint.

Well, there may be several reasons for that. At the moment the bottom
looks great and the thinner has no effect on adhesion -it may even
improve it as the thinner has aggressive solvents in it. Does it sound
to you like this idea has not been tried before?

Cheers MC

Please explain. I would have thought a fast boat would loose the
ablative faster...

This is what you said:
This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

You didn't say anything about faster boats removing paint. In my opinion
faster boats would do a better job of removing the slime but they would have to
be faster than any sailboat..
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
Trains are a winter sport

SAIL LOCO wrote:

Please explain. I would have thought a fast boat would loose the
ablative faster...

This is what you said:
This all raises a serious question in my

mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?


You didn't say anything about faster boats removing paint. In my opinion
faster boats would do a better job of removing the slime but they would have to
be faster than any sailboat..

I was thinking about the loss of ablative paint leading to the slime
loss. Do you think that happens?

Cheers MC

"The_navigator©" wrote in message
...
This all raises a serious question in my
mind as to whether ablative antifouls are that useful -maybe they are
best suited to smaller boats that never really get going fats enough to
displace the slime? Any thoughts?

Cheers MC


Many years ago i was at the yard when british steel was lifted out of the
water immediatly after her non stop round the world voyage
The bottom was covered in a wide variety of weeds and several spiecies of
barnicle.
She was about 60ft long and sailed hard... non stop.
you can draw you own conclusions from that.......