On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:19:48 -0000, "TonyB"
wrote:

That is not always the case though it was the case for me in the past when
I
did winter afloat. It happens that the boat yard where I winter actually
charges about the same for dry or wet storage. When one factors in a
quick
haul in the spring for checking things (such as seacocks, etc.) the
economics are reversed.

I have wintered afloat on the slightly saline Norfolk Broads for the past
seven years
with only the anti-fouling that came on the boat at purchase. Sometimes she
grew
some slime underneath and a few weed whiskers at the waterline. The weed was
easily
removed with a broom and the slime tended to come off after a good sail.

This year I sailed her round to the north Norfolk coast and she dried out
for the first time
on the sand. The bottom was as clean as a whistle with a minimal thickness
of old red anti-foul. However, within a month she started
growing barnacles despite only being afloat for some 4-5 hours in every 12.

I may try the coppercoat solution, not for economy but through sheer
laziness, should
cost about £300. Alternatively I may buy some epoxy resin and add the copper
powder myself,
it appears to be readily available but I haven't costed it nor looked at
minimum order levels.
I may have to order a ton of copper powder and that'll be more than the boat
is worth!

TonyB


I looked into "Copper Coat" or "Copper Bot", whatever the name after
reading an article extolling it in Practical Boatowner. The idea
initially sounded quite logical however after talking to the few
people that I found that had actually used it on their own boat I
decided not to. All of the people I talked to, admittedly only a few,
said the same thing - it didn't work as advertised and they had all
removed the epoxy-copper from their boats, not a trivial task, and
gone back to the old system.

I'm not saying that the system is NO GOOD, rather that one should do
some research and talk to people that had used it before spending the
not trivial sum to apply it.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)