On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:49:31 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Apr 13, 8:07 pm, Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
At the moment there seem to be three choices (1) Jotun self polishing
paint in various grades depending on boat speed; (2) Chugoku self
polishing, again in different grades and (3) a copper and epoxy mix
that used to be called "CopperBot" but I now believe has a different
name, that is supposed to last ten years or more.

Now, to cut to the chase. Does anybody have actual experience with
current anti fouling paints in tropical waters?

I put CopperBot on my boat in 2001 and then sanded it down and put
Devoe ABC on over it in 2002. Copperbot makes a nice barrier coat.
The good news was that it would stand up to serious sanding the bad
news was that it needed it all the time. Unless you dive the boat
weekly I wouldn't go that route.

This is what I had suspected, although an article in Practical Boat
Owner alleged that one boat hadn't scrubbed the bottom in ten years.

I watched a video of the stuff being applied and it is literally just
epoxy and copper dust. They even tell you to keep stirring the can
while you are rolling it on. It is also a minimum of four coats --
sort of a modern day copper sheeting.

I couldn't see how it could be effective UNLESS you scrubbed it pretty
aggressively on a frequent basis.

At the moment I am leaning toward the Jotun as I have used Jotun
before and it did what they said it would and secondly, a mate who is
in Cochin,India at the moment is using it and swears that he doesn't
have any growth at all. He has been at anchor in Cochin for about two
months now so I'll see what his boat looks like when he gets back.


Pretty much all the serious tropical
cruisers I know use ablatives and most get 18-24 months out of a multi-
coat application. I've used a couple of different Devoe products have
done a few seasons with Interlux. I'm currently into my second season
with Micron Extra. IME, the ablative copper paints work very well for
3-4 months and then get dramatically less effective. However, they
are really easy to clean. By the end of two seasons you'll typically
be down to almost no paint and any that's left will have very little
anti-fouling ability... The Interlux products are more expensive than
the Devoe stuff that I was getting in New Zealand but not notably
better.

-- Tom.

Devoe isn't available here, as far as I know and I have had extremely
bad experience with International paint - some people say because
International mixes the paint that is sold here in Thailand.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Of the dozen or so people I've known who applied a "copper-epoxy"
bottom coating, about half said it worked pretty well... with regular
scrubbing. One of those was a pretty serious racer.


Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
Devoe isn't available here, as far as I know and I have had extremely
bad experience with International paint - some people say because
International mixes the paint that is sold here in Thailand.


Bummer, Devoe makes good products. The only advice I can give germane
to your location is, what kind of anti-fouling does the Thai military
and/or gov't vessels use? I bet it's TBT. And I bet that a guy who
knows the right people can get some too.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:31:10 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Of the dozen or so people I've known who applied a "copper-epoxy"
bottom coating, about half said it worked pretty well... with regular
scrubbing. One of those was a pretty serious racer.


Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
Devoe isn't available here, as far as I know and I have had extremely
bad experience with International paint - some people say because
International mixes the paint that is sold here in Thailand.


Bummer, Devoe makes good products. The only advice I can give germane
to your location is, what kind of anti-fouling does the Thai military
and/or gov't vessels use? I bet it's TBT. And I bet that a guy who
knows the right people can get some too.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King
The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.




Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On 2008-04-14 08:30:38 -0400, Bruce in Bangkok said:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.

You can't befriend someone in the Malaysian Navy?

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:20:03 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

On 2008-04-14 08:30:38 -0400, Bruce in Bangkok said:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.

You can't befriend someone in the Malaysian Navy?

I probably could if I spent some time in Lamout, the west coast naval
base. Interestingly I met a chap this morning that had a mate who was
in the boat painting business who had some detailed information.

The problems with TBT are, other then it is banned in anti fouling
paints, by international treaty, it is a pretty potent poison, it
doesn't mix with all bottom paints and its reaction varies from paint
to paint.

My present thoughts are that I'll probably go with one of the modern
self polishing paints as I don't want to go through all the trials and
tribulations of painting the bottom only to discover that the paint
didn't get hard; or it all falls off.

I do have plans to mix enough paint to do an 8 ft. dinghy. Half with
TBT and half with copper based anti fouling paint. Just to see what
happens.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Hi Bruce,
Did you try Chulia Street?
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:30:38 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.




Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:04:13 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

Hi Bruce,
Did you try Chulia Street?
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:30:38 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.

Yup, that's the guy - known as the "Chemical man".

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:00:44 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:04:13 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

Hi Bruce,
Did you try Chulia Street?
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:30:38 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.

Yup, that's the guy - known as the "Chemical man".

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Yes, Mr Ong of Langtrau Traders.

Now in his 80's and speaking perfect Oxford English (though I wouldn't
expect that you as an American would appreciate well spoken English),
he has had a very interesting life. His father died when he was 9
leaving his mother to scrape a living for the family unassisted. When
the Japanese occupied Malaya, they set up a medical school at Melaka
and he was chosen to attend. After his 3rd year the British returned
and the school was closed down, thus terminating his medical studies.
Returning to Penang his Doctor friends suggested that, as drugs and
medical supplies were hard to get hold of, he should think of buying
them in Singapore on the black market and smuggling them back to
Penang (the best city in the universe where the most beautiful women
are just that - women) where they would buy them off him.

Subsequently he somehow obtained a military uniform and a weekly pass
(forged or otherwise acquired) and made the weekly round trip by
train. At the time Singapore was a military area and was no go to just
anybody. He went on to found the largest chemical company in Malaysia
and when he reached his 60's retired, handed it over to his sons and
started selling all kinds of chemical supplies from that shop house.

He is an easy person to make any excuse to sit and have a cup of tea
with and just ask questions. The prices of his TBT and other useful
boaties' chemicals is ridiculously low.

I was planning to leave Curacao today bound for Panama and have only
just found out that there is at least an 8 week delay for transiting
the canal. Only 3 yachts are allowed transit each way on 3 days per
week. This delay means that I would have to go hell for leather to
reach your end of the world before the cyclone season starts in
November - and with La Nina.... I am thinking of heading home for a
few months. Damn!!

Asalaam
Peter

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:19:26 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

I was planning to leave Curacao today bound for Panama and have only
just found out that there is at least an 8 week delay for transiting
the canal.

I'm told that if you use a canal agent the delay can sometimes be
reduced to days. Apparently they reserve slots in advance ($$$). I
know of several trawlers that have gone through recently with minimal
delays.

On Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 12:19:26 AM UTC+8, Peter Hendra wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:00:44 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:04:13 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

Hi Bruce,
Did you try Chulia Street?
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:30:38 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

The last time I was in Penang and talked to a chemical shop there the
owner said "I'll keep selling TBT as long as the Malaysian Navy uses
TBT based anti fouling".. So you are probably correct. unfortunately I
can't buy it.

Yup, that's the guy - known as the "Chemical man".

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Yes, Mr Ong of Langtrau Traders.

Now in his 80's and speaking perfect Oxford English (though I wouldn't
expect that you as an American would appreciate well spoken English),
he has had a very interesting life. His father died when he was 9
leaving his mother to scrape a living for the family unassisted. When
the Japanese occupied Malaya, they set up a medical school at Melaka
and he was chosen to attend. After his 3rd year the British returned
and the school was closed down, thus terminating his medical studies.
Returning to Penang his Doctor friends suggested that, as drugs and
medical supplies were hard to get hold of, he should think of buying
them in Singapore on the black market and smuggling them back to
Penang (the best city in the universe where the most beautiful women
are just that - women) where they would buy them off him.

Subsequently he somehow obtained a military uniform and a weekly pass
(forged or otherwise acquired) and made the weekly round trip by
train. At the time Singapore was a military area and was no go to just
anybody. He went on to found the largest chemical company in Malaysia
and when he reached his 60's retired, handed it over to his sons and
started selling all kinds of chemical supplies from that shop house.

He is an easy person to make any excuse to sit and have a cup of tea
with and just ask questions. The prices of his TBT and other useful
boaties' chemicals is ridiculously low.

Looks like Mr Ong, now 91 years old, will have to move his Liangtraco business to a new address in Penang.

See: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/m...n-lebuh-chulia

Bil