New antifoul discovery - 100% effective AND green

Update on Sani-Tred

Sdowney, can you give us an update on how the permaflex is preforming as an antifouling paint?

 

Sure, It is not an effective antifoul coating If you dont brush them off when small.
I have lots of barnacles. The coating is undamaged, barnacles dont affect it.
I think it has been a couple of years now.
This was a test and the boat mostly sits.
At first the barnacles were small easily removed simply with my hand, meaning no sticking. Easily brush everything off using my hands.

I just left everything alone to see what hapens and now some barnacles are about an inch and stuck on but can be scraped off with some effort. I was thinking of getting in when the water warms up and use a WOOD scraper made from oak to clean the hull and see what happens. what ever you use to clean with cant be sharp metal or you likely would cut the permaflex rubber.
Permaflex is acid proof so If I haul the boat, I will power wash, scrape, then spray HCL muriatic acid to dissolve anything left.


A sheet piece of permaflex I had in the water as a test grew some barnacles.
When they got to about a half inch I pulled the sheet and when I rolled it they popped off completely intact. Sort of peeled them off. So the barnacle's bottom was there and it is slightly concave. I think these things are sticking to the surface like a suction cup, but they dont harm the coating.

So If you were prepared to get in the water and scrub the boat once a month this would work ok. The bottom is basically dirty. This coating would require someone to periodically expend some effort to keep the surface clean.

pictures showing intact peeled off barnacle




Undamaged surface of permaflex where barnacles had set.


Some more barnacles with bottom intact. They all just pop off with some effort from a sheet. The bottom when scraped they will likely leave their bottom rings behind.

 

Thanks for the update. Looks like great stuff, but not for anti-fouling. Do you like it on your deck?

 

If you put it on the deck exposed to sun UV, you need to use the permaflex-al version.
I like it well enough to have used it to help in rebuilding the hull of this 37 egg harbor 1970 boat.
PL Premium construction adhesive is also excellent for gluing caulking sealing.

Makes it stronger and seals everything. The antifoul was a test to see what would happen.

some pics. painting upside down is an awful mess as it drips and drools.

 

How does this stuff attach to epoxy?

 

Its just thinned Sikaflex that you can paint on!!

 

I've seen builders polyurethane sealant thinned with petrol and painted on a wooden boat and it has lasted very well. But not as an antifoulant.

All the "slick surface" antifoulings need a water velocity of over 15knots to self clean. Otherwise they foul.

I did see a very clean rudder and prop a month ago when inspecting a 70' commercial fishing boat. The owner had been given a bucket of a waterproof product called "ClearGlide lube" that's used in the oil industry here for protecting pipe threads and also apparently for coating cables in ducts so they can be pulled out in a few years.
He'd applied it around 6 months before to the prop and then to the rudder for a trial, both were spotless ! If you are interested in tough low friction waterproof coatings it might be worth looking at.

 

It sticks to epoxy or fiberglass resin fine.
It is a mechanical attachment like paint or anything else, a rougher surface is good.

this is a polyurethane hard rubber like material that is quite shiny and feels slippery when wet.

 

Clear Guide Lube.

Gooday bloke. Nice post Mike Johns. 'London to a brick' very few people - pick-up on this - - shame that. Way back when 1960's - I used a product called "Hydron' as a final coat after antifouling - on about 30 or more sailing (race) boats in Sydney. Was just the 'ducks-guts' - slipperier than - smoother than, especially when wet - just so smooth to touch - extended the 'life' of antifouling by at least 60% & even at racing quality finish. I've just 'google'd' it & they have lots of varities - even 1 @ 6% solids. I'd wager that is what the 'Hydron' was or very close to it. I sprayed it on - ever so thin but it sure did do the trick. Yachts with it on - improved at least 2 to 3 positions. It sure was a race winner & made me lots of money as well.

Thanks for that - - VERY VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE - - I'll sure be using it on my tri when I get to SE Asia to pick it up. Thanks again - Ciao, james

PS A chilly 14* @ 0920 hrs up here in the mountains above Cairns, FNQ.

 

When you apply does apply smooth or do you have work it smooth.

 

Gooday there

Gooday 'mydauphin' - if you're asking me - then - as I said - I sprayed it on. When I purchased it from NZ - it was the right viscosity to spray - - it didn't have a lot of thixotropy though - so it runns easily - that's why we put it on very thin. Having said that - at that time - that's the business I was in & ther were lots of very good spray painters that worked for me. Easy-peasy but all the gear was professional equipment. If spraying - do remember to have a - better than good - water filter in the spray line. That's a must have for a top quality job. Ciao, james

 

I just experimented in a bucket an hour ago rubbing grease onto alluminiuml under sea water.

I did not think it would have been easy , in actual fact it was no different than above water dry.

My prop bags are ready for replacement and are hanging with barnacles. It is only the props and shafts I have trouble with and they are big 4 bladers.

Tomorrow I intend to drop the bags off and clean and polish,--then rub on grease. I don't feel a pre test of grease on props is necessary as I don't think any sea creature would want to adhere itself to thick axle grease nor would it be able to.

 

"ClearGlide lube" made by Ideal.
http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=31-385
5 gallons must be a lot cheaper than bottom paint.
A prop and rudder is going to get more force of water flowing than on a hull.

You could coat the entire boat hull. Why not do a test, put a board in the water coated with it and see what happens.
If they grow see how easy they are to brush off. With the permaflex when they were tiny they brushed off easily with the hand.
I let the boat sit for a year without moving the hull. They got bigger and are more tightly stuck.

Could be the clear glide lube they might stick but brush off easily same idea as permaflex.

There is one with Teflon, so a large variety of various products could be tested.
http://ideal.datacomtools.com/idealcatalog/wire-lubricant.htm

 

Some of the proposed solutions seem to violate environmental laws in some jurisdictions -- such as grease coatings -- should I assume the commercial solutions mentioned are compliant?

 

I plan to try it. thankyou