What is the best antifouling you know

I get 24 months in the water from FL to Maine using Petit bottom paints with the highest copper solids available. You can tell... the can is heavy! I have used both the ablative and the standard paint of this brand and type with good results.

West Marine / Port Supply has a competitively priced house bottom paint that is made by Petit and works well also.

 

After lead was banned from bottom paint, we found that it was difficult to go more than a year between haul-outs and repainting the bottom, by adding 1-2 cups cayanne pepper to our standard gallon of bottom paint (interlux maybe?) we could go 2-3 years.

I thought it was a harebrained idea, but it did seem to work.

 

Concur, it works.

I had twice the service life of the antifouling (from 18 month to about 36) using Hempel products and a really hot (habaneros) chilli.

Regards
Richard

 

I haven't heard about the hot pepper things, but it makes me wonder about adding pure capsaicin to anti-fouling. I know it is supposed to be extremely caustic to handle, but assuming it is the hot that makes it work, this stuff could be gold.

Anyone happen to be up to a trial run?



http://www.hotsauce.com/16-Million-PURE-Capsaicin-Crystals-1-0ml-p/16-million-crystals1.0.htm

 

I also have been told this worked by a boatyardsman on the Hillsborough River who used this method back in the 1970's.

 

No need,

we had that discussion here a several times.

In the early 90ies I was told that, and tried it in the mid 90ies. Over 100.000 miles at sea it worked.

The capsaicin content really makes a difference, so, Wal Mart is not your supplier.

Regards
Richard

 

For those of you sailing around the Malaysian peninsular, you can always grab a few essential additives from "Mr. Chemical" in Chulia street in Penang. Not far down the road from "Love Lane"

 

OK, but what is best bottom paint without copper for aluminum boat???

 

Tri Lux.


I just happen to have about 3/4 of a gallon left over from my Alum Boat. She took 4 and 1/4 gallons to do the bottom and the lower units of the 3 outboards. Tri Lux goes for about $240 per gallon or Only $36.34 pint

 

What works best and is appropriate in one location may not be in another. For instance Wicked Good's recommendation for Tarr and Wonson works great in Maine but would look like a free shrimp buffet at a Real Estate convention to the barnacles and mussels here in South Florida.

There are many differnent kinds of fouling and thousands of species, fouling is kind of like politics, its all local. Even in a given area fouling can change from one mile to the next. How far are you from the inlet? What kind of tidal flush do you get? Are you near a powerplant outflow? A sewage outflow? At anchor or at dock? The "sun" side of the boat will usually foul worse than the "shade" side if your docked. All can affect fouling so the guy that tells you his stuff works great may be truthful but he may also be pretty far up a freshwater stream.

Ask around the local yards, for the freezing cold water in your neck of the woods where the boats come out of the water for the winter if you took a can of house paint and waved a piece of copper and a roll of tin foil over it it would probably work great for a season.

Steve, in South Florida watching the barnacles grow.

 

They use Copper in Arizona

 

A strong christian upbringing . . .

 

i had one of them but I'm feeling much better now

 

What about the boats with the powdered copper or copper nickle and epoxy? I have heard of boats that have had the system for 10 years and just need to scrub it occasionally. It's similar in effect to sheathing.

Another low fouling bottom that seems to work in vessels that go fast enough to self clean is a low energy surface. Teflon and high density polythene. The problem is getting it to stick reliably. If you could adhere thin sheets to an epoxy coated surface with a molecular bond it's suggested that many vessels could use it instead of chemicals .

 

Had a 70 mph speed boat with some slick stuff added to bottom. Worked great until I left boat sitting around for 3 days - the stuff would grow on hull and not let it plane... So much for speed. Those buggers are hard to get around.