Cape Cutter 19 Association Forum

Hi
I coppercoated Moonstruck last year, and this weekend just gone I took her out of the water after a winter afloat at Haslar marina.

she had a thin layer of 'scum' all over, but no large weeds. The 'scum' (looked like moss, really) was easily removed with a pressure washer. Is this normal, or should the hull have been 100% clean? Just wondering too of other peoples experience with Coppercoat.

Cheers,

David

Hello David

Sounds normal to me, depends what other people experience at your marina. Is it an area of high fouling?

Did you lightly abraid your coppercoat before immersion? This apparently increases the effectiveness (initially at least).

This months PBO has an article about copper based antifouling (and Coppercoat specifically), it is worth a brouse at your local WH Smith or whatever.

Cheers

Dennis

Thanks - I was wondering. It will be interesting to see how it performs at Shotley - presumably the water there is not exactly freshwater, but not exactly sea water either!

Cheers,

David

I had my CC19 coppercoated last winter by HM, and although she is yet to come out of the water having been on a mooring in Cornwall, I can see no growths at all though perhaps there is a little slime.
I asked the coppercoat man at the Southhampton show about abrading the surface before next season but he said that this is not necessary. Once the copper has turned green it should apparently be left alone - assuming normal useage.
Good oh!
Martin West

Hi,
after a short season of 6 weeks in fresh water only my new coppercoat showed mainly a little slime which could be removed easily by a pressure washer. However my coppercoat also showed many little bubbles and blisters of different size. Did anybody else encounter the same phenomenon on newly applied coppercoats?
Michel (Black Sheep)

Newly applied coppercoat has to be activated and therefore HM recommends to put new boats first on salt water for at least one week. Nice advice, but not for owners sailing (almost) exclusively on fresh water lakes! Somebody at my sailing club recommended to wet the coppercoat with salt water (4 spoons of table salt per liter) while having the boat on the trailer. He used a pressurised spray normally used to moisture his plants. And indeed that was really an excellent suggestion: my coppercoat starts to turn greenish already after one treatment so I estimate that 3 daily treatments are adequate prior to launching your CC into fresh water.

Kind regards,
Michel (Black Sheep, CC104)

The first of this season's black lambs are now appearing in the local butcher.

Hi Michel

I spoke with the Coppercoat folk at the Boat Show in January. They suggested a light abrading of the hull surface prior to launching. They say the coating should eventually go a green colour. Martin got the same advice at Southampton.

I've gone into Ullswater using this preparation and will watch for fouling over the summer.

Wishing you a happy sailing summer
David
CC111 Tokoloshe

Hi All
Sarie Marais has done three seasons on Rutlands "fresh" water and the coppercoat was showing some signs of wear where it had been scratched off by the trailer or where HM had missed the odd bit. I obtained a patching kit from Coppercoat for the sum of £54 inc. VAT and P&P. Using it wasn't too difficult once I found out the correct relationship between resin, hardener and copper (1:1:0.8 by volume or 1:1:4 by weight) and I put most of it on by roller as recommended. However using a brush was fine for the fiddly bits. There is enough left over for another season should it be required further.

We pulled Sarie Marais out of the water last weekend. The hull was thickly coated with fresh water barnacles or some such creatures. They had to be power jetted off individually; holding the jet only a couple of inches away was inadequate. This was her 4th season on moorings at Rutland and the coppercoat really doesn't seem to be doing the job it was supposed to. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a photo of the encrustation prior to jet washing owing to the time pressure of the mass assisted pull out. The question now is whether give it another go, abrading and salt washing the hull over the winter or abandon coppercoating altogether and use conventional antifouling for next season.