Anti fouling

[Colin Lawson]

I have decided to get my Bayraider 20 anti-fouled and would appreciate any advice.  In particular should the centre board be anti-fouled - I don't want to interfere with its smooth surface but just a short time on a mooring in Poole Harbour shows growth on the board.  I assume that the inside of the centre board casing should be treated so the centre board will have to come out anyway.

[Julian Swindell]

I had my BC20 copper coated when built. That includes the centre board and rudder. The latter isn't in fact so important as you lift it up out of the water on the mooring. I found I had to get the inside of the motor well treated after the first season as well, as there was a lot of growth in there as it is flooded on the mooring.
The copper coat has performed well, but this year I had quite a few barnacles growing underneath. They scraped off easily and the growth was nothing like as bad as I had on conventional antifouling on my previous boat. I'm not sure if the inside of my centreboard case is treated or not. I'll have a look next time I get a chance.

[Colin Lawson]

Thanks for the info Julian.  Have you considered how you will retreat the centre board next time when it is needed? Or does the copper coat last long enough that you have not considered this?

I wondered if covering the open top of the centre board case to prevent light from entering when not in use would help keep down the growth. 

Colin

[Julian Swindell]

I really don't know how I would re treat the centreboard. It seems to stay very clean so I have put it out of mind! Keeping the light out may help. Mine is in the dark as the cabin table covers the casing completely. When I have opened it up it all looks pretty clean. There isn't much room for anything to grow in it, and the action of the board may help to scrape it out.

[Michael Rogers]

Here's a half-baked 'ecological' idea.

Presumably Julian and Colin (Poole Harbour) and Andy and Peter (Rutland Water) grow different flora/fauna on their respective boat bottoms etc, one being in salt- the other in fresh-water. I doubt whether one lot of 'growers' could tolerate the other environment (it makes a huge difference to osmosis, excretion of waste products  etc). How about Julian and Colin planning to spend a few days sailing in fresh water, and Peter and Andy going to sea, to kill off whatever is lurking and thereby keep their boat bottoms clean? How many days? When in the season? No idea, and it might not work. Just a thought.

Michael

[Julian Swindell]

I've often wondered if I should spend more time up the Frome River in Wareham in fresh water to see if it would kill off barnacles. I am sure it would, but I don't know how much time it would take. It would be interesting to know if those who moor up the Frome but sail in the harbour have clean bottoms, nautically speaking.

[Rob Johnstone]

I had Vagabond copper coated from new. In the first season (last year) she was in the water for over 3 months whilst we sailed from Burnham on Crouch along the South coast and up the West Coast to Scotland. When lifted out, there was a veil of green slime on the hull and that was all.
This year, she had been in the water for about 4 weeks, whilst we sailed up the East coast from Burnham on Crouch up to Lossiemouth. During that time I was mildly horrified to note that she acquired weed on the bow, weed growth in the outboard well (not coated) and some sort of shell fish on the steel capping to the keel.
I assumed that this was because the North Sea is more condusive to marine growth (nitrogen run off from Europe), although Matt told me this week that the copper coat people reckon the coating should be rubbed down to expose new copper every year.

The centre board and rudder are both coated - I assume the inside of the casing is coated but will now check!

[Julian Swindell]

Weed does grow on the exposed stainless steel. I get weed on my keel strip, self bailers and the bottom of the rudder head. I think the steel has to go on top of the coppercoat, so it will always be exposed. You will also get weed on the waterline if the topsides get wet. Some people carry the coppercoat high up the sides to stop this, but I don't like the look of that. I have a hard white antifouling boot top stripe. It is not as effective as the coppercoat, but slows down the weed growth, and a mid season scrub brings it up looking good. It needs repainting every year. but is relatively easy to do. Getting a smooth line with the masking tape is always a challenge...

[Tony]

Dry Sailing on inland waterways for most of the time, as I do, using biocide-based anti-fouling is neither desirable or necessary. A spray of lanolin (Lanogard) before launching on a clean, dry hull keeps it slime-free for months and even gives some protection for leaving the boat on a mooring in the Ionian summer. Not perfect but good enough. I doubt it would be much help for a boat on an East Coast mud berth or a mooring in Poole, though!
It would help, perhaps, to protect the stainless steel bits on a Bay Raider and keep the topsides free of algae. A silicon-based product like "Seaspeed" might be even better, if more expensive and less easy to apply.
Has anyone tried it?

[Julian Swindell]

One thing I found out at the boat show is that Copper Coat now do 1/2 and 1 kg repair packs, which is an improvement, as they didn't do any small quantities before. I asked the rep if the finish should be sanded back to clean copper between seasons. He said no, that wasn't advisable, but it would be worth while giving the bottom a "clean" mid season to stop a build up of slime, which might allow other things to take root. Certainly I had more fouling this year than before (maybe because it was so warm). I am hauling out on Saturday, so will be interested to see what the bottom is like.

[Peter Taylor]

For a several years I've kept my Seafly racing dinghy year round on a jetty on the tidal River Itchen in Southampton (where hopefully I will soon have my long promised BC20!). The water is salt but possibly brackish at the very surface.  The Seafly does not have antifouling - I just heal her over and scrub the hull down in the water 2 or 3 times a year. Here's what I've learnt:

The weed does not grow in the centreboard case, which is fairly dark, nor on the wooden centreboard. It does grow much more on the sunny side compared to the side facing the jetty. There is little weed growth in winter.  Barnacles tend to try to get established in spring more than later in the year.  The jetty dries to mud and a thin coating of mud and (presumably) algal slime on the hull can't be avoided. It will be back within a week of cleaning the hull. I don't think (hope) it doesn't slow the boat down too much!

Based on this I'm having my BC20 Copper Coated and choose a white hull with the antifouling coming up slightly higher rather than having a boot top stripe. I don't expect any problem with growth in the enclosed centreboard case. And I've ordered a trailer so I can haul the BC20 out now and again at a nearby public hard to clean off the worst of the mud/slime and check for barnacles. Otherwise she will be in the water throughout the year.

I'm told that fouling is much worse in the Hamble compared to the Itchen and always assumed that the upper reaches of the Hamble probably supply more nutrients compared to the chalk trout stream which is the Itchen.

Peter