I’m thinking of having Coppercoat applied to the bottom of my 44 foot fiberglas sloop this summer. Has anyone had this done? Would you do it again? How much did it cost? And would you recommend the place where you had it done? I’ll be located in New England this summer.

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Gino Del Guercio - 1/3/2020

I’m thinking of having Coppercoat applied to the bottom of my 44 foot fiberglas sloop this summer. Has anyone had this done? Would you do it again? How much did it cost? And would you recommend the place where you had it done? I’ll be located in New England this summer.

I had it done in Cornwall England during the summer of 2019. So far I am delighted with it.

If you can find a yard who can spray it on you will get a better finish.  If they can do it in a shed then there is no chance that it will get damp during the application.  I am convinced that the application is the key so find a yard that does a lot of boats.

I spoke with Coppercoat UK at the Southampton Boat show in September 2018 and they said it is suitable for DIY application, I would never consider applying it myself. 

Yes I would do it again. We copper coated our boat in 2013. We didn’t touch it again until 2018 when it was looking a little ragged around the waterline - mainly due to abrasion with ice in the north. In 2018 we abraded the whole hull and applied another 4 coats with a roller. It was not a difficult DIY project.
Simon

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Gino Del Guercio - 1/3/2020

I’m thinking of having Coppercoat applied to the bottom of my 44 foot fiberglas sloop this summer. Has anyone had this done? Would you do it again? How much did it cost? And would you recommend the place where you had it done? I’ll be located in New England this summer.

I DIY Coppercoated my Rustler 36. The application of the Coppercoat was a 10 hour non-stop job, with one person mixing and one person applying. The major work was removing all the old anti-fouling, done with hand scrapers. I then applied 2 coats of epoxy primer before Coppercoating. I have a detailed analysis of the work including manhours at home, but won’t be home until the beginning of March. If this would be useful, email me at “sy.kinsa@gmail.com”. 

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Bill Attwood - 2/1/2020

I DIY Coppercoated my Rustler 36. The application of the Coppercoat was a 10 hour non-stop job, with one person mixing and one person applying. The major work was removing all the old anti-fouling, done with hand scrapers. I then applied 2 coats of epoxy primer before Coppercoating. I have a detailed analysis of the work including manhours at home, but won’t be home until the beginning of March. If this would be useful, email me at “sy.kinsa@gmail.com”. 

Thanks Bill, how does it seem to be holding up?

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Gino Del Guercio - 2/1/2020

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Bill Attwood - 2/1/2020

I DIY Coppercoated my Rustler 36. The application of the Coppercoat was a 10 hour non-stop job, with one person mixing and one person applying. The major work was removing all the old anti-fouling, done with hand scrapers. I then applied 2 coats of epoxy primer before Coppercoating. I have a detailed analysis of the work including manhours at home, but won’t be home until the beginning of March. If this would be useful, email me at “sy.kinsa@gmail.com”. 

Thanks Bill, how does it seem to be holding up?

We had ours done in 2012, sprayed indoors by one of the best (by reputation) painter in the Solent area and have since done getting on for 30,000nm in warm waters.  It has been a long and painful saga with areas peeling off and now becoming so thin you can see the gel coat.  I'm pretty certain that all the problems can be blamed on the painter; he accepted the first adhesion problems but not the subsequent thinning.  The logic for CC still appears sound to me but don't expect too much.  Even where we don't have problems it still involves quite a bit of keeping clean.

Preparation is key.  We had Coppercoat applied by a company when we were working about 10years ago.  Though they said that they had slurry blasted and scraped the hull clean of the old anti-fouling they had not done a good job and over time the Coppercoat blistered off where there were specks of old antifouling.  We had the work touched up over the years but this summer we did a full repair and 10 year re-coat ourselves.  We scraped back to the gelcoat where the original Coppercoat was weak and sanded the whole hull thoroughly, washed the boat with water, applied barrier layer over the gelcoat and then multiple layers of Coppercoat over the barrier coat and the old Coppercoat.  It's a long job but worth it; Coppercoat's a great product and far more economic than traditional antifouling in the USA.  Speak to Coppercoat USA for detailed information ref application - Jim is really helpful - and don't be afraid to do the work yourself if you are allowed to at your yard.  You can also look at our blog for what we did if you wish (www.blue-velvet-exploring-the-world.blogspot.com search for Deltaville Refit Part 1 Sep 2019).

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Gino Del Guercio - 2/1/2020

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Bill Attwood - 2/1/2020

I DIY Coppercoated my Rustler 36. The application of the Coppercoat was a 10 hour non-stop job, with one person mixing and one person applying. The major work was removing all the old anti-fouling, done with hand scrapers. I then applied 2 coats of epoxy primer before Coppercoating. I have a detailed analysis of the work including manhours at home, but won’t be home until the beginning of March. If this would be useful, email me at “sy.kinsa@gmail.com”. 

Thanks Bill, how does it seem to be holding up?

Hi Gino
Applied 2 years ago, so 2 seasons in the Baltic. Has worked well here. We tend to have “mini-mussels” which are v. easy to remove, but the hull doesn’t remain completely clean. A friend, whose recommendation for Coppercoat decided me, did an Atlantic circuit and was v. pleased at how well Coppercoat functioned. As has been commented, the prep work is absolutely key. I’ve had no problems with adhesion. I tend not to trust anyone else to work on my boat, but the removal of the old anti-fouling and making good took 2 weeks with 2 people helping me. Many people will have neither the time nor the inclination to do this, but I would definitely ask a firm doing this job for reference customers. A wrinkle, which Coppercoat UK confirmed, is that Isopropyl alcohol (the recommended thinner) can also be used as a surface cleaning agent. I used this and also water. 

I have had Copper Coat for the last 3 years, and I have been disappointed with it. It worked great for the first 6 months. Then It began to get algae, which was difficult to remove. After another year, it would get barnacles. I was in the Caribbean, which might be part of the problem. I complained to Copper Coat about it, and they said that I needed to have the boat hauled out and further sanding done. The copper is suspended in epoxy and it needs to be activated by lightly sanding the top layer of epoxy off. I had this done, but it didn't help. I complained further to Copper Coat and they gave me new paint as a warranty replacement. By this time, I was in Portimao, Portugal, and it turns out that the experts in applying Copper Coat is Slick Hull Service are located there. I had them repaint my boat and it looks great. They believe that my original painters sanded the bottom too much by using a machine. Copper Coat is very particular in its application. Slick Hull did the painting with rollers (which is recommended by Copper Coat), then the did the activation by hand with a fine sandpaper and Scotch Bright. It looks great, now it will have the test of time. I am headed into the Mediterranean, which I understand generally has less growth. I am also adding an ultrasonic anti-fouling system to make double sure that I don't have to scrub the bottom. I am looking forward to seeing how it works.

We have finally got down to the boat in Plymouth, UK.  After all winter aflot and not being moved I wiped the thin layer of "stuff" that was on the waterline off by hand. Amazing stuff as the boat next to me has a lot of weed on it.