Any views please on CopperCoat vs Conventional anti fowl , when boat is not being used on a full time basis . Apparently will have to dive hull and clean every 5 weeks ?
We had anti foul put on at the Knysna factory. Had the most horrible experience with it once we got to the east coast USA. Some places were almost 1” thick in barnacles that took a chisel to get off. All within 6 months of getting the boat.
We hauled out in Cape Canaveral at Scorpion and had copper coat put in. That was a 1-1/2 years ago. Have gone up and down the East coast twice and am now in the Martinique. Have had barnacles that now easily flick off with a plastic putty knife. And get a mixture of moss growing that takes even more effort than the barnacles. I’ve been diving to clean it off 3-4 times since leaving Miami in January. But the water is warm, and clear so don’t mind doing it.
Feel that although the price is a bit steep, in the long run it is cheaper. Ablative you are putting on every 2-3 years. Haul out and done professionally from my understanding is $5-6K. Copper coat is suppose to be good for 10 years and can run $15-17K.
We had CopperCoat applied by Knysna in South Africa.
We did initially have some problems with it not adhering to the hull properly and bubbling/flaking. We had those issues patched in Trinidad 18 month ago.
We live permanently aboard and have covered about 15,000NM since launch - I say this because ablative products do get washed away by sea miles. We have never had heavy fouling - we do get a purple fuzz all over (tropics, sea water circa 28C). We try to clean every few weeks - but as Don says in clear warm water that’s less of a problem. We clean with slightly abrasive pads so where we have to scrub a bit more we are also re-activating the CopperCoat.
CopperCoat ca be great - but it is very sensitive to how it is applied. I would not trust most yards with that job - you cannot just slap it on and hope.
The worst we had was a speckling of Goose Barnacles after we crossed from Panama to French Polynesia. The bases were very hard to remove (note : we previously did the same passage in our last boat with ablative antifoul and had the same/worse issues with the Goose Barnacles)
I think the right bottom treatment does depend a lot on your circumstances. What works for one person with a certain usage pattern and location may not work as well elsewhere.