Coppercoat Antifouling is the alternative to antifouling paint we applied after an extensive blister repair job renovating our old 1976 Valiant 40 Sailboat, and then choosing and applying bottom paint to prevent marine growth. We did NOT 100% follow the instructions for this Coppercoat Application, and had a few things go wrong. Will our Coppercoat application for antifouling be a total failure? Or will the Coppercoat succeed despite some changes during the application of the Coppercoat - an antifouling epoxy with copper powder in it? If it is successful, Coppercoat may relieve us of applying antifouling paint for a decade or more. We will review the following points about the application of Coppercoat in this video:
1: Why Coppercoat
2: Mistakes Applying Coppercoat
3: Complications during Coppercoat application and how we overcame them
4: Removing antifouling to Prepare surface for Coppercoat:
5: Blister Repair, and Applying Epoxy Resin barrier coat
6: Mixing the Coppercoat, including Adding Isopropyl Alcohol, copper powder and Coppercoat
7: Rolling on the Coppercoat (We did not spray Coppercoat)
8: Burnishing/Sanding the Coppercoat after application
9: Results from Coppercoat Application -Failure or Success?
10: Future review of Coppercoat
We do hope our diy Coppercoat application will be successful, but it may just be a failure, another antifouling nightmare. Everyone we know with Coppercoat raves about it, but the negative videos we have seen go a long way to worry us about our own diy Coppercoat application...we hope our mistakes don’t prove to be a failure. Please feel free to contact us years from now if you are watching this video years after we have released it to ask us about it, and we will give you a reference to a later video, or send a personal email if we haven’t done one yet.
We did the application of this Coppercoat Antifouling ourselves, with the help of some unskilled laborers off the street, as well as some semi-skilled and skilled laborers from Fleet Management at Zululand Yacht Club/Boatyard, always under the direction and supervision of Patrick Childress. Antifouling the hull of a sailboat successfully is a constant quest for us..one we may never find! We do believe we will have to continue scrubbing the bottom on a monthly basis to remove marine growth!
Also, for those curious...the cost of Coppercoat. We had always thought it was a job that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Because we did it diy and hired some semi skilled laborers, it cost us under $2000 usd for everything, labor and materials...so not much more than a good quality antifouling paint. We would have tried it decades ago if we had known it has such potential for very long term protection!
Coppercoat Installations that we found interesting:
Briticans Anger over the improper application of Coppercoat :
SV Totems very successful Coppercoat Application (done by teenagers)! (Blog)
What we hope our hull looks like after a few years with Coppercoat:
Other Coppercoat Reviews, Coppercoat applications, etc Videos:
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DISCLAIMER We take no responsibility for anything you do or don’t do in connection with what you have learned in this video or on this channel. Read all tool manuals and thoroughly understand their use and safety precautions before using. Using power tools, electricity and chemicals of all kinds present significant danger and if you don’t accept all responsibility to the safety of your person and vessel, hire a professional and cross your fingers that they know the details of a Coppercoat application!