Freshwater antifouling

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malcolmd
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Freshwater antifouling

Post by malcolmd » Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:36 pm

A question for the UK lake district boaters. ...what sort of antifoul do you recommend or are permitted to use? I understand that normal marine antifouling may be banned...
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johngriffiths
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Re: Freshwater antifouling

Post by johngriffiths » Fri Sep 16, 2016 9:18 pm

Shamrock has a finish of oil based gloss with no antifouling and after four years in the water the thin layer of slime washed off with a brush and water. My concern is the increasing difficulty in getting oil based gloss. Water based paints appear to be a bit of a joke for certain applications.

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Re: Freshwater antifouling

Post by RGSP » Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:46 am

Malcolm,
I come from the Broads area, which is mostly fresh water, but with a few tidal salty bits, and it's only in these latter that fouling is a problem. Elsewhere, a good gloss paint and an annual pull-out and wipe-down does the business.

Paints including tri-butyl-tin were banned in the UK in about 1980 (and worldwide in about 2005 I think) but some which include copper are still legal and fairly effective: those including metallic copper particles seem to be acceptable to the "green" authorities, and can last well. The Broads Authority recommend painting boat's waterlines only with antifouling, to keep the quantities of copper low.

My barn roof is painted with a super-dooper acrylic environmentally-friendly paint, and the water from it keeps a large tank topped up - BUT kills the goldfish in the tank. It is clear that some environmental investigators are aware of this and other toxic effects of so-called "safe" paints, and consequently oil based paints are being allowed to continue for "specialist" applications. I've also heard good reports of water based epoxy finishes.
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malcolmd
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Re: Freshwater antifouling

Post by malcolmd » Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:19 pm

Thanks guys, good information thank you. ...
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PeteThePen1
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Re: Freshwater antifouling

Post by PeteThePen1 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:20 pm

Hi Malcolm

I suspect that you will need to use something unless you haul out regularly and scrub. Frances Ann was afloat on Coniston for a little over a year and acquired a serious growth of algae. She was polished GRP with no anti fouling. I was never able to shift the algal stain so have ended up having to repaint the whole hull.

Hope your build is going well.

Regards

Pete
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Re: Freshwater antifouling

Post by malcolmd » Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:38 pm

Marineware persuaded me that they could not recommend any underwater paint solution, so I have opted for some International Paints antifouling. We are currently finalising the painting of Befur ready to drag her the 300+ miles to Cumbria, then we just have to build some boilers and install the plant (just!!)....

:-)
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