A story of copper coating.

When Anne and I fell in love – with a boat, our stout Moody S38 Storm Petrel – we realised that at some time soon she would have to have her bottom properly cleaned. Years of caked anti fouling were curling at the edges and ready to peel off at the first hint of another seasons dressing. We decided to have our summer of sailing so launched at the first opportunity and had some wonderful days of local cruising and familiarising ourselves with our new acquisition.

The warm summer days turned to autumn and with the offer of a cheap lift out we resolved to address the problems of our pitted hull.

Our first option was to turn a blind eye and arrange for a sand down and two coats of antifoul. A price was agreed and work started.

Two days later the phone rang with news from the yard of strips of old treatment coming off on the roller. Guess who said ‘I told you so’!

What to do? The mess had to be removed and this was not going to be a sandpaper task for a Saturday afternoon.

After a long discussion with the yard we were offered a sand blast as minimum followed by making good and preparation followed by two coats of antifouling. The danger of sand blasting is that the gel coat can be damaged so a more expensive but safer option is soda blasting which is about twice the cost. We are lucky to have a well found Moody hull and resolved that it should easily handle this full frontal attack from the high pressure sand.

So with expected costs now mounting alarmingly we will still have the future prospect of lifting out each year and the usual cold weather routine of lift out, rubbing down and antifouling.

Our yard director glances quizzically at Anne who he knows by now to be the realist and utters the magic words ‘copper coat’, an alternative to consider which will give us an altogether higher standard of long term finish.

So the decision is inevitable and here we are with the copper coating project under way and at the time of writing the sand blast is complete with no obvious gel coat damage and a lovely clean surface ready for the treatment. The weather has been daunting, the work delayed and our dreams of a December Fast Cruise long since forgotten.

The work has to be done in controlled conditions under cover and to do this the mast has to come down and of course the rigger is busy, more delay.

Once we are ready and indoors the procedure involves careful preparation of the hull and keel, application of one epoxy coat and then five coats of copper coating. The material is itself an epoxy with a mix of copper dust and has to be rubbed down between coats but once started it has to be finished within a tight time frame. The completed job will look a dull brown colour which is then lightly sanded to activate the copper finish.

We will keep a diary of the progress of the work, our first picture shows the newly sand blasted hull ready for initial preparation.

Anyone wanting details of the cost of all this work is welcome to contact us. Surprisingly it is not hugely more expense than our first option would have been and of course the big saving is light future winter maintenance, a ten year guarantee and no future anti foul paint costs.

With most of the less reliable systems now off the market we are firmly of the view that this procedure will become the standard for the future and after all it was used by no lesser personage than Lord Nelson himself.

Tim Bizzey and Anne Le Verrier.