I have applied Coppercoat on a very old wooden yacht.
Explanation :
The boat been build 1946, a sort of Bawley yacht. Total rebuild 1970, sheeted in fibreglass on new wood. In fact two hulls in one, hence the 8 tons for 8 meter length.
When I bought the boat, it was working as a semi professional shrimp fishing boat.
The fibreglass sheeting under the waterline was very rough, so back in 1987, I worked for three months to put some extra layers on it and smooth-en the surface a bit. Also applied a gelcoat.
Since liveaboard, Belgium Holland and France, cruising the Med for 13 year.
Taken such an old heavy yacht out on land is a pain in the ****, working on a yard even more, so after some problems on the shipyard in Rhodes I kept the hull clean by snorkelling in summer. At the end of winter we ware a bit slower, not a real problem, small as the yacht is, we are always the slowest. An old long keeled boat as ours needs to be taken out with the weight resting on the keel. A travel lift is OK, but on a lot of yards they move the boat by wagon so the yacht fits in a smaller space and that is no good at all for old boats.
Getting older, my nose grows huge, no diving mask fits, so I had to think of a way to keep the hull clean for our last ten years together.
Last summer I discovered a shipyard that pleased me. Made me think of the old days back home. Even the smell of sheep grease and old wood. In the middle of nature, a one way dirt road along the beach. Local fishing and taxi boats been hauled on sledges. Sheep, two guard dogs, chickens and Greek cats off course. Two brothers running their faters-grandfathers yard. Just a nice dingy sail to town for shopping. A ( Museum ) shed full of old wood and machines. I liked the place, for once had no “ Have to go “ feeling, so decided to take the boat out for a month and Coppercoat it.
First of May was the best time but safety and language problems made it middle May before the boat was taken on the brothers biggest sledge. They took the biggest because they hate it, needed the smaller easy handling ones for normal business. They left the boat standing on that huge sledge, the deck almost 4 meters above the ground.
The work was absolute horror. Thirty square meters of underwater ship had to be scraped. I used a Sandvic 3/4” blade scraper because the hull is so uneven. Had to take of 2 mm of old anti fouling and gelcoat to have a clean surface. Then sanding. Had been scratching trough the gelcoat so had to apply a new one. Four coats of gelshield. Could only manage half a hull a day, then lifting the boat, moving the keel supporting blocks, and on to the other side. Rolling on Gel coat for 12 hours to cover half a hull, most of it above my head. Was completely covered in green and grey sprinkles, My body had never been so valuable.
Made yacht legs out of 4 meter long scaffolding planks, then the Meltem came so I secured the boat by tying the halyards of the head sails to solid wharf. Eye height standing on deck 5,5 meters, the whole boat shaking, eight tons of boat standing on the keel and some scaffolding planks.
Living on board was no fun with that Meltemi. We had the wind blowing from behind, which is the wrong way. Imagine living on a open truck for weeks, the truck doing 35mph. All the time.
The new gelcoat had to dry for a week, so I painted the topsides, placed some new sea-cocks, ec...
By the time I was ready to apply the Coppercoat, May had gone, now mid June. Hot !
Knowing how long it took me to roll one half of the hull, curing time of the coppercoat with 26° C, doing some thinking ( To late ) I realised we needed 6 man to roll, and my wife for mixing the stuff. No way, so I mixed half a litre of Coppercoat at the time, reducing manpower to three.
In the end three of us rolling for 8 hours ( No breaks possible ) could do one half hull. Four days of curing, then lifting the boat again, moving keel timbers, coppering the other half hull. A total of 16 hours of rolling almost pure metal above your head. Three man, total 48 hours! Have to admit that one of my rollers was a Swiss guy ( Thanks Jean Pierre) who rolled extremely precise, and I am not used working any more. In total 47 kilo of epoxy paint went onto that old hull.
Another four days curing, then we could launch.
The huge sledge, weighing 30 ton according to Kώσtαζ, had been drying for a month and a half. It took the brothers three hours to get it moving, and then, by Murphy, the sledge had more floating power than our eight tons of boat, so the yacht stood firm onto that huge swimming raft, the waterline half a meter above the water. Theoreticley we just had to wait a few days, let the wooden sledge soak up water and free us slowly.
Panic, because if one of the dozens of ferry’s passes, making big waves, the old boat would be holed by the struts holding the yacht straight up.
I was on board, keeping the rudder strait during the launch, saw my dear old boat floating on top of a raft and flipped out. …....Mental hospital nearby.
Don’t know how but we got off, some nasty scars in our beautiful copper.
Decided not to worry about it, life is to short to grumble about something that cant be changed.
The day after, with the new sails set, towing the dingy, we ware doing six knots hard on the wind. Guess force three, not even white caps. What a boat.
Osmosis ?
We have some, about 3 inches above the waterline. The gelcoat ends 6 inches above water, from there on its plain ordinary paint on glass fibre. Guess the water wicks in from there, day and night been wetted in 20 cm waves. I do not care, it is a working boat, not a yacht.
Would I do it again ? Yes, it was absolute horror, despite the beauty of the scene, but now, it is over for ever. No more lifting, no more yards. With every bath some gentle caressing of the precious copper should do the trick.
Hope we are OK for the next, last ten years. Will let you know.