Wrapping your boat bottom with vinyl.

[Djarraluda]

Not a daft as it sounds at first, the hairy (seal skin) finish element is factual. I am not making any comment on the antifouling nature though.
Many years ago, in my dinghy days, we had the really keen racing types busy wax polishing their hulls before a race. One chap instead used very very fine abrasive to "polish" his hull - he was way out ahead of others with their waxed hulls. Resistance is associated with the water flow over the surface and the wax polish caused beads to form, the dull but smooth polished hull had a smooth sheen of water instead. In hydrodynamics I looked at the technical aspects of this and he was right, less friction from the dull finish than the glossy finish because of the smoother flow patterns. Not a simple issue as where that surface layer is shed also comes into play so hull form and wave patterns are part of the calculation.
Roger

[Coach Shoe]

This is more logical than it initially appears. Notice how drops of water bead up on a newly waxed car? And, how water drops are hesitant to bead up on a non-waxed, but smooth surface? They bead on a waxed surface because the surface tension is greater allowing the water to stack rather than flow.

[billgewater]

It seems strange that someone out of the Delft institute would not have done their homework. But I guess that the proof is in the pudding. If there are samples of the wrap failing then the word will get around quickly.
The reality is that antifouling paint is an environmental catastrophe in many places and it is ridiculously expensive. It must be a big money spinner for the manufacturers.
Maybe an adhesive vinyl with a different surface to the one expounded, but I am sure they would have given considerable thought to it.
The only "attempted solution" I have seen is the boat bag. At the marina, your boat enters a plastic bag with a floating top edge. The bag is closed and the salt water is pumped out and some fresh water let in with a handful of copper sulphate tossed in.
I only saw this used in Sydney in the late 1960's at a small marina (Berry's Bay near Balls Head) that had little water flow through. Have not seen it since though.
What intrigues me though is that some rocks around the littoral zone often have no marine growth on them and I have never seen growth on sand at my local beaches. Food for thought?

[OBT]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

I saw a video on You tube about a substance called Aerogel. In sum it's a substance where they take all the liquid out of a gelatin and what's left becomes a solid structure with nano-holes in it where the liquid was.

In one of the videos they used it to waterproof the guy in the video and showed him in a pool not getting "wet" because the Aerogel kept the water away from his skin.

It got me wondering if this could be engineered into a good bottom paint since the hull wouldn't ever be touched by water and the things that need water to survive couldn't attach.

Then I got to thinking about the possible effect on hull speed when the hull is "unwetted."

Yeah, ok maybe I'm strange that way...



As for vinyl wrap on the hull, no thanks. If the hull got holed at sea, you couldn't patch it.

Aerogel has very poor mechanical properties. I have held it in my hand and it would crush into nothingness with very little pressure. I have alternatively thought that a hydrophobic ski wax (Cera F) could be applied. Although only the profoundly rich could afford. A small medicine pill bottle size amount costs $125 and covers about 20 sq ft of surface.

[jacktheflyer]

Originally Posted by Djarraluda

Not a daft as it sounds at first, the hairy (seal skin) finish element is factual. I am not making any comment on the antifouling nature though.
Many years ago, in my dinghy days, we had the really keen racing types busy wax polishing their hulls before a race. One chap instead used very very fine abrasive to "polish" his hull - he was way out ahead of others with their waxed hulls. Resistance is associated with the water flow over the surface and the wax polish caused beads to form, the dull but smooth polished hull had a smooth sheen of water instead. In hydrodynamics I looked at the technical aspects of this and he was right, less friction from the dull finish than the glossy finish because of the smoother flow patterns. Not a simple issue as where that surface layer is shed also comes into play so hull form and wave patterns are part of the calculation.
Roger

Have come across this on glider wings where efficiency is paramount. Not an expert but there is a lot of science in the boundary layer between the structure and fluid. I suppose the ultimate example is the dimples on a god ball.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by s/v michaela

here is a quote from a boat owner....
...
This was off of a FB page and followed by more similar comments from other boat owners... looks like it's a bust.

Thanks for posting what is happening on FB.

Disappointing that the wrap failed, especially so fast, but not surprising, unfortunately.

Later,
Dan

[Nico Domino]

Originally Posted by Big Moe

Hello fellow sailors:

I just saw a video of a family reconditioning their 57 foot Beneteau. They wrapped their complete bottom with vinyl instead of bottom painting it.
I'm old fashion and it wield worry me that it may start to peel or rip from a ding.

Any thoughts?

Big Moe

Hi
NO. I have done it on my previous boat. It costed 2/3 of pro repaint. It was done professionally by an authorized 3m applicator. About 14 month started peeling above boot line. It was repaired again "professionally " . At the moment 3.5 years my son ( he has the boat) is looking of ways to remove it as it is peeling in patches all over. My experience, do not touch.

[Windcall]

We talked to a vendor at Newport Boat Show. Kept on saying SHOULD last 4 years, we passed.

[Rob_P]

Originally Posted by OBT

Aerogel has very poor mechanical properties. I have held it in my hand and it would crush into nothingness with very little pressure. I have alternatively thought that a hydrophobic ski wax (Cera F) could be applied. Although only the profoundly rich could afford. A small medicine pill bottle size amount costs $125 and covers about 20 sq ft of surface.

Well, there went my shot at being a multi-bazillionaire...

[capnkev]

I considered a vinyl wrap for our lagoon 450. My research showed vinyl is good for topsides but not hulls. It’s also very expensive. Ceramic coat was another option, but unproven. I ended up ceramic coating the entire topsides and hulls above the waterline with ceramic pro. For the hulls, we used Coppercoat. Both products have performed excellent. In my opinion, the best hull coating is Coppercoat, if you are going to own the boat more that 5-7 years. It is also the most environmentally friendly product as it doesn’t sluff off into the water like copper and zink based paints. Just needs a scrub every 3-5 months. No hard growth. Zero barnacles. Just slime and hair, especially in brackish water. It comes off easily. It’s nice to know I won’t have to recoat the bottom for 12-15 years. Just Gail, power wash, check zinks and saildrives, and then back in the water.

[Tudorsailor]

I know someone who wrapped his sailing yacht with Renolit Great in theory, but nightmare in reality. Yachts do not go fast enough to self-clean and a nightmare to remove

[john manning]

Originally Posted by guyrj33

While this is an interesting idea, i'm worried that it will increase the amount of micro plastic pollution in the ocean.

You may be right but I think one of the major sources of micro-plastics is ablative antifoul. In Europe and the USA approximately 500 tonnes of antifoul is applied to small vessels every year. It is designed to drop off the boats.

Bring back the tributyl tin antifouls, they lasted twice as long. (And they are still used on commercial vessels over 84ft).

[blazing928]

Re polished vs matt finish; I sailboard and on the forums there was some scientific tests posted on the various finishes.

Memory can’t recall the details, but it’s speed related. I think polished for slow boats and matt for planing hulls, hence we matted the bottom of the boards. I cant recall the change over speed, but it was quite low.

Coppercoat user also. Very happy with it. Note that it is a Matt finish after burnished, but I don’t see any extra speed from it.

[Frosty Boy]

Interesting. Surely there must be a better solution than standard anti foul. There are a few hydrophobic nano sprays I’ve seen that prevent anything sticking to a surface once coated. I would have thought that if the little critters that want to stick to your hull are contained in the water, and the water is unable to contact or sit on the coating, beading straight off, that they too would be unable to latch on. Has anyone seen marine applications like this? Any thoughts?

https://www.coating.co.nz/nano-coating-nz/

[alitaptap]

We have seen many racing yachts with vinyl (or similar) hull wraps arriving Subic Bay, Philippines, during Rolex races etc. attractive yes, but the wraps were changed for each visit, there must be a reason beyond a modified fashion sense every year



About 10 years ago the Irwin 37, Sorcerer (formerly Ted Irwin's La Pantera), that I raced board, had an experimental hydrophobic coating applied below the waterline that was claimed would give us a higher boat speed (because the boat would be surface-tension-free) and that would be easy to keep clean (marine life would not want to attach because of the lack of moisture at the boundary) . . . in both cases the claims proved to be false - there was no noticeable speed improvement and plenty of marine life enjoyed a newly-coated home



We concluded that for on-land applications a hydrophobic coating would probably be very effective but for in-water applications there was no perceptible value.