Diver applied underwater paint?

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

I failed to notice that the OP was in Germany, so it probably would be a problem for HER as well.

I am from Germany, but cruising and I'm soon in the Mediterranean, might wait with the application until I'm in there...

[Buzoman]

Try Somay Products out of Miami Florida USA. They have underwater paint not sure if there is any antifouling property though.
Ive used it on steel, Great stuff a bit messy underwater cover your gear with vaseline before you do it!

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Buzoman

Try Somay Products out of Miami Florida USA. They have underwater paint not sure if there is any antifouling property though.

Ive used it on steel, Great stuff a bit messy underwater cover your gear with vaseline before you do it!

Thanks, but I already get the stuff I need for only the shipping costs.
It's for testing purposes, as it's an enhanced product.

[Cpt Mark]

following. I'd love to find something that worked too for my cat

[Shaneesprit]

What’s the tidal range in Germany?
Uk it’s easy to beach fairly possible to paint the bottom.
It’s a CAT so you can lift it with a bottle jack.
Bringing it down on wooden blocks is much harder than you think - wood floats holding it a meter underwater while the tide goes out, not easy

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Shaneesprit

What’s the tidal range in Germany?
Uk it’s easy to beach fairly possible to paint the bottom.
It’s a CAT so you can lift it with a bottle jack.
Bringing it down on wooden blocks is much harder than you think - wood floats holding it a meter underwater while the tide goes out, not easy

Thanks. All sorted already.

As stated several times above:

I am not in Germany. I'm in Portugal. All underwater except of the lowest keel portion was antifouled when beached.

Jacking up won't work here, the beach is to soft & it's a big hassle to move wood pilings or the like to a remote beach.

I am just after the last bits under the keels & I get a free sample of a new underwater applicable paint.

[rossdv8]

Originally Posted by Viking Sailor

Have you considered placing 4 wooden blocks under the keels. Thus, raising the boat high enough to clean and paint most of the bottom in one pass. Then on a following tide reposition the blocks to do what you didn't get done the first time.

A bit late reading these posts, and it seems the problem is now sorted, but this suggestion 'might' be handy for someone, some time.


Instead of wooden blocks that sink into the sand, you might be able to used two (or three - if the first one sinks into the sand) wooden 'fork lift pallets' under the bow and stern of one or both hulls.
I've used these to scrape and paint under a fin keeled mono, across two tides - moving them for the second tide to get the bits missed on the first.


I was between two wooden piles on soft mud, and the bottom pallet at the stern end buried itself, while the bow pallet stayed pretty clear. There was just enough room to get the scraper in, and we dug a bit of the mud out (with our hands) to make painting easier.


Next tide we used ropes around the pallets and up over the decks to reposition one pair so we could paint the ends of the bottom of the keel.



Wooden pallets are usually available 'somewhere' if you ask around, although they usually cost money. The up side is, they are easily transportable and are about a metre square and 150mm high, so under a cat on firm sand, 2 each end would mean 8 pallets to raise the thing about 300mm high less whatever distance it sinks into the sand, and depending how many of the top pieces break, but it is pretty easy to work out where they need to sit to prevent much breaking.


I can't be the first to use pallets - and I know sometimes they are not always available. But in developed countries they are usually around somewhere . .

[Chotu]

Did we get a result on this paint yet?

I am facing the exact same situation now.

The marina prices are just insane. I am not even willing to participate anymore lol

I am looking at one of the cheaper industrial yards around here and here are some costs for my boat.

Short haul: $1500 (2hrs out of water)
Mast Storage while getting it ready to step: $128 A DAY
Crane:$375/hr
Land storage rate: $150 A DAY

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Did we get a result on this paint yet?

I am facing the exact same situation now.

The marina prices are just insane. I am not even willing to participate anymore lol

I am looking at one of the cheaper industrial yards around here and here are some costs for my boat.

Short haul: $1500 (2hrs out of water)
Mast Storage while getting it ready to step: $128 A DAY
Crane:$375/hr
Land storage rate: $150 A DAY

Unfortunately it did not work. It resulted in a huge mess. Bathing suit and myself covered in this stuff, as the slightest bit of current carried it away from the brush. Sooo glad I wore a neoprene cap, thankfully not in my hair.

The primary reason is that you have to rub it really really well in, which I couldn't achieve by hand even on a well cleaned area.
Pro divers seem to use air driven brushes for this.

Still I keep a tin of this stuff as it cures fully underwater and could be used as normal epoxy with fiber reinforcement in an emergency.

We'll leave the relative small unpainted area where the boat was resting on the beach when I applied the normal antifouling paint unpainted and just clean it from time to time with a hookah.

A suitable cheap DIY hookah costs 200-300€.
Should not be so terrible. I'm not overly concerned about it, we are pure cruisers and not racers [emoji6]

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Unfortunately it did not work. It resulted in a huge mess. Bathing suit and myself covered in this stuff, as the slightest bit of current carried it away from the brush. Sooo glad I wore a neoprene cap, thankfully not in my hair.

The primary reason is that you have to rub it really really well in, which I couldn't achieve by hand even on a well cleaned area.
Pro divers seem to use air driven brushes for this.

Still I keep a tin of this stuff as it cures fully underwater and could be used as normal epoxy with fiber reinforcement in an emergency.

We'll leave the relative small unpainted area where the boat was resting on the beach when I applied the normal antifouling paint unpainted and just clean it from time to time with a hookah.

A suitable cheap DIY hookah costs 200-300€.
Should not be so terrible. I'm not overly concerned about it, we are pure cruisers and not racers [emoji6]

Ha ha ha ha. This is good story telling. It’s unfortunate the paint didn’t work and thankfully it didn’t get in your hair (probably the only place it would have set up perfectly lol)

Thanks for trying this out and reporting the results.

I’m definitely considering a hookah at this point also. I can’t wrap my head around how much things have changed with marinas and boat yards in 10 years (really in 3 years). There has been an explosion in interest in boats. It’s made marina usage much less attainable. I’m doing everything I can to reduce my reliance on them. Even if it means a dry suit and scraping things myself and painting at low tide.

Spent half of yesterday traveling and half of it scraping. Today is all day scraping. Then bottom paint application.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Pro divers seem to use air driven brushes for this.

For what?

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

For what?

To force the initial layer of paint onto the substrate. It's seems better for rubbing it in. The paint sticks well when there is no water anymore between it and the substrate.

Have a look at some of the application videos on YouTube. It looks like air driven brushes to me. Might be a different system though.

The manufacturer of the paint we tried thought though it could be applied manually.
At least I was unable to do so, despite cleaning thoroughly before. Maybe I did something wrong. No idea.

I will not disclose the manufacturer of the paint with antifouling additive we tried for obvious reasons though.

[carlosproa]

I wonder if lanolin Can be applied under water? I thin lanocote is mostly lanolin.
It may be a bandaid solution until you find a marina to haul out or temporary lift the boat out of the water.

Other than that if you have no access to wooden blocks to create a gap in low tide, then diving and cleaning is the routine

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I wonder if lanolin Can be applied under water? I thin lanocote is mostly lanolin.
It may be a bandaid solution until you find a marina to haul out or temporary lift the boat out of the water.

Other than that if you have no access to wooden blocks to create a gap in low tide, then diving and cleaning is the routine

There is a special product for that: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0149IHTPC

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

There is a special product for that: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0149IHTPC

That's pretty cool if it works to some degree and can be more easily applied than that paint we tried.
I don't expect miracles and it's just for the small areas where our keels rested on the beach.

We had that paint for free, so it was worth a try.

No tides of any importance in the Mediterranean sea, so drying out is not really an option until we get back to the Algarve.