Washington State Copper Paint Law

[Blue Stocking]

Pleasure boats under 65ft make up the largest group of vessels moored in shallow(er) bays and harbours, where leached copper settles in larger concentrations.

--or so I am told.

[tager]

Look on the bright side: it will most likely help the health of ecosystems in Puget Sound.

Plus Canadian boatyards are going to see a lot of bottom paint business!

[perchance]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

THANK YOU Chrissie!

Judging from her photograph it looks like someone slapped some copper paint on her bottom.

[Juniper]

Can I still use copper plate over the whole hull?

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by webejammin

Our catamaran has copper paint on it that was redone last year in San Diego. I'm guessing that the problem is when resurfaceing the bottom paint you have to sand off some copper paint in boat yards and what do you do with the boat yards rain runoff with toxic copper paint in it. I haven't heard what WA's boat yards have to say about dealing with the toxic mess that ends up on there property ???

Then you completely missed all the news last year about the green org that sued 5 boatyards in Seattle for not turning in paperwork that the DNR told them not to turn in. They all have a water trap area for pressure washing that contains all runoff. Several do not allow you to do your own bottom work. Those that do, you have to have a tarp, you have to use a certified vacuum sander (I was required to rent theirs rather than use my own.) to do minimal sanding to allow next coat to adhere, and no wet sanding allowed.

On top of this they are now going to be required to trap all water in the entire yard and process that. Some businesses will close, others will pass the $100,000 upgrade to their customers.

Studies showed that 3% of the copper in the waterways was due to boatyards. Most of the copper was due to car brake linings.

John

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by webejammin

Our catamaran has copper paint on it that was redone last year in San Diego. I'm guessing that the problem is when resurfaceing the bottom paint you have to sand off some copper paint in boat yards and what do you do with the boat yards rain runoff with toxic copper paint in it. I haven't heard what WA's boat yards have to say about dealing with the toxic mess that ends up on there property ???

Our yard requires a tarp put down before any bottom paint removal. And it's a dirt yard so it would basically stay in the soil, if any. There is no drainage, it perks.

[richard_wb]

The WA legislation was supported by the Washington's Northwest Marine Trade Association, which represents WA marine businesses, including boatyards. Here is their statement:
Northwest Marine Trade Association - Member Search

As the previous post states, several boatyards were recently sued by the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, an environmental group, over copper waste. Essentially, the trade association supported the new law in order to avoid future lawsuits.

The linked article does provide some important details about the WA law. It doesn't take effect for 9 years, and before it takes effect a study of available paints is supposed to be done.

[s/v Jedi]

Utterly clueless is what they are. On the forefront of environmental friendliness?! Holland banned copper paint 15 years (or more?!) ago, only to allow it again after a short while because manufacturers did NOT come with alternatives that worked and everybody was getting their paint in Belgium instead.

I read that boats under 65' are the biggest group or something like that... that is dead wrong! Boats under 1,450 feet are the biggest group.

The best paint to get now is wall paint.

cheers,
Nick.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by cal40john

... Studies showed that 3% of the copper in the waterways was due to boatyards. Most of the copper was due to car brake linings.

Which they also banned.
Washington leads the way with copper brake pad ban

[tager]

Does anyone really believe that some entrepreneurial outfit will not jump into this niche with an effective product? Sure there may be scams, but an industry standard will appear. You are looking at a multimillion dollar market!

[senormechanico]

So in a few years we'll be crashing our cars due to ineffective brakes on the way to the boatyard where we would have applied our ineffective bottom paint?

<sarcasm>

[foggysail]

Has Boat US taken any lobbying action that supports copper paint use be it in Washington or other states before copper is banned everywhere?

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Has Boat US taken any lobbying action that supports copper paint use be it in Washington or other states before copper is banned everywhere?

BoatUS sent its members in WA state notification about the vote before it happened and advised contacting the legislature.

John

[David M]

Originally Posted by tager

Does anyone really believe that some entrepreneurial outfit will not jump into this niche with an effective product? Sure there may be scams, but an industry standard will appear. You are looking at a multimillion dollar market!

One major bottom paint manufacturer has a non-copper based bottom paint for at least 6 years that I have known about the paint and it is pretty much ineffective. If there is a better idea than TBT or copper then nobody has produced such a paint...ever.

If the various municipalities and state agencies want to put a real dent in water pollution then clean up their own storm drains and municipal sewage plants that discharge motor oil, tire scrub, pesticides and from the treatment plants, raw sewage during major storm events. Boaters are not the real problem, the municipalities themselves are.

And yes, I am willing to pay higher taxes for them to have the money to clean up their huge messes first. Then let's talk about the relatively piddly amount of pollution that boaters cause.

Isn't asking boaters to clean up their act first more than just a little hypocritical?[/QUOTE]

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by David M

One major bottom paint manufacturer has a non-copper based bottom paint for at least 6 years that I have known about the paint and it is pretty much ineffective. If there is a better idea than TBT or copper then nobody has produced such a paint...ever.

If the various municipalities and state agencies want to put a real dent in water pollution then clean up their own storm drains and municipal sewage plants that discharge motor oil, tire scrub, pesticides and from the treatment plants, raw sewage during major storm events. Boaters are not the real problem, the municipalities themselves are.

And yes, I am willing to pay higher taxes for them to have the money to clean up their huge messes first. Then let's talk about the relatively piddly amount of pollution that boaters cause.

Geeze....talk about being hypocritical.

+1! this legislation is the biggest pack of poo since dumping poo overboard!