When you say air tool do you mean an air powered sander or do you mean a sander with a vacuum cleaner attached.
There's not much difference between an electric sander and an air powered ( pneumatic ) sander other than what drives them.
I have just finished dry sanding a hull with my electric orbital sander attached to my Ryobi shop vac.

Chris 249 said..

cammd said..
What about a chemical remover to soften up the paint and then scrape

I think I tried that last time with no success.

I was pretty interested in coppercoat as an anti foul solution when I first purchased Wapiti, another yacht I had looked at had that system and the owners had reported good outcomes, maybe it was just a sales pitch, I actually thought I had bought that yacht until someone outbid me at the last minute and went above asking price.

Anyway part of my research into coppercoat was how to remove the existing antifoul. The coppercoat sales representative spoke very highly of this product. It sounds like serious stuff.

www.petergs.com.au/products/marine/stripper-anti-fouling/

r13 said..
Don't want to be a grenade thrower but the MSDS includes "not to go into drains or waterways". Maybe this is the stuff straight out of the can and when mixed with the afouling it is ok? I doubt it. Assume the slipway using this would have a specific collection sump on their drains and it is disposed of properly as per PCSC article. Maybe all slipways have such a sump now.

www.petergs.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/STRIPPER-FOR-ANTI-FOULING.pdf

www.cygnetsailing.org.au/members_login/pcsc-slipway-environmental-upgrade/

R, I think you will find no slipway in oz will not have a drain and sump, and if you find one keep it to yourself otherwise it will join the long list of disused slips

If you need to sand your antifoul its time to soda blast and return to original gelcoat/epoxy coatings . Bluewater yachts recommend removing antifouling back to original epoxy coatings every 10 years..this is something I'm currently trying to organise as I believe mine has 20years of build up.

southace said..
If you need to sand your antifoul its time to soda blast and return to original gelcoat/epoxy coatings . Bluewater yachts recommend removing antifouling back to original epoxy coatings every 10 years..this is something I'm currently trying to organise as I believe mine has 20years of build up.

The sanding I do is to get rid of barnacle bases and to get the anti foul at the dry water line back to primer so it doesn't crack large chunks off.

Serb1980 said..

UncleBob said..

Serb1980 said..
Hi everyone,

my boat is full of barnacles but anti fouling was done 1/12/21. Is this normal? Diver went to clean the boat 1/3/22. Should I give them a call back? I been told that I shouldn't worry and that paint will last for 12 months. any thoughts?

Thanks

Who did the antifouling, you or a "marine professional"? A couple of good coats of a reputable brand antifoul paint properly applied should last at least 12 months.

Gladesville bridges marina has done the job. I will give them a call tomorrow. Probably only one coat was applied. Will I damage the boat if I remove barnacles with a brush from the dingy?

I hate to tell you I had Gladesville Bridge do Morning Bird which was moored directly off Drummoyne Sailing Club. The first time it lasted a few months. I went back and complained and they redid it.
I then went back to them the next year. It lasted a couple of months. I believe the slipway is closing with the marina development soon to start. I think they are just milking customers as there is no future for them there.
Just a personal experience and view.

Southace - I also have been antifouling for more than 30 years and I am still very happy rubbing my boat back every time she gets antifouled. I don't like the idea of carrying around a thick layer of old antifoul and I find that it cracks off in chunks if left thick. This can leave jagged edges to depressions or low sections. I have seen many owners just gerni and paint, but the edges of the depressions need to be removed, at least on my boat. I prefer to remove excess antifoul every time.
After 22 years of doing this my cat has only a thin layer of antifoul. BUt really a very important reason is that my cat has only one layer of 600gm double bias fabric over the cedar. I feel it is vital that owners of light composite hulls go over their hulls in great detail every year as the glass is rather thin. It needs to be carefully checked and hand sanding is a really good way to do this. I can sleep well at night knowing that the hulls are very well protected by the glass.
Each to their own, but performance boats would probably notice the drag of the jagged edge depressions. Hand sanding also lets you feel any lumps - maybe indicating the start of osmosis blisters. But I have a cat, which is pretty easy to sand as I can reach around the hulls from above, whereas hand sanding a deep draft mono gets tiresome pretty quickly as the water dribbles down your arm working overhead. I think I would hand sand if I had a nice mono, but I can understand not wanting to.

MorningBird said..

Serb1980 said..

UncleBob said..

Serb1980 said..
Hi everyone,

my boat is full of barnacles but anti fouling was done 1/12/21. Is this normal? Diver went to clean the boat 1/3/22. Should I give them a call back? I been told that I shouldn't worry and that paint will last for 12 months. any thoughts?

Thanks

Who did the antifouling, you or a "marine professional"? A couple of good coats of a reputable brand antifoul paint properly applied should last at least 12 months.

Gladesville bridges marina has done the job. I will give them a call tomorrow. Probably only one coat was applied. Will I damage the boat if I remove barnacles with a brush from the dingy?

I hate to tell you I had Gladesville Bridge do Morning Bird which was moored directly off Drummoyne Sailing Club. The first time it lasted a few months. I went back and complained and they redid it.
I then went back to them the next year. It lasted a couple of months. I believe the slipway is closing with the marina development soon to start. I think they are just milking customers as there is no future for them there.
Just a personal experience and view.

I see,

Thank you for your message. I called them and they told me that it's my fault because I didn't move my boat. Well it's true due to the engine issues the boat didn't move much. I just couldn't lie to them. It's not fair. I told them that my boat is not moving due to current rebuilding engine process. Now is it normal that some barnacles are there even if boat is not moving? I don't know. However, I am planing to pay 1100 bucks to Woolwich dock and paint my boat myself in the future. With my formula I am ok for 36 months without any issues. paying Gladesville Bridge Marina is just not worth it..

Ramona said..
Barnacles will grow anywhere there is a bit of current. The stronger the current the more barnacles you get. If your vessel is moored at a wharf, the side that gets more sun will have more barnacles.

That is exactly right. Left side of the boat had a bit more of it due to sun position. I always thought that strong current and ferry waves will move the boat and therefore wash off the slime and keep the boats cleaned!!!

Just for the record, parts for YSE have arrived. 2.5k. A lot of different parts... can't wait to go back Sailling.

I don't know if it's totally causal but whenever we have heavy rain in the Moreton area it seems to increase the growth of slime/green algae like crazy on my hull (like now). I've been thinking about knocking back to gelcoat and going the copper coat route. Found this on amazon: cheaper than the mirka but looks like solid power/disk size/dust vacuum, 2.5kg overhead though (might need some trestles and planks to keep it at chest height) any thoughts?

Edit: price is prob in us dollars so maybe a bit more expensive.

samsturdy said..
Local marina guy ( Pittwater } told me there's an invasive species of barnacle about and that's why there is such rapid re-growth.

I agree, Sam. Something to do with the huge amounts of fresh water around this year so far.

At Church Point my Altex No5 antifoul is barely 11 weeks old and I have barnacles growing on the rudder blades which are at a slight angle and cop the most sun.

And around at Bayview, the Hanse dealer is getting shell growth on boats with antifoul less than two months old.