In the case that the present generation of ( fairly benign ) anti-fouings were banned there would probably be a reasonably priced alternative to Coppercoat pretty quickly.
Maybe that would be good.

If not, what would the be guys do?

Gary

valo said..
I have always been interested in this product.
I would be concerned though with water being trapped between the product and the hull.
www.finsulate.com/en/

If I had the money and a boat worth more then the product, I would definitely try it.

So why did they blur out the prop ?

I guess the issue is pollution - but as some people say, dilution is the solution to pollution.

Yachties were quick to change paints when scientists found that Tirbutinyl tin was causing defects in oysters and barnacles. I have not heard of any issues with copper based antifouls. There may be, but we should be careful of labelling some things as polluting and others as not.

We drive cars that give out CO2, NOx and drop oil and rubber based compounds onto the road that then run off into waterways, but because everyone has one, no one would ban cars. Yet cars go through hugely more fossil fuels in their lifespan than my boat will. We pollute when we fly, ski, get food grown, buy electricity and do almost anything.

I would be happy to change my behaviour when science says there is an issue. Holding tanks are useful for swimming around your own boat, but the amount of faecal coliform inside Sydney Harbour is mostly due to runoff and has little to do with boaties - yet we have holding tank legislation that is not based entirely on well reviewed science.

I hope we don't go down the road of accepting changes because they look good. Personally I feel that going green because something has been labelled polluting is worrying. We should do it because clever peer reviewed science says so. So the onus should be on those agitating for change to show the effects of copper on marine life.

However, if the science is demonstrable, then we will have to change. We should not argue with peer reviewed science. I just haven't seen it yet. Please don't think I am anti-science - I am a science teacher and a greenie and try to keep up to date, but science demands data and I a ready to read the data showing how copper based paints cause an increase in deleterious effects on the marine ecosystem.

cheers

Phil

I did a bit of digging. This reports shows that there are a range of sources of copper but that there does seem to be a higher concentration of copper near marinas. www.researchgate.net/publication/6550982_Managing_the_Use_of_Copper-Based_Antifouling_Paints/link/0deec51eb4643c3316000000/download

What would be good is to see whether our levels of copper are higher in areas where there are antifouled boats compared to bays with no moorings. I am guessing that marinas will have the highest loading as the boats are close together and they are in calm waters, whereas open bays would have less. There may be some bioaccumulation of copper as well in large herbivores (like manatees or dugongs), which is usually a bad thing.

cheers

Phil

Craig66 said..

valo said..
I have always been interested in this product.
I would be concerned though with water being trapped between the product and the hull.
www.finsulate.com/en/

If I had the money and a boat worth more then the product, I would definitely try it.

So why did they blur out the prop ?

One can only imagine.
Looks nice and shiny what you can see of it.

Is there a huge problem associated with digging copper from the ground, painting our boats with it and then it ends up in the ground again ?

valo said..
I have always been interested in this product.
I would be concerned though with water being trapped between the product and the hull.
www.finsulate.com/en/

If I had the money and a boat worth more then the product, I would definitely try it.

Anybody ever bothered with a quote for this?

stupid said..
I have a friend who is looking into ultra sonic anti fouling and has conducted an experiment on a small scale with two small floating fibre glass "boats"/ objects with promising results at this stage.
has anyone else tried or know of someone who has tried this system?

This has been a very long-standing thread on this forum. I'm still waiting to see some positive results. The evidence is very illusive!

Toph said..

valo said..
I have always been interested in this product.
I would be concerned though with water being trapped between the product and the hull.
www.finsulate.com/en/

If I had the money and a boat worth more then the product, I would definitely try it.

Anybody ever bothered with a quote for this?

I contacted them and they put me onto a vehicle wrap business in Sydney. They were willing to apply it for free if I paid for the materials and prepped the hull.
From memory it was quite expensive. However I remember thinking it would be worth it in the long run.