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The Green Blue is regularly asked about our opinion on antifoul. It is one topic where there is no good or easy answer. Antifoul is a toxic paint, if it wasn’t toxic it wouldn’t work! The key to minimising environmental impact is to use as little as possible, not to spill when applying and dispose of trays, rollers and old tins as hazardous waste.
As Project Manager for the programme it was with some trepidation that I approached our antifouling last season, I wanted to put our best practice advice to the test and see how practical it was and I also wanted to test out some of the booster biocide free paint available on the market at the moment.
The two paints we tried were Flag Paints Performance Extra which is booster biocide free and the control was International Paints Cruiser Uno, a good quality standard antifoul with booster biocides. Both paints are copper based and cost about the same (£70 a tin). Like a lot of boaters we don’t use our yacht as much as we would like, but during the season we get out most weekends. She sat on a swinging mooring in Chichester Harbour during this trail and was in the water for about 6 months.
David Lewin from Flag Paints had this to say, “The photos look interesting and you can see quite clearly the difference between the FLAG and International. There's no doubt that the slime is due to the lack of booster biocide. Copper is actually a micro nutrient necessary for the survival of all plant life - what you have to do therefore is bombard it with such concentration that it doesn't like it!
Copper however is very good against animal growth so you will probably find that overall there will be less barnacle/sea squirt/other animal fouling but slime is the tough one to keep down. Slime in itself (single cell vegetable growth) is not particularly problematic, except that it is unsightly, but can then go on to promote weed growth. However as you can see, weed doesn't seem to have been a problem here.
I would have expected the slime to wash off relatively easily on the FLAG section. Not a big price to pay for not having to use organic biocide products?”
Right enough, the slime came off easily and there was no weed at the waterline of the Flag sections where there was some for the International. The slime actually provided a pretty slippery surface which probably gave us very little resistance in the water. The International paint showed much less slime development but there was little white casts of some marine creature which were quite lumpy and I suspect would have caused more resistance than the slime.
So the conclusion? I would happily recommend the booster biocide free paint. Although to the untrained eye it may look like it doesn’t work so well, the slime was a smooth, slippery surface (which is what you want under the water after all) and did rub off easily. With a mid season scrub and hull check I think this would easily have kept us weed free for the whole season.
Rating: International 7/10 Flag Paints 7/10
Name: Sarah Black
Occupation: Project Manager
Reason for test: To find an effective, less environmentally damaging antifoul and test our best practice advice for antifoul application.
Desired result: Effective, affordable with less impact on the environment.
Product: International Paints Cruiser Uno biocide booser antifoul
Description: One coat antifouling formulated for both power and sailing boats. One Season's antifouling protection from one application. Suitable for both sailing and motor cruisers (up to 25 knots).
A self polishing antifouling suitable for all types of pleasure craft in fresh and salt water.
Where to buy: Found in most chandlers
Product: Flag Paints Performance Extra biocide free antifoul
Description: A ‘semi hard’ coating also suitable for fast craft up to 30 knots and areas of high fouling and is quite hard enough for trailer sailors, hard drying moorings and power craft. It is available in FLAG’s standard colour range of light blue, dark blue, red, black and steel white.Where to buy: Go to »www.flagfinishes.co.uk
The antifoul was applied in two coats as per the manufacturers instructions using a standard roller and paint brush on a warm and still day.
The boat was left on a swinging mooring for 6 months and used most weekends.
