Antifoul on RIBs

[Robert1]

I hope to keep my RIB in the water from late February right through the season until late October/September time. Is there a need to antifoul...if so, any recommendations on what antifoul to use and how to do it?
Thanks,

Robert

[Garygee]

HI Robert

I did lots of thinking at antifouling as my rib spends 365 days afloat.

In the end I went for the epoxy based copper loaded antifouling.

Was not sure as heard reports it does not work well,but liked the idea of doing it once and never again.

Been in the water for 9 months now and the hull is spotless.
It works out expensive to start with but once its done thats it.

I aslo did the hull with a anti osmosis epoxy before applying the antifouling as well.

Regards Gary

[enalios]

Garygee

That sounds fine - can u pls adv brand / specifications / any preparation needed. I suppose u did only the hull but what happens if the baloons touch the water - any ideas ??

[David Hickman]

My rib is basically in the water all year round.
Yes you will need it to be antifouled.
I use International Ultra, which is the old extra strong Hard antifouling. On the bare hull it was primed and then 2 coats applied. I put 1 good coat on every year and it works great.
On the outboard bracket and the bottom of the outboard near the skeg which touches the water when fully tilted I use Intenational TRI-LUX which has no copper contents!

My tubes do not touch the water but owners who have antifouled their tubes find it comes off quickly. Preparation of the hull is basically de-greasing and a very mild abrasive just gentle over the hull area to be antifouled. Only about 2ins above the waterline and of course all under water areas are covered. Antifoul does change colour during the season so doing the whole hull can sometime look very messy after a while.
Hope this is of help.

[Rogue Wave]

If it's in the water antifoul it. someone on the forum suggested coating the immersed tubes in Lard......made some sense to me!

[tue]

International Tri-lux is by far the best anti-foul. We paint all new boats with it and it works a treat.

As a comparison we have a Bayliner on Brixham marina which was painted with Tri-lux and a Salcome Flyer on the same Marina and on the same pontoon row, painted with International Ultra. After just over a year the Bayliner had a jet wash to remove some green slimy stuff and re-painted. The Salcome flyer having been in the water about a year was jet washed then had to be scrapped to remove the barnacles (and there were loads of them).

The other advantage is you can paint right up to the engine or drive as it contains no copper.

[Robert1]

If I decide not to antifoul, to what extent will there be growth on the hull? Is this growth easily removable? Does it cause damage to the hull?
If I do decide to anti-foul, why do some on the formus say it cannot be undone and why do you have to re-do the process every year?
Sorry for the number of questions!

Robert

[Garygee]

Hi Robert

The product is supplied by http://www.coppercoat.com/

The prep depends on the hull and if its has had a paint/antifouling applied in the past.

You need to get to clean gelcoat then sand down with 80-120 grage paper.
I then applied either 3 or 4 coats of epoxy to help with osmosis, then followed by 4 coats of copper coat.

Keep it clear of alloy or other fittings leaving about a 3" gap round them.

This all needs to be applied with no more then about 12 hours beteen coats. In real terms its two solid hard days work with a average of 3-4 hours between coats, dependant on temprature, the hotter the better not must not go below about 5 Deg C, I think.

Once its all done leave it to fully cure for about 7 days then sand back to expose the copper.

This sounds hard work, which it is, but unlike other antifouling once done that it apart from light sand downs every few years.
They indicate a life of 10 years plus.

The reason why you have to keep redooing normal antifoulings is they contain biocides, which kill the marine life which comes in contact with it. However this leaches out fof thew antifouling so anfter a year or two its all gone and needs replacing.

Now i have used it I rate it but it is expensive, think it cost me bet part of 300 quid.

I have heard reports of it not working but it has worked well for me.

The tubes, well thats hard, not found anything that works 100% so just leave mine as their is not that much in the water at any speed.

I belive not antifouling for a RIB spending most of its time in the water is not a option as growth form withing weeks, depening on the area. Dont belive it will harm the hull but will make a big differnce to speed and fuel consmption.

I left my 4.8 in a marina for 4 weeks and it dropped 8 kts of my speed.

Some of the growth can be power washed of easy but barnicals and some form of worm casts are very hard to remove even with a good powerwash.
Not keen of powerwashing the tubes, as I think you may be able to lift seams, at least I dont want to find out if you can or not.

Hope this helps

Regards Gary

[Scotty]

Originally posted by Robert1
If I decide not to antifoul, to what extent will there be growth on the hull? Is this growth easily removable? Does it cause damage to the hull?
Robert

Rob,
My boat was in the water from last December 02 till Oct 03. We crane it out every few weeks and power clean it. All the crap comes off and the barnacles drop off. You will know when its time to clean the hull............ the crap on the bottom takes about 5 knots off the top speed.

[Daniel]

How do you aplly the anti-foul guys? I mean physically where is the boat - do you have it hoisted and braced up - if so what do you do the the area where the 'stands' or 'props' touch the hull or do you use a trailer, and same question what about point of contact, and getting paint all over the trailer?

My hull is anti-fouled, it's red and i know nothing more. I don't expect it to spend more than 33% of the year in the marina, will it last 3 times as long (assuming it's not this superior stuff - how do i tell anyway?)

[behavin]

Thinking of doing my rib this season as it spends almost 12 months afloat.
question is my hull is white if i use the white tri lux how "white" does the antifouling stay?
Preferably i'd like to keep it as "invisable" as possible
does it discolour as it works? cause if it does then i'd just as well select a colour (grey prob')
thanks for any thoughts

[Robert1]

Any Ribcraft 4.8 owners antifoul their boats? Which did you use and how did it affect performance? I expect any performance loss on an antifouled hull will be quickly cancelled out by growth on a non-antifouled one!

Robert