[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by brian eiland

Rubberised paint for steel decks is showing much promise as an antifouling substance:
New antifoul discovery - 100% effective AND green - Page 6 - Boat Design Forums

Rubberised paint for steel decks? - Boat Design Forums

UPDATE:
Question:
Sdowney, can you give us an update on how the permaflex is preforming as an antifouling paint?

Reply:
Sure, It is not an effective antifoul coating If you dont brush them off when small.
I have lots of barnacles. The coating is undamaged, barnacles dont affect it.
I think it has been a couple of years now.
This was a test and the boat mostly sits.
At first the barnacles were small easily removed simply with my hand, meaning no sticking. Easily brush everything off using my hands.

I just left everything alone to see what hapens and now some barnacles are about an inch and stuck on but can be scraped off with some effort. I was thinking of getting in when the water warms up and use a WOOD scraper made from oak to clean the hull and see what happens. what ever you use to clean with cant be sharp metal or you likely would cut the permaflex rubber.
Permaflex is acid proof so If I haul the boat, I will power wash, scrape, then spray HCL muriatic acid to dissolve anything left.


A sheet piece of permaflex I had in the water as a test grew some barnacles.
When they got to about a half inch I pulled the sheet and when I rolled it they popped off completely intact. Sort of peeled them off. So the barnacle's bottom was there and it is slightly concave. I think these things are sticking to the surface like a suction cup, but they dont harm the coating.

So If you were prepared to get in the water and scrub the boat once a month this would work ok. The bottom is basically dirty. This coating would require someone to periodically expend some effort to keep the surface clean.

some pictures showing intact peeled off barnacles etc
New antifoul discovery - 100% effective AND green - Page 8 - Boat Design Forums

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by MikeJohns
I've seen builders polyurethane sealant thinned with petrol and painted on a wooden boat and it has lasted very well. But not as an antifoulant.

All the "slick surface" antifoulings need a water velocity of over 15knots to self clean. Otherwise they foul.

I did see a very clean rudder and prop a month ago when inspecting a 70' commercial fishing boat. The owner had been given a bucket of a waterproof product called "ClearGlide lube" that's used in the oil industry here for protecting pipe threads and also apparently for coating cables in ducts so they can be pulled out in a few years.
He'd applied it around 6 months before to the prop and then to the rudder for a trial, both were spotless ! If you are interested in tough low friction waterproof coatings it might be worth looking at.

[brian eiland]

Originally posted by Silver Raven

I used a product called "Hydron' as a final coat after antifouling - on about 30 or more sailing (race) boats in Sydney. Was just the 'ducks-guts' - slipperier than - smoother than, especially when wet - just so smooth to touch - extended the 'life' of antifouling by at least 60% & even at racing quality finish. I've just 'google'd' it & they have lots of varities - even 1 @ 6% solids. I'd wager that is what the 'Hydron' was or very close to it. I sprayed it on - ever so thin but it sure did do the trick. Yachts with it on - improved at least 2 to 3 positions. It sure was a race winner & made me lots of money as well.

...and....
Steal mom's 'teflon' ironing spray - 4 coats - let dry - 2 years - no barnies.
Use teflon - silicon, etc, lots of new (only been out for the last 40 years) stuff on the market & cheep as chips (or horse, pig, roo, wallaby - see cooking section) easy-peasy - user friendly. Electric systems would cost more in 1 year than I've spent in the last 25 years.

[brian eiland]

posted by Brian

I just heard a bit on the radio about this super slippery product called LiquiGlide.
LiquiGlide

Wonder if we can find some uses for this in our marine world?

Just noticed this:
Question:
Can the coating be put on anything else?

Reply:
We’ve been able to put it on just about everything we’ve tried so far: glass, plastic, metal, ceramic…


Created at MIT with their help

A research group at MIT has developed LiquiGlide, a slippery, non-toxic coating that makes sure every last drop of any condiment flows right ...

LiquiGlide coating means you'll never waste a drop of ketchup again