Just like cars, boats have special paint that is used to keep them performing well in their wet, and very much alive, environment. You don’t just take a can of house paint and slather it onto the hull of your boat; it does not offer the right protection, and you can end up doing damage and having the paint leach into the water. Most boats and ships are painted with a multi-layer system, and the last layer that goes on is the anti-fouling paint.
What anti-fouling paint?
Anti-fouling paint is an underwater hull paint that is highly toxic. What it does is help to slow the growth, and help cause detachment, of subaquatic organisms that like to attach themselves to a ships hull. This is a big problem because attached subaquatic organisms, which is called biofouling, impedes water flow which can slow down ships. Anti-fouling paint also helps to protect against corrosion, which degrades and weakens metal ships, though is not an issue for fiberglass ships.
The Background
From the 16th to the mid-19th centuries, which were known as the Age of Sail, barnacles and weeds attaching to the hull of a ship were a huge issue. This is because marine growth on the underside of a ship ended up affecting performance, which affected profitability as well. With a hull full of barnacles and other marine life would decrease a ships maximum speed, make it more difficult for the boat to sail upwind, shipworms (a type of clam) could bore into the hull and cause significant damage, and possibly transport harmful and invasive marine life into new areas. Before the invention of anti-fouling paint, either thin sheets of copper or Muntz metal (60% copper, 40% zinc, with a trace of iron) were nailed onto the hull to try to help with fouling. In fact, before anti-fouling paint came into existence in the 1900s, the British Admiralty had almost banned the creation and use of any new iron ships in their fleet due to the significant fouling issues. It was not until World War II when the US Navy provided enough funding to research marine biofouling technology to prevent hull fouling. By 1952 they had come up with a then-revolutionary formula for anti-fouling paint.
Modern Anti-fouling Paint
There has been an incredible amount of progress made in anti-fouling paint technology over the years. For instance, tributyltin use to be a common ingredient in anti-fouling paint, but has now has been banned due to the danger it poses to marine life (tributyltin caused the collapse of a French shellfish fishery). Copper-based coatings are still popular, but there is debate over their safety. Alternatives to this are low energy, hydrophobic foul-release coatings; enzyme-based coating systems; biocide-free, two-component, fouling release; self-adhesive/fouling-release; nano anti-fouling; and copper-free anti-fouling coating.
Our Services
At Watertight Boatworks we offer anti-fouling paint services for your hull to protect it and ensure that your boat never loses functionality. Our boat repair shop also does all types of repairs, including fiberglass boat repair and installation of a portable water maker. Contact us today for all your boating needs.
Just like cars, boats have special paint that is used to keep them performing well in their wet, and very much alive, environment. You don’t just take a can of house paint and slather it onto the hull of your boat; it does not offer the right protection, and you can end up doing damage and having the paint leach into the water. Most boats and ships are painted with a multi-layer system, and the last layer that goes on is the anti-fouling paint.
What anti-fouling paint?
Anti-fouling paint is an underwater hull paint that is highly toxic. What it does is help to slow the growth, and help cause detachment, of subaquatic organisms that like to attach themselves to a ships hull. This is a big problem because attached subaquatic organisms, which is called biofouling, impedes water flow which can slow down ships. Anti-fouling paint also helps to protect against corrosion, which degrades and weakens metal ships, though is not an issue for fiberglass ships.
The Background
From the 16th to the mid-19th centuries, which were known as the Age of Sail, barnacles and weeds attaching to the hull of a ship were a huge issue. This is because marine growth on the underside of a ship ended up affecting performance, which affected profitability as well. With a hull full of barnacles and other marine life would decrease a ships maximum speed, make it more difficult for the boat to sail upwind, shipworms (a type of clam) could bore into the hull and cause significant damage, and possibly transport harmful and invasive marine life into new areas. Before the invention of anti-fouling paint, either thin sheets of copper or Muntz metal (60% copper, 40% zinc, with a trace of iron) were nailed onto the hull to try to help with fouling. In fact, before anti-fouling paint came into existence in the 1900s, the British Admiralty had almost banned the creation and use of any new iron ships in their fleet due to the significant fouling issues. It was not until World War II when the US Navy provided enough funding to research marine biofouling technology to prevent hull fouling. By 1952 they had come up with a then-revolutionary formula for anti-fouling paint.
Modern Anti-fouling Paint
There has been an incredible amount of progress made in anti-fouling paint technology over the years. For instance, tributyltin use to be a common ingredient in anti-fouling paint, but has now has been banned due to the danger it poses to marine life (tributyltin caused the collapse of a French shellfish fishery). Copper-based coatings are still popular, but there is debate over their safety. Alternatives to this are low energy, hydrophobic foul-release coatings; enzyme-based coating systems; biocide-free, two-component, fouling release; self-adhesive/fouling-release; nano anti-fouling; and copper-free anti-fouling coating.
Our Services
At Watertight Boatworks we offer anti-fouling paint services for your hull to protect it and ensure that your boat never loses functionality. Our boat repair shop also does all types of repairs, including fiberglass boat repair and installation of a portable water maker. Contact us today for all your boating needs.
Just like cars, boats have special paint that is used to keep them performing well in their wet, and very much alive, environment. You don’t just take a can of house paint and slather it onto the hull of your boat; it does not offer the right protection, and you can end up doing damage and having the paint leach into the water. Most boats and ships are painted with a multi-layer system, and the last layer that goes on is the anti-fouling paint.
What anti-fouling paint?
Anti-fouling paint is an underwater hull paint that is highly toxic. What it does is help to slow the growth, and help cause detachment, of subaquatic organisms that like to attach themselves to a ships hull. This is a big problem because attached subaquatic organisms, which is called biofouling, impedes water flow which can slow down ships. Anti-fouling paint also helps to protect against corrosion, which degrades and weakens metal ships, though is not an issue for fiberglass ships.
The Background
From the 16th to the mid-19th centuries, which were known as the Age of Sail, barnacles and weeds attaching to the hull of a ship were a huge issue. This is because marine growth on the underside of a ship ended up affecting performance, which affected profitability as well. With a hull full of barnacles and other marine life would decrease a ships maximum speed, make it more difficult for the boat to sail upwind, shipworms (a type of clam) could bore into the hull and cause significant damage, and possibly transport harmful and invasive marine life into new areas. Before the invention of anti-fouling paint, either thin sheets of copper or Muntz metal (60% copper, 40% zinc, with a trace of iron) were nailed onto the hull to try to help with fouling. In fact, before anti-fouling paint came into existence in the 1900s, the British Admiralty had almost banned the creation and use of any new iron ships in their fleet due to the significant fouling issues. It was not until World War II when the US Navy provided enough funding to research marine biofouling technology to prevent hull fouling. By 1952 they had come up with a then-revolutionary formula for anti-fouling paint.
Modern Anti-fouling Paint
There has been an incredible amount of progress made in anti-fouling paint technology over the years. For instance, tributyltin use to be a common ingredient in anti-fouling paint, but has now has been banned due to the danger it poses to marine life (tributyltin caused the collapse of a French shellfish fishery). Copper-based coatings are still popular, but there is debate over their safety. Alternatives to this are low energy, hydrophobic foul-release coatings; enzyme-based coating systems; biocide-free, two-component, fouling release; self-adhesive/fouling-release; nano anti-fouling; and copper-free anti-fouling coating.
Our Services
At Watertight Boatworks we offer anti-fouling paint services for your hull to protect it and ensure that your boat never loses functionality. Our boat repair shop also does all types of repairs, including fiberglass boat repair and installation of a portable water maker. Contact us today for all your boating needs.
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