Erutan,

  Epoxy does indeed degrade in UV light.  Some people add titanium dioxide for protection, and claim it gives a great finish for years, but I've never seen the long-term results.

  Below the waterline, though, there's not enough sunlight to matter, particularly if your surface is half copper.  Any degradation you do get could expose more copper the next time you go over it with a scotch-brite pad.

  For the dory I'm building, I'm on the fence between spending the big bucks for CopperCoat and its proven track record, and trying the DIY route by adding copper powder in the non-blushing epoxy I'm using for sealing the plywood hull and laminating on the glass/kevlar knit. 

  I recommend reading through their literature:

    http://www.coppercoatusa.com/
    http://www.coppercoatusa.com/coppercoat.php

  People really do get ten years out of it, as Gary and Arto will attest.

  There are some bays, estuaries, and other areas where it doesn't seem to work, but where it does work, the testimonials are glowing.

---

  Update on copper:  looking at epoxyProducts' copper offering, it looks like the total cost of the coating might be /less/ for coppercoat than a DIY

  The 26' dory should take about a gallon.

  Four 1.5-liter kits of of coppercoat, with 17 pounds of copper, would run about $520.

  15 pounds of copper powder from epoxyProducts would be $610, plus the cost of the resin.

    http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=epoxy&product=..Thickeners/fillers/additives

  There have been claims that adding graphite powder in place of some of the copper will make for a slicker antifouling surface for a lower cost, but I haven't read any testimonials on this.

        - Mike

 

I thought you can't do epoxy and copper powder, because epoxy cannot handle sunlight UV.

You have to add it to the paint, I thought.

| Good point!
|
| Epoxy with copper powder might actually be better than the poor antifouling-paint which falls off and is repainted with bad preparations and falls off even faster.

• New Members 1