Is your boat rotting away under the waterline?

In this video, we reiterate the importance of shot blasting your boat and applying an epoxy paint system in order to prevent it from rotting away under the waterline.
We show you examples of 2 boats at different stages of pitting and 1 boat that was built by us 16 years ago that only now requires sanding down and a few more coats of epoxy being applied in order to maintain the protection. The paint system is rock solid after all this time and the narrowboat will last for many many more years to come without a requirement for regular bitumen to be applied.
Please comment on the video with your feedback, as it is always interesting to hear different opinions and experiences with narrowboat builds and paint systems.
Thanks for watching.
#narrowboat #waterwaysworld #crickboatshow #eopxy #overplating #bluewaterboats #pitting #steel #boatbuilder #shotblasting
0:00 Crick Boat Show Review - Customers appreciate the Bluewater paint system
0:55 Intro to Video
1:05 BOAT 1 - Shot blasting and Epoxy will save this boat
5:29 BOAT 2 - Over-plating required on this narrowboat
9:05 BOAT 3 - Only Sanding and Epoxy required. This is a Bluewater Build from 16 years ago
12:34 BOAT 3 - Should the base plate be shot blasted?

[@Locoman2002]

Dave, This is a very intriguing and informative video! Thanks I love your boats, especially your Replica Dutch Barges. The corridor underneath the wheelhouse leads to the engine room and aft cabin, not to mention the amenities stored along it. I plan to own one of your Dutch Barges someday, preferably a used one. Lovely, Lovely boats! 🥰

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

Very informative video and excellent craftsmanship - some of the reasons why we have chosen Dave and the team at Bluewater to build our bespoke widebeam.

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

Thanks for the comments and we are looking forward to building Bison 😊

[@loki7441]

Some nice welding there Dave and as usual excellent paint work. I've done a lot of welding over the years, not a coded welder but various training courses and as part of my job servicing ground equipment in an airport. I always found steel not properly cleaned and degreased mess's up any paint applied. The prep is 99% of the job. Some companies just cut corners either by design or cuting cost to meet a bottom line; end of the day it comes back to bite them. Unfortunitly there's no real British steel industry anymore and most steel is imported. Quality is possibly not as good as it should be and possibly an element of recycled steel too. Like the Japanese cars in the 70/80's, recycled steel. Cant beat them now.

[@AlFoxysNarrowboatLUNAR]

Great video and great information as always Dave keep up the ace work

[@user-il6hj8nb2l]

Just a silly queztion. Could you overplate the whole hull in aluminium. A bit like overplating an old wooden hull ?

[@johnmugbusiness5127]

I would agree with everything you say and you do a very professional Job.The only issue I would suggest is if someone's boat at any point in time, wants to enter any area where you may encounter a mixture of Sea water and fresh water then epoxy your base plate.If your purchasing a new build or wanting longevity then in my opinion it is a must have.The industry is going to change due to people expecting longevity and quite rightly so and whilst you are top of your game and sadly in the minority, at this stage base plate blasting isn't a standard practice but it will become so, going forward as who's going to invest 300k+ in something that's going to corrode when it can be fixed although understandably it's very inconvenient.Well done your 95 % only losing 5% because for not recommending Base plate epoxy and blasting if it's possible ? if any future chance of someone going into a part sea water/fresh water environment with any new build it should be highly recommended.But well done 👍

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

We do recommend the base plate on boats going into or around salt water and have done many barges like this. And are more then happy to blast and epoxy any boats but it does come at a cost we normally blast the base plate before the steelwork is done and use a holding primer then epoxy at the end so we don’t have to blast underneath the boat but where do you stop then should you do inside too the boats will last forever and I will be out of business 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for your nice comments it’s took a long time to get people to understand the importance of this.

[@johnmugbusiness5127]

@@bluewaterboatbuilder 😂 you won't ever be out of business as you do far more than others and therefore there will always be a demand for quality over quantity. My feeling is it might be possible to get the same adhesion qualities as blasted SA 2.5 without blasting the base plate but grinding it back or abrading it back for a mechanical bond and then applying epoxy and getting chemical bonds when the vessel is finished. You are doing great trying to get the message out, and I wish you well, as your one of the few in my opinion,who know exactly what they are doing and trying to help people understand about steel boats and longevity.Well done and thank you 👍

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

Thank you for your comments. We are certainly trying to make boat owners aware 👍

[@christinewilliams9305]

Thanks great informative video.

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

Thanks Christine 👍

[@VictorVictor-hq7ui]

That wide beam has probably never moved and sat in a Marina all of its life.

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

No it hasn’t, it has been cruised in the UK

[@markrant1460]

Do you have any opinions one way or the other about copper coating? Mark Alberta, Canada

[@gordonchapman222]

I would be interested in an answer to Marks question as well

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

This is a difficult one as we have done a few boats and not had any issues but if you look on line there are many unhappy customers but again this could be down to workmanship it’s not a easy coating to use and very expensive as you have to apply the normal epoxy for protection then the cooper coating is manly for the anti foul it certainly lasts longer then most anti fouls and is very hard wareing so I like it on steel boats and would definitely use it on my own boat.

[@markrant1460]

One more question, regarding the shape of the bow of a narrow boat. Why do they have a sloped bow instead of a bow which is at right angles to the water? Mark Alberta, Canada@@bluewaterboatbuilder

[@christinewilliams9305]

@@markrant1460 I would like to be able to see some pictures of all the different Bow shapes in one place

[@gordonchapman222]

@@bluewaterboatbuilder Thanks for your answer, as usual, no BS and to the point

[@christinegibbins6105]

Interesting, are you saying that modern steel is of poorer quality? Thanks, take care.

[@user-il6hj8nb2l]

I would have thought that went without saying

[@bluewaterboatbuilder]

Very hard to prove but it certainly seems that way as there is much more problems then years ago or it could be just builders not sanding down properly very difficult to say but that’s why it needs to be done properly just in case.

[@philelliott5327]

Boats now have a lot more electrics than they did a few years ago. Boats also sit in marinas on shore power. Many have defective galvanic isolation which causes pitting below the waterline.

[@mauricewatts2380]

It would be interesting to get modern and older steels analysed to see differences in percentages of iron and carbon.

[@christinewilliams9305]

@@philelliott5327 Dave would be aware of this me thinks