Sail Life - Coppercoat antifouling - DIY sailboat refit

[@davidcoleman4800]

One advantage when sanding here in the United States is that where you need to sand every square centimetre we only need to sand every square inch, which is less than half the number of centimetres :-D Nincompoopery aside, my reaction when you removed the masking tape was "Wow... I am so happy for you (and Athena)." She looks awesome!

[@neilarrowsmith3887]

Hi Mads, being a shipwright, it’s nice to see you doing such a complete and thorough job on “good old Athena” and not trying to cheap out or cut corners. I am enjoying your videos and look forward to them every week. Good on you! Neil A

[@corujariousa]

Athena is looking better every week. Kudos to you and your minions for the nice work.

[@mlmontalvo]

I am committed to this channel and see this refit/rebuild completely through. I have way too much time invested to quit anytime soon. Besides, this is a really fun channel to watch.

[@chasemixon6327]

Obviously, many are in the same boat... #PunIntended

[@jakesmith9987]

When he runs aground, then what?

[@willemduitemeijer1683]

Jake Smith if my aunty had balls..........?

[@smoyer64]

That's the famous "sunk cost fallacy" (but I can't stop watching either)

[@TweakerTV]

His great attitude during a long DIY project with lots of unknowns is really enjoyable.

[@dancastillo27]

Hands down, the most satisfying part of this video was the peeling of the painter's tape. So awesome, lol!

[@neleabels]

Damn. You really have the patience for details! I don't think I'd could be as diligent of you. But the quality of your refit work speaks for itself!

[@russellthomson5571]

Mads a milestone worth celebrating !!

[@nordicdust]

Hi Mads, Great job again. The best part of the weekend is sunday evening after you lock the kids and wife in the basement and enjoy the new Sail Life video! Sail Life, probably the best KZbin channel in the world!! When do we get to se a day of your life in Obelix. Many of us don't sail and will be wondering where you cook and what you do when you arent on Athena. Good luck and se you on sunday. 26.003 views WOW

[@drwindsurf]

One of the things that you didn't include in your math was the time to apply the anti-fouling. You need to spend time sanding it off and reapplying every spring - a time consuming process. Based on not having to sand and paint the hull for ~15years seems to be worth the cost of the Copper Coat alone. Thank you for another great video Mads :)

[@ronaldwarren5220]

Athena looks crisp and clean. Nice work!

[@wilfwilliams]

Mads , been following you for years, apart from your attention to detail and persistance, the most amazing thing about you is that you have been wearing that green check shirt in 'most' videos, and still appears to be clean, if it were mine it would have been covered in oil, diesel, paint, resin, and be useless after about a week. Even for Rags ! Keep up the good work Wilf

[@derekwilkinson7939]

Athena is looking fantastic with her new copper coat. You have a way of making every minute of your videos very interesting and a pleasure to watch. Cheers from the UK. 👍

[@SootHead]

My boating days are way behind me and what you are doing was beyond me even at my prime... but I have enjoyed the heck out of your videos. Your English, idioms and all, is excellent!

[@kencousins]

She’s flipping gorgeous, Mads. BRAVO.

[@scottandtamerabuckley1626]

Mads, I have never commented on your channel which I have enjoyed greatly thru the years. I am commenting on a past video where you removed some smell foam from the keel. In this video you removed the barrier layer of the integral keel. To be clear an integral keel sailboat, such as yours has a keel that is part of the molded hull and not a bolt on keel which is popular on production boat due to the fact it supports a number of different depth and performance configurations. Having at least one barrier layer is a requirement of ABYS for integral keel fiberglass sailboats and some boats have two. Our Caliber 40 LRC has two and it is great comfort to have when sailing the shallow waters of the Caribbean. The barrier layer is in the event the keel strikes a hard object and is holed. While the water can get into the keel spaces it cannot flood the boat until the barrier is breached. A strike or grounding hard enough to hole the keel skin could damage a poorly made barrier so I recommend your do a good job on the installation. You do very good work so I am not concerned with the quality of your installations. I cannot say I am very familiar with your boat so I cannot layout a design however I will make a few suggestions. 1. I would not leave the space simple empty and filled with air or a dry gas. Due to temperature changes the differential pressure between the outside water and the interior of the keel body could lead to failures. 2. You could replace it with closed cell foam or if your boat is not weight sensitive additional ballast material. Either way something that takes up volume. I have even heard of these things filled with oil though I do not recommend that. The only reason I am commenting is I have not heard you return to this subject lately and don't know if you are planning actions for this area. It certainly does not have to be address while you are in the shed where other project schedules are driving your actions at present. I have spent many years building ships and enjoy sea going vessel technology. We have a blog SV Kooky Dance if you want to make sure I am not a kook. Happy Regards Capt. Scott Buckley SV Kooky Dance

[@gregoryyount6907]

The wear areas for anti-fouling are the water line, leading edge of the keel, and the trailing edge of the rudder. Those areas might benefit from an additional coat or two of Copper Coat.

[@AidanWeatherill]

You are really getting there now! Such fun to follow along.

[@moejaime2654]

The boat is starting to look like a new Halberg Rassy !

[@AdamPearce]

That tape line - sooooooo sharp! She looks awesome!

[@RVLifeNOW]

Mads, I am preparing my Valiant 40, hauled out in S. Africa, for Coppercoat. I just found information that Coppercoat works well on the bronze strut and a fixed bronze prop. It would work on a stainless shaft, if the shaft was first sandblasted. I just prepared and epoxied my strut for the Coppercoat application. I was going to use Propspeed on the strut but from past experience, Propspeed does not last long on my strut, possibly because of the anode mounted there plus grounding wires which are attached to the strut. We will see how well the Coppercoat hold up on the strut. Propspeed has worked for 2 years on the stainless shaft and Kiwi Prop. The Kiwi Prop blades are made of Zytel, a plastic, the hub is 316 stainless, and no antifouling lasted long on any part of the Kiwi Prop. It will be interesting to see what you decide to do to your strut, shaft and prop.

[@bradbaker3518]

One word...BEAUTIFUL.

[@aceoline]

I began watching your videos about a year ago, hell bent to buy a boat and sail the Caribbean. Well, you have persuaded me NOT to buy a boat, the amount of maintenance work is crazy, but I have learnt so much about patience and general stick-to - it - ness! Look at how much you have accomplished. We have learnt that the Scandanavian countries are generally superior, is this magnificent work ethic the reason behind it?

[@RealLuckless]

Two handy tricks I've seen others use to make a job like this easier. 1. If you have the option to work on a hard surface, or can put one down in the work area, then adjustable stools are a godsend for working on the lower sections of the hull. I've seen a few people take it a step further and mount sanders on a heavy duty tripod with the sander mounted on a seesaw contraption. Push down on the far end and it pushes the sander up against the hull. Haven't seen an off the shelf commercial version of such a contraption, so design and build at your own risk. (But you might have a handy tool to rent out to other boaters at the yard if you come up with a good version.) 2. Using high visibility inspection/fairing paint coats. A cheap and easily sanded highly contrasting colour gets lightly sprayed over the hull before any sanding steps. Aids in highlighting pinpricks and such by making them more visible on inspection, but relies on using a very thin paint formula to help ensure it doesn't fill over a gap rather than seeping into it.

[@amarieshearer7613]

Minions are great, glad you got rid of pinholes, excited about how she will turn out!

[@13smitch]

Sail Life stickers! Now THERE is a reason to give it your all!

[@danielpaulson3631]

It’s very gratifying to see the boat coming along so well!

[@hansschipper]

Thanks for the video. I coppercoated my boat fifteen years ago and wanted to have a look how is should be done before I start adding a new layer.

[@davidrobine5350]

That coppercoat is gorgeous!

[@snsfabricating]

My Sunday afternoon revolves around my Sail Life episode. Never miss it.

[@geoffgelow4241]

Love the way the boat is looking with the copper coat

[@perdromek6434]

Greate job ,Mats! You got some awesome friends to help you. Lot's of fun it seems. I have followed your journey thoughout all your episodes here on youtube, and you have inspired me a lot. I have purchased a RW 32 and there's quite a few issues to take care of on that boat. Your series will help me tremendesly. Thanks Mats! I will , with excitement, follow you, and get more tips I can use. /Per fro Sweden

[@sethwilliamson]

Looking pretty dang spiffy! Good to have friends. :D Good work Mads & Minions.

[@emanuelusa63]

That copper coat looks fantastic!!! Goof Jody to you and the minions!

[@jakjarsha1107]

Looks great! Don’t forget the rudder!

[@MrEdwardhartmann]

I think the value of the boat just went up about 500% - what a great job

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

You're right: Nothing better than a well documented repair history.

[@garysouza2277]

No boats go up in value...I've owned various boats for over 40 years.......just sayin'

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

Gary if boats wouldn't go up considerably in value with the skilled labour someone credible puts in, I would have starved the last three decades. (fun fact: I did not starve but payed quite some of the bills reviving giveaway boats in "hopeless" conditions back to strong sailors.)

[@garysouza2277]

It's different to get a borderline derelict boat, pressure wash it and sell it for a profit. Mads bought a fully functioning sailboat, has done in insane amount of repairs and improvements, but he will never recoup what is spent on materials alone, not to mention labor. His boats value isn't going to go up because of that. I have a friend who buys boats that have been neglected and impounded by the marina, gives them a clean up and sells them. Yea, he's making some money, but we're talking about boats that he sells for between $1000 to $1500. Totally different than what Mads has. I've restored 3 sailboats in my life, and never saw what I spent on materials alone when I sold two of them, but I was like Mads. I enjoyed the work and wanted the boats to go sailing. I stand by my statement that boats don't go up in value, no matter what you do.

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

I didn't refer to derelict or borderline derelict boats but to boats having issues and aren't marketable for the price the seller originally asked for. My way to find those was looking at "normal" offers of interesting vessels and let the seller my card with an offer he would have laughed loudly about in the beginning of the process. When the next but one bill of marina costs is due, the nineth haulout was payed for just to show the visible keelgap once more where already eight other potential buyers poked around, and the offers ever so slowly neared regions where mine was bobbing away, the seller would call and ask whether my offer still stood. I then would go there, do a through survey and reduce the first offer by the estimated materials - pro prices, lower than retail. Seller has learnt meanwhile how utterly un-marketable his coffer is. I more than once bought from original seller's heirs, for there's a reason why good boats develop issues and at last were offered just the deciding piece of time too late to get an average market price. And: asking prices of supraregionally advertised boats usually are waay over the finally payed price in private market. The fast-selling ones go to friends, clubmates and people who offered three to fife years prior in the typical "if You ever should offer her - call US!" way of showing their appreciation - and for prices way below the "marketvalue", because the seller want his ship go to loving hands and not to a pretentious rich kid.

[@jimmcdonald9244]

Splendid job Mads. Athena is looking magnificent

[@Walkingflyguy]

Hi Mads I am not a sailor or a boat builder, but somehow your journey has hit a key with me. Absolutely love what your doing good luck with Athena.

[@lipsee100]

Yeah I am the same as Walking,,I ask myself why the hell I,m watching,but its so entertaining,I,m actually looking forward to mads getting on with the deck...

[@anvilhead59]

Copper Coat appeals to me, a former copper miner and son of a copper miner. It just seems right and it works too. It does look spiffy too!

[@trondbraadland813]

Looking DAAAANG SPIFFY there Mads!!!☺️

[@juliangiraldoospina1859]

Hi Mads. Thanks for mention the differences between the two antifouling types. I really like your videos and always take info from you for my little boat projekts. Grüße aus Hamburg!

[@deeshipley6527]

Athena is really looking spiffy. Great video as always. Keep up the good work.

[@oldmanflyer1]

WOW Mads, awesome job looks great.

[@andrewmullen4003]

you've done a lovely job of the hull, and great to have help of course

[@fredparenteau9747]

I’m two years in with Coppercoat in New England and on last haul out I had NO growth on my hull! This was the best investment I have made on my Hunter 28.5. You did a great job applying it!!!

[@diyrecordingacademy]

Looks pretty dang spiffy Mads!

[@MrSamiboy29]

Enjoyed your video and your attention to detail very much.

[@MB-vn6lo]

Looks pretty sweet Mads, especially when the tape was pulled off and that beautifully clean line appeared!

[@paulsegade6653]

Copper coat looks wonderful and you're doing a great job

[@290Alenka]

Congratulations Mads. Without doubt you have just passed a major milestone. Is it just me but all of a sudden everything seems to have speeded up.

[@1240enzo]

Phew, well that is one of the main problem areas on Athena, just about all wrapped up. Well done Mads and to the team of minions etc who worked on this. I seem to recall that the copper coat is similar to what the guys on Sailing Uma used on their boat. It sure sounds like a good investment in the long run. 👍

[@Bacoprah]

Great job Mads et. al. :) Athena looks great with her new copper coat. Cheers from PEI Canada, Bryan

[@CarlD01]

You are cruising along there! Keep up the amazing work.

[@SVImpavidus]

We had copper coat from new. We have some areas that still foul with the odd barnacle and some wispy green fouling. Especially near the bow where the profile of the boat is vertical at the water line. We still have to scrub/rub it off, twice a season to remove slime and some growth as mentioned. While we appreciate the barrier properties of the product Please dont think that it is a cure all and nothing grows on it our experience in the last 3 years is thats not strictly the case... Sail safe Ant & Cid xx

[@markallen9282]

so glad you were able to get the bottom all done. This is looking awesome. Your hard work is really paying off. Congrats.

[@roryderbyshire4630]

Awesome copper coat. well done Cheers Rory

[@johnathanpierce4562]

Not one to make commitments much but just want to say your doing an amazing job, looks awesome and keep up the great work.

[@DeVerm123]

My original coppercoat was applied into the mold during the buildinstead of gelcoat. This was in 1993 and it was based on polyester resin, not epoxy. My fiberglass hull was laid up using vinylester resin. In the tropics, the coppercoat only lasted a couple of years, then needed help from regular antifouling. 5 years ago we discovered osmosis and it turned out to be in the coppercoat, not the vinylester hull. After fixing 700 little blisters and waiting two more seasons to see if more would develop (it didn’t, we got them all first time) we used Interprotect 2000 barriercoat and ablative antifouling. I hope the coppercoat has been improved since then ;-)

[@jimnickles2347]

Excellent! Mads, was watching on Luckyfish gets Away, his new CopperCoat went from Capetown to Barbados with no growth except some small anemones or barnacles, which starved and wiped off in a week or so at Anchor. I was Convinced. AND Impressed. Oh, and Thanks Much for giving me a reason to Look Forward to Sundays.

[@Reuben-ny3]

All the work looks beautiful!

[@raymiller315]

Great job Mads! Really appreciate and am so envious of the attention to detail you have. Just finished my antifouling this morning - haul out fees here in Sydney are just a little higher at $1052 for a weekend (on a 27ft boat)!

[@Quimzical]

Grats Mads! That is certainly a milestone done! Whoo Hoo, it also happens to look fantastic!

[@Svdreamchaser]

Mads, I love the way the copper coat looks and I agree with you pulling off the tape to expose that rigid line is always a great great feeling

[@svallegro9851]

Another great video. I need you here to apply your practical skills to all the issues on my boat.

[@michaeledwardparker9497]

Love the copper coat looks great

[@CrackosFr]

Enfin...! Bravo pour le résultat, on attend avec impatience la suite...! See u

[@jacobnagy1353]

And after 2+ years, the osmosis treatment is finished! How exciting. Cant wait to get back in the cockpit and hopefully start refinishing the forward cabin!

[@bradhullin8358]

I think I was smiling as big as you were when the masking tape was coming off! Well done as usual, great videos.

[@shanescrimshire8395]

"Somewhat" extensive!!! LOL. No need to qualify, this is definitely an extensive refit. Great job Mads, keep up the good work. I never miss an episode 👌

[@rwess]

The bottom is done! Congrats! (That was lots of work!)

[@waughthogwaugh3078]

That's gotta be the spiffiest spiffy we have had in a while. What a great stride towards seaworthiness.

[@andersjakobsen9906]

Another great one Mads ;-)

[@stevenk6638]

WoW again ! Really looks Good .

[@billyo7136]

Great job Mads. I'm going to call it SUPER Spiffy.

[@ByMyRecords]

Your killing it homie!

[@USMCCGAGNG]

Great work Mads!

[@richmiller6069]

Mads love the channel been binge watching for a couple weeks. just a helpful hint, get yourself some disposable stir attachments for your drill they are so much easier.

[@2CabrasLocas]

She looks AMMMAAZZING! Well done!

[@perpetualmocean1]

Great job!! Looks AWESOME!!

[@sar4x474]

That looks awesome! It seems things are really beginning to take shape. Nice work!

[@spookyii3481]

Looks absolutely great Mads, keep up the amazing work and keep the videos coming.

[@spinaway]

Looking spiffy Mads.

[@Megadoculous]

Wow, Athena's hull is looking amazing! You are doing a fantastic job on Athena Mads, keep it up mate.

[@joelbalyeat1476]

Man, it looks so good!

[@jts1040]

Beautiful and different !!

[@brucebaker3523]

She's coming along! Quite a beauty.

[@shawnmcauliffe5072]

That hull turned out just gorgeous!

[@jimhogan8808]

Love the videos Mads. Great info and explaining why you choose things. Is it wrong I was waiting for you to say glorious glorious sanding? You are so upbeat about the some of the tedious time consuming and some would say soul draining chores, one just has to smile with you.

[@nroggio]

Great work as always. The Coppercoat looks amazing! It was worth all the waiting. The hull looks beautiful and impervious.

[@bojensen9855]

Hi Mads, Back in 1992 I applied 6 layers of Coppercoat. Very expensive! It worked great for 4 seasons. Then suddenly a quite severe attack from barnacles was observed. After reactivation another 2 seasons went on without severe fouling, though decreased efficiency against algae was observed. No problem for a high pressure washer though. Then tried new reactivation the following season without significant effect. Since then I'm back In app. antifouling ( Hempel Mille extra) yearly with good results. The boat was always on the hard during winter time. I really hope you'll fare better! However, 10 - 15 or even 20 - 25 years of constant seawater exposure with just light scrubbing and without lift out for reactivation seems rather optimistic in my view. Time will show ;-) Good luck!

[@kevincostner9734]

Bo Jensen i agree. No way will this be a 10 year fix let alone 25. I dont have copper coat but at 1,800 usd its a bargain. I pay 400.00 a year for bottom paint that lasts 8 months and its 850.00 to haul out. If copper coat would sell me copper coat for that same 1,800 i would give it a go for sure. But here in thailand its 10,000 for copper coat . Just the product

[@omlandthegreat]

I agree, more than 10 years seems optimistic. At least you got 6 years out of yours. Also if you spend all your time in colder water, growth and paint deterioation will be less.

[@iCollabor8]

We used coppercoat on our s&s34 this January and I can say that so far it is perfect (but so would any ordinary antifoul). Big additional cost to go to Coppercoat is that you cant have any older antifoul left on the bottom - you have to clean and sand back to barrier coat which is a hell of a lot more work than clean up any loose or chalky antifoul and reapply with a similar style of antifoul. Not many boats in our marina use coppercoat. I copped a lot of ill-informed criticism from those whose opinions I didnt value. One person whose opinion I do value said that for boats that just sit in a marina the copper coat doesnt seem to work any better than standard antifoul but for boats that cruised the world it seems to work pretty well. These responses may be from people who's livlihoods rely on rich boat owners paying them to antifoul their yachts on an annual basis. It could also be that marinas are places where antifoul resistant weed and marine growth thrive. In the end Im moving my yacht to a swing mooring where the neighbours are friendlier. We raised our waterline an inch and now have a nice green/gold waterline that doesnt grow weed - Time will tell about the success of coppercoat but I'm encouraged.

[@WmCRobison]

Wow, with the cover coat on, Athena is really starting to look beautiful. I now am getting an idea on yet hull lines. She is going to be gorgeous when you're done.

[@PaulusPHM]

Nice spiffy copperhead ... awesome job done, on to the next...

[@harlandhogan7421]

Wow very impressive. Good on you

[@miltonmiller]

What a good channel!

[@gregklevgard1040]

Fabulous, great job!

[@jedediaharecord9510]

Looks great nice job 👍👍👍

[@Deftonesdsm]

Looks great. Now the outsides pretty much 100% restored. Good job you inspire me!!!

[@What_If_We_Tried]

Incredible job Mads, and Athena's hull looks gorgeous!!

[@courtneygorman6491]

Great looking hull well done!! Cheers!

[@trentcox5024]

Sweet!!! Love the new bottom job and lots of glorious sanding. Can’t wait until next week’s video. 😀😜