Fouling and Lightening

[Ron Burgundy]

Thanks. I just checked the marine forecast for Wednesday. It's not ideal, but I should be okay.

Wednesday
Southwest winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms.

[GregF]

Yup, They were telling us this would all be gone by then but our guys are backing off of that too.

Pretty nasty this morning here. I had at least 10 flash bang strikes (less than a second between the flash and the bang).
Those are the kind that scare the pee out of you on the boat.

I have been pretty lucky not to be out on open water when that happened but I do watch the weather.

[badmoonrising]

Keep me posted, Ron. I hope it's not copper paint and if so, the damage is repairable. You'll want to ask whoever is painting it to do at least 2-3 coats of primer and at least 3 coats of antifouling.

Greg, there you go making assumptions again. Our boating season is March - December. Most marinas around here allow year round wet storage if you pay extra. I choose to take my boat out in the winter for it's own safety.

Ron had previously stated he had no idea how long the paint had been on. It doesn't look very depleted in his pics so I doubt it was that long.

[GregF]

My mother's family in Maryland were all 12 month boaters but they made a living on the water. (tonging oysters in the ball chilling cold water of the winter). My niece owns a marina in Southern Maryland now. I am aware you CAN boat all year long up there but most boaters are about 6 months or less unless they are hard core fishermen. I don't remember a lot of swimming or water skiing before Memorial Day or after Labor Day.

According to the NOAA buoy your water is 46F at 2346 tonight and the air temp is hovering around freezing (artificially a little high because of the water). Inland it will be in the low 20s. (AKA frozen) It is going to be in the high 40s tomorrow. That is a little chilly for me.
Salinity at the buoy bear Baltimore in the bay is 7.9 PPT.

[ROLAND]

Ron... sorry to hear about the issues with your boat....but stay cool... you're going about it the right way... investigate and discover what the actual issue is & resolve it... Obviously the cost of fixing it can put a strain on people, but you just have to do whatever needs to be done....Keeping my fingers crossed that the damage is minimal and you'll be back out on the water in no time... keep us posted!

[cbavier]

Ron so sorry to hear about your problem with the boat. A thought no one has mentioned which I hope may bring you a little comfort. I think if the tubes would have had any holes in them You would have taken on water and noticed either a list or it setting low in the water. Hopefully you caught it on time and can get it properly repaired before you would have had to replace the tubes. Oh and check with your insurance company. They may cover the cost to repair, although they will probably say that is a owners maintenance issue? But it won't hurt to ask anyway. Good luck and KEEP US POSTED.

[badmoonrising]

My mother's family in Maryland were all 12 month boaters but they made a living on the water. (tonging oysters in the ball chilling cold water of the winter). My niece owns a marina in Southern Maryland now. I am aware you CAN boat all year long up there but most boaters are about 6 months or less unless they are hard core fishermen. I don't remember a lot of swimming or water skiing before Memorial Day or after Labor Day.

According to the NOAA buoy your water is 46F at 2346 tonight and the air temp is hovering around freezing (artificially a little high because of the water). Inland it will be in the low 20s. (AKA frozen) It is going to be in the high 40s tomorrow. That is a little chilly for me.
Salinity at the buoy bear Baltimore in the bay is 7.9 PPT.

Actually you're wrong on about every part of your post and that proves you have no clue what you are talking about as usual.

6 months ? Yeah ok...I start fishing by boat in March and usually end sometime in late November-early Dec. Our new marina owner (from Florida) made the same assumption and tried to say our boating season was April-Sept. After mass defections he revised our contracts for Apri 1-late November. Optional for year round..quite a few liveaboards as well. In fact, all liveaboard marinas in the area are booked with waiting lists.

Guy with the pontoon boat in the pics, also a 10 month boater. In fact, it's been in the water since March 1.

Water temp and salinity changes..less salty in spring and water temps get in to the low 90s in summer..then again, has nothing to do with some moron putting the wrong bottom paint on a boat. The damage would occur in a freshwater lake, copper paint and aluminum aren't a good combo no matter what.

Yep, the deep middle Chesapeake is 46, hovering into the low 50s in the upper reaches. So what. Any aluminum boat would corrode just a bit slower...again has nothing to do with anything.

Yep, last couple of night were cold, around 29. Last Friday was 80 degrees. Again has nothing to do with some moron using the wrong paint. Actually it's supposed to be in the low 50s, get your zip codes right.

When an aluminum boat painted with copper paint is removed from the water and exposed to air...doesn't matter if it's -50 or 130. The damage gets worse sitting in dry dock or on a trailer.

And we swim Late April-early October, also has nothing to do with some moron putting the wrong paint on an aluminum boat. We fish nearly year round.

And anything you know about Maryland you learned on a Google search.

[yellowk9]

And we swim Late April-early October, also has nothing to do with some moron putting the wrong paint on an aluminum boat. We fish nearly year round.

If you swim in late April surely it can't be for pleasure? The water here is just getting warm enough to be comfortable in mid-May in an average year. This year I had to force myself to get in in late September. Of course every year is different. Or it could be that I'm just a puss

[Ron Burgundy]

Thanks for the support guys. I will definately keep everyone updated. I'll try to take some pics of the process also.

I have been doing some research online and making a few phone calls, and I keep hearing/reading that even antifouling paints which are considered safe for aluminium hulls contain small amount of copper thiocyanate, a less reactive form of copper. This is the reason why it is so important to paint primer on before applying the antifouling paint. Could this be what is causing the bluish/green color?

Here is an excerpt from one article I found

Currently, the active ingredient in most garden-variety anti-fouling paints is cuprous oxide, which reacts galvanically with aluminum and so corrodes aluminum hulls it comes in contact with. (Bummer!) Before we cared about the environment, it was possible to use tin-based paints, which are both extremely effective and are compatible with aluminum. (Yay!) Now (unfortunately or not) these paints are illegal in the United States and much of the world. These days most bottom paints billed as being safe on aluminum in fact contain copper thiocyanate, a less reactive form of copper that can still cause damage if not separated from an aluminum surface by an effective barrier coat.
http://www.wavetrain.net/the-lunacy-rep ... nt-options


Another excerpt directly from yachtpaints.com
Trilux 33

Trilux® 33 has been specially formulated with copper thiocyanate to be the safest & most effective product for use on aluminum boats, outdrives & outboards. It can also be applied to fiberglass, wood & other underwater metals where a bright color or bright white antifouling is required. Trilux® 33, will be replacing the TBT- containing Micron 33 and Trilux® with Biolux®.

[badmoonrising]

And we swim Late April-early October, also has nothing to do with some moron putting the wrong paint on an aluminum boat. We fish nearly year round.

If you swim in late April surely it can't be for pleasure? The water here is just getting warm enough to be comfortable in mid-May in an average year. This year I had to force myself to get in in late September. Of course every year is different. Or it could be that I'm just a puss

The bay warms up fast, by late April it's in the mid 60s. By late May, near mid 70s...the Bohemia hits the low 90s by mid summer.

[badmoonrising]

I have been doing some research online and making a few phone calls, and I keep hearing/reading that even antifouling paints which are considered safe for aluminium hulls contain small amount of copper thiocyanate, a less reactive form of copper. This is the reason why it is so important to paint primer on before applying the antifouling paint. Could this be what is causing the bluish/green color?

Yes. If Trilux 33 were applied without primer you'll get green corrosion and pitting, although (of course) it'll be less severe then if standard antifouling was used. 3 coats of primer is usually recommended (as per the Interlux rep I spoke too).

I have 3 coats of primer on mine. I am repainting either tomorrow or Thurs (waiting in UPS to deliver my paint)..I'll probably do 3-4 coats of Trilux 33. After 4 years, the primer is still as thick as the first year it was applied (that's why I asked if you could see the primer)...the paint will slough off leaving the primer behind, it's pretty obvious if it had primer on it or not.

[GregF]

Ron, have you thought about a lift?
It sure cuts down on your maintenance and your boat will last longer.

[Ron Burgundy]

A lift would be nice but it's out it's not in the budget to have one built, and it's not within my handyman capabilities to build one. I have been considering a JetDock ( the kind you drive up on) but those are very expensive also.

I am going to try to get to the marina today to have a good luck at the paint. I am hoping that there is primer, and maybe the antifouling was just overpainted above the edge of the primer.

[Ron Burgundy]

Nevermind, I should have gone yesterday...

... Severe weather possible today and Thursday...

A low pressure system tracking across the deep south today and
Thursday will bring a threat of severe weather to west central and
southwest Florida.

There is a slight risk of severe weather today. The primary
threats of severe weather today will be large hail... strong
damaging winds... and isolate tornadoes. This threat will be north
of the Tampa Bay area and the Interstate 4 corridor.

[GregF]

That front didn't get down here yet. That does happen a lot though.
In a month or two we will both be back in the tropical weather patterns and northern fronts will stop at the Georgia line. They are saying this may be the last front to get down here until about December. It really depends on how fast the gulf warms up. You will be a little behind us.

Building a lift is really not that hard. I built mine and Moon says I am dumb as a stump. If you can find a lift plate and the hardware on Craigslist, you might be able to do this pretty cheap. The trick is setting the pilings, everything else is pretty straight forward carpentry.
If you are thinking about it, the first call should be to find out what the local marine contractors get to set 4 pilings. You really want them to set a while before you build off of them anyway, so they stabilize in the sand.