In the old days, you used barometers, and GRIB files, and listened to SSB and VHF weather reports to round the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
Now there is just so much more to aid a sailor.
We used PredictWind Offshore for planning the trip when we had internet, and then during the trip using our Iridium GO! to get updates to know when it was time to seek shelter. This was probably our biggest tool for weather Routing using the ocean current models , as well as four wind and wave forecasts from Predictwind to make sure we got it right.
We would not sail any ocean now without the Iridium GO and the Professional version of Predictwind Offshore. I would simply refuse to leave the dock without it!
Here is the latest video with us sailing from Richards Bay, underway through lots of wind and speedy currents on the way to Cape Town. It’s part one of a 2 part series, as we need to seek refuge from an upcoming storm, in East London for a few days.
Coppercoat antifouling…or even conventional antifouling…short term, should work at least to some extent to prevent marine growth on a sailboat hull, right? After 6 or 7 weeks, there should be no barnacles or build up of marine growth, no matter what kind of nutrient rich water your boat is sitting in, and no matter how little movement the boat makes, right? Well, we have been in the water for 7 weeks now…this should give us some idea if our Coppercoat application has failed or succeeded. 7 Years will tell us even more!
Patrick was feeling confident that although we strayed from the Coppercoat application instructions, that the hull would be in good shape, free from hard growth. I was a little concerned that we might have a failed Coppercoat application story for you. At the very least we would be able to tell you why the Coppercoat failed. Everything you read about Coppercoat says do NOT stray at all from the instructions. We certainly DID stray from the instructions, mostly out of necessity to get the results we knew were required to make the Coppercoat application successful in the end. Patrick isn’t one to follow directions blindly just because his wife tells him to…he uses sense and knowledge when he strays.
What brown water to go look at a hull in…what lurks below?
So despite being in very brown mucky water here in Richards Bay, South Africa, with bull sharks, crocodiles and hippos not too far away, Patrick decided that before we sail this boat around the Cape of Good Hope starting this weekend, he should take a look, or at least a feel of the bottom of our sailboat to make sure it’s not encrusted with barnacles or other serious marine growth. This which would make for a a slow and potentially dangerous rounding, not to mention, put a lot of strain on the engine if we had to motor. While he was down under the boat, he’d give it a wipe. Better to have crocodiles, hippos, a sinus infection, and a not so friendly bull shark, than a hull encrusted with barnacles for an already risky passage like this one!
Patrick going in to the water in SriLanka to do our monthly scrubbing of the hull
We were both nervous as he got in to the water to clean the bottom of Brick House. I kept thinking, what if the Coppercoat has failed!?! What a nightmare that would be! We would probably have to haul her out and choose another kind of antifouling paint to put on her hull. And what if a Bull shark visits Patrick…will he know who the boss is? I think Patrick’s main worry though, was the sinus infection.
As he slipped in to the water that was nearly as warm as the hot African air, I prayed, please…do NOT be a failed Coppercoat application. SV Britican’s hull was growing serious barnacles in less time that this. And this water grows barnacles in a week on many boats here.
So in he went. He did have scrapers, and wire brushes at the ready…just in case of bad news, ready for the typical disappointment that bottom paints usually present, even in this early stage.
After 15 or 20 minutes at the end of the Seabreathe hookah unit, he surfaced for the report. I was ready to hand him the scraper, and watch him dissapear back under the water for round 2 of many, per usual.
He handed me the sponge, and jumped out of the water with a giant smile on his face! First time ever…he didn’t need these harsh tools…the soft sponge was all he needed!
Here is his report for weeks 7, word for word:
“We have been sitting in this very nutrient rich estuary water for 7 weeks now. Part of the prep for departing in a few days for East London, then onto Cape Town, was to go into this mucky estuary water, with 4 inches of visibility, and give the hull a wipe with a large, flat, soft sponge. I worked more by feel. What little I could see and what I could feel, Coppercoat is appearing to be working as it should. There were 3 little barnacles on the hull, at the tight junction where the drive shaft enters the hull and I wasn’t able to really apply the Coppercoat very well. Actually I was happy to see and feel those barnacles as it shows what could have happened if the Coppercoat was a failure on the rest of the hull. The wipe with the sponge took a fraction of the time it would have taken to clean traditional antifouling free of sediments“.
What a relief that we possibly have a Coppercoat success, as opposed to the Coppercoat failure that I was a bit nervous about. The 3 barnacles on the area that he had a more difficult time treating, was a good comparison of what could have been a universal problem. He described to me under later questioning that from what he could see from 4 inches away, the hull looked to be in various shades of blue and green which indicates a successful Coppercoat application to me!
We could not be happier, to see that we are at least off to a good start. Perhaps the extra sanding will shorten its life span…but if it works for 2 years we will be thrilled. If it works for 5 or 10, we will be ecstatic!
Be sure to subscribe here to get updates on our Coppercoat Application Failure or Success as time goes by. We promise not to give a Coppercoat review every 6 weeks 😉 We are just excited to report all is well so far. Please feel free to write to us and ask us how it’s going if we forget to report the results over time!
Here is the Original Application Video in case you haven’t seen it yet. Only time will tell how the Coppercoat works longterm.
Are you re-rigging your sailboat? I always smile when someone says they have recently redone all their rigging. That means the wire rigging, maybe even the staylock or Norseman fittings and swages, right? Maybe they even had a world renown and/or highly recommended professional rigger do it all, for complete piece of mind…I once felt that way when we did all of our rigging in New Zealand a few years ago while sailing around the world.
After we lost our mast in the Pacific (2011), just 3 years after replacing the rigging in New Zealand (2008) I learned that re-rigging a sailboat is much more than replacing the wires, and the fittings. Possibly more important than the critical wire and fittings, is what they are attached to at the bottom: the chainplates…and at the top of the rigging…the tangs that secure it all to the mast. Since our dismasting Patrick and I have worked hard to inform other sailors that chainplates can break, and not just where they pass through the deck with no oxygen. When one “rerigs” their boat, they need to be thinking from the condition of the mast and the tangs, right down to the chainplates.
Article about our dismasting
Recently after some other dismastings of sailboats, I now realize that its equally important to consider WHAT those chain plates are attached to! If your new rigging is all attached to rotten or slowly rotting bulkheads because the chainplates leak on occasion, well, why bother with the expense of new rigging, and new titanium chainplates? This would be like tying a rope swing to a twig. Eventually, the twig will crack, and the best titanium ropes will just fall down, bringing everything else down that’s attached, with your life in its branches.
This is part 2 of this video series. In part 1, Patrick shows how he repairs the bulkhead, rebuilds everything, and makes sure that is very strong, so it can continue to support the chainplates that hold up the rigging, that hold up the mast. He also tells you about using titanium on a sailboat, and why we used titanium rather than stainless steel chainplates. It’s been 8 years with those chainplates. It seems like yesterday. I’m so glad we don’t have to start worrying about them again in a few years!
Then in Part 2, Patrick shows how he modifies the hole that the titanium Chainplate passes through the deck through. He puts down plastic laminate to redirect any water that may ever find its way through that hole, to run on top of the Formica rather than under, and in to the wood.
And the Formica serves another purpose…to make our 43 year old Valiant 40 look young and beautiful again!
Be sure to watch both videos if you want to see the entire project.
Part 1 -Fixing the Rotting Bulkhead, and Why we Used Titanium Chainplates
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