How Often Should You Antifoul A Boat?
Antifouling is arguably one of the most important parts of the boat maintenance cycle. Antifoul paint stops barnacles, algae, slime, and other organisms attaching to your hull. If a hull is fouled, you can expect to see performance defects including fuel economy and speed, then a hefty bill to remove the fouling once your boat is out of the water. Quite simply, prevention is better than the cure.
How Often Should You Antifoul A Boat?
How often to antifoul a boat is one of our most frequently asked maintenance questions in our Rochester store. Typically, as a general rule of thumb, antifoul will last for one season once applied, but in some cases (Seajet Shogun 033, Emperor 034, & Hard Racing 035) antifouling can last 2-3 seasons – enabling you to tackle other maintenance jobs!
This does ultimately come down to where and how often you use your boat, as this can have an impact on how quickly the bioactive ingredients within the antifouling are released.
If you are racing, you may want to apply antifouling multiple times during a season – two great products for this use are Seajet 035 and Hempel Hempel Hard Racing. The performance element of this antifoul comes from the rate that the formula works against fouling, ensuring your boat has a sleeker, faster journey through the water.
As we briefly mentioned at the start of this blog post, antifoul paint will stop marine organisms, fouling, slime and algae from attaching to your hull. Once the fouling has a hold on your hull, it will rapidly spread and be a laborious, expensive task to remove.
However, antifoul doesn’t just protect your boat, it offers performance benefits too. As antifouling improves the flow of water around your hull, drag is reduced which in turn increases fuel economy, speed and overall performance.
It is important to remember that antifouling paints are suitable for use in certain types of water, whether that be Fresh, Salt or Brackish. Within our superb range of antifouling, you will find filters for these three different types of water as well as colour filters, so it’s easier than ever to find the right antifouling for your boat.
About Pirates Cave Chandlery
We’re dedicated marine specialists, with over 30 years of experience – that’s not accounting for our highly experienced crew either! Speaking of our crew, they’re here to help. If you have any questions regarding the boat antifouling process, you can contact us via email, telephone or visit our Rochester store.
There is nothing worse than investing time and money into antifoul that will not perform, which is why our excellent range of antifouling has been hand chosen by our highly experienced team and is from leading brands including Hempel, International and Seajet – giving you that much-needed quality assurance.
At the time of writing this blog post, our most popular antifouling is Seajet 033 Antifoul 2.5L – a self polishing antifouling awarded ‘Best On Test’ by Practical Boat Owner.
