Black: It's the new Black

ever so stylish

So here's a shot of the new test hull in its smooth and ever so stylish coat of black antifouling paint.  Beneath two coats of that lie two coats of BLUE antifouling paint, and then four coats of epoxy barrier coat because the guys who did the sodablast on this hull screwed it up, rather badly.

Black over Blue

If you're wondering why black over blue, it lets us know when the bottom paint gets thin:  when we begin to see blue under the black paint, it's time to pull and re-do the thing.

Bottom paints contain materials toxic to marine organisms, usually copper compounds.  When barnacles or worms try to attach or burrow, they encounter the copper and drop off.  Some of the newer paints contain other anti-slime and algae chemistry as well.  The paints come in two flavors:  hard and ablative.  The hard bottom paints are modified epoxy paints, and are typically used where the boat sits in the water without moving for long periods of time.  They're quite durable, but if pulled out of the water, the surface will oxidize rapidly (usually within 72 hours) and become ineffective.  Ablative paints are "self polishing", slowly sloughing off the surface of the paint to reveal more of the copper beneath, thus making them self-renewing..  They are used in situations where the boat may be pulled out of the water or trailered frequently.  As "Tesla's Revenge" will not be taken out of the water for long periods of time, we chose a hard paint.

The theory is:  it's water cleanup.  The fact is, it's damn hard to get off anything, including skin.

We're excited; racing time and the weather to our splash date in two weeks.  Stay tuned.

Second half of our composting toilet build shortly, btw.

More stuff over at Life, Art, Water.

M