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Sprayed or rolled antifoul options at White Bay 6

White Bay 6 Marine Park is now able to offer you sprayed or rolled antifoul options.

To help you make your decision, we asked our Quality and Operations Manager, Cliff Lewis, to run through some of the points you could consider.

  1. The smoother the surface – Looking at the underwater coating systems on a vessel generally, the smoother that surface the better it performs. When a coat of antifoul is applied by spray it reduces the amount of small cavities on the surface providing a smooth finish and reducing the marine organisms.  A rolled antifoul finish will produce a smooth finish as well, as long as the preparation is sufficient for the antifoul coats to be applied over as per the manufacturers recommendations. A smoother surface will greatly reduce the promotion of marine growth on the vessel or its components.
  2. Consider your sterndrive – Most sterndrives are very intricate and have an arrangement of surfaces facing all different angles with various shapes. These units are perfectly suited to the application of antifoul by spray as this ensures the correct coverage of paint is applied to all of those intricate areas.
  3. Hullshape – As boating has developed and progressed over the years hull shapes and forms have changed. There is a lot more types of hybrid craft in the market as builders and designers look for the fuel/speed advantage that becomes available with the different styles. Some good examples of these are Hydroplanes, Foiling Craft and the hull combination of multiple steps, spray rails and reverse chines designed into the bottom of some of these performance vessels. With the changing shapes of these surfaces it can be difficult to apply the correct coverage and paint film build-up by conventional brush and roller application. These developed hulls can be suited to applying the coating system by spraying the product on. The shapes are very intricate and in this case the preferred option is to mask off the area and apply the necessary coats of antifoul by spraying to achieve the best results.
  4. Bow thrusters – Bow thrusters have progressively become a normal part of a vessels equipment these days. From sailing vessels and small runabouts to the traditional power boats, a thruster has become a standard part of the maneuvering system. There is a number of types and designs which are driven by various sources of power. Again, with the intricate shape and design of these components the chance of applying a nice even coating system is reduced somewhat if it is not applied by spray, the preferred option.
  5. Racing Yachts – On many occasions some racing yacht owners say that the only reason they came second was due to a dirty bottom. If your hull surface is smooth and without imperfections the vessel will tend to reach better levels of performance in all areas. There are also certain products that have been designed for spray application to achieve the ultimate finish. To create these smooth surfaces there are several options; firstly to achieve the ultimate coating system after a good preparation, the sprayed finish will always come out on top resulting in a nice smooth coating being laid onto the hull. If this sprayed finish is not achievable the next option would be to have the antifoul rolled on. With the technological advancement in fabric and foam rollers, paint application choices have increased. Some of these new types of rollers do provide a very smooth coating of paint to the vessel which is a good option. As always, it is most important to prepare the surface correctly as per the manufacturers recommendations, this will offer the best level of performance over the life of the antifoul.

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