T&T: copper foil bottom

[Albin43SDtr]

Steve and All,

>I was looking at boat ads not long ago and read a listing which  mentioned
>that the boat's bottom had been covered with copper foil and would 
>not  require
>antifouling paint. I believe some of the old 1800's sailing ships had  copper
>sheathing but I have never heard of a modern boat with this.

I used to direct maintenance on an old 65' inspected wooden dive boat 
that had copper sheathing. It never had any barnacles on the copper, 
just some slime that easily wiped off. The transom had been repaired 
at some point and the copper sheathing was not reinstalled. Barnacles 
and other marine growth did grow there when the bottom paint "wore 
off" -  or more correctly, was beaten off by dive tanks.

At the price of copper today, I would be afraid of someone purloining 
any sheathing on a boat.


Take care and be safe.

Wayne
Celestial
Albin 43 Sundeck
Near Panama City, FL