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The Sydney boat show is on in Aug and i am thinking of taking advantage of the Whitworths Boat Show discount and buying antifoul paint in advance.
The first time I antifouled the Micron Extra (4l) was just enough, but the next time had to stretch it to cover the whole boat (same anti foul and still 4l).
I am keen to try Altex #5 as all the boat yards seem to use it. Does anyone know which has higher coverage rate (goes further) Micron Extra or Altec #5?

The Micron extra in 4 litres is cheaper, but the Altex in 10 l is a steal. So 2 options arise. First is buy 10 litres, but use the last 5 litre lot in say December 2016. What is the shelf life? Second alternative is to go 50:50 with someone else on 10 litres Altex at $469 less 15%, so we each get 5 litres for $200.

Thoughts anyone?
Cheers, John

I am no expert, but I have used Altec No5 for years and found it a good product. I would not use half a can and leave the rest till 2016, better to split the 10L can with someone else I would think.

No.5 is a good product that I use on Malaprop - my Rival 34 - as did the previous owner and when I hauled it out for the survey it was still in good nick 18 months after being painted. I would check with the manufacturer, who is very helpful, about storing after opening for 12 months or so but can't see a problem with it. Cheers

Would appreciate feedback on how others go on Altex no5 and Micron Extra 4 litres and 5 litres. This is for a Top Hat. I like to do 2 coats and add a third to leading and trailing edges.

Cheers, John

John,

I have always used Altex 5 and here in the Camden Haven the waters are so good that a stick placed in the water for 2 weeks will start to show barnacles!

One 4 lt. tin will do two coats easy, but what I learnt recently is that you must wet sand down the old anti-foul with wet and dry sandpaper. [Thanks Greg.]

Worst area for growth is always the bottom of the keel because of the hard access when on a slip etc.

Buy a 1 lt. tin of thinners to stretch the last bit if neccessary and to clean up.

Others here have used Micron Extra [which will change its name soon] with the same [or in some cases better] success.

The $$ involved will make up your mind, I think.

This is the Moose here re-antifoul Ive been using Hempel found it to be better than Altex No5 ,besides you get 5ltrs for around 219.oo a can.Hope this bi of info is of some use.ASHANTI.

Last time I went to the boat show, I bought a sounder. The ticket price was $89, which I thought was a pretty good deal. However, when you include the cost of entry, the cost of parking, petrol and lunch, as well as a $200 jacket my wife bought made me think a 5 minute drive to Whitworths in Brookvale may have been the cheaper option.......

Not going to the boat show is also a good way to prevent new boat envy. Stay well clear

G'day Hatters,

Dawn Breaker is currently out of the water.
I've done heaps of work under there but theirs still more to go.
I've stripped off all the old blue and black anti foul and the great barrier reef, right back to gel coat.
I'm planning to use Norglass Topflight Hard in Red. My father uses it and its awesome you can wipe it with a car sponge to clean it for the first 8 months and then slowly work your way to coarser abrasives. Its now been 2.5 years and its starting to rub through on the water line. But Dad and I have a thing for cleans bottoms and have bad habits for scrubbing them regularly, so that's why we are choosing the Hard in red as it contains the most copper which is the main ingredient and is durable.
I've learnt this from Dad and his mates and I found it out my self but its had as I'm an apprentice on small wages, but never substitute anything because its expensive, it your boat, buy the best, money doesn't matter!!

When Dad bought his boat he used Altex 5 it was black and something between soft and hard which meant it didn't self ablate and you couldn't scrub it. We didn't like it. We also found Jotun useless. But its all horse for courses.
Just thought I'd chuck in my 2 cents worth and experiences. Norglass Topflight is the go!!

Cheers,

Aaron Gage

We now use Altex #5 ablative and get the 10lt tins, half one slip then the rest the next time around. The best run we had between antifouling was 26 months and with regular hull scrubbing (gently) to remove slime. When we eventually slipped the boat, it looked good, not much growth at all, even the guys at the slipway commented.

That good run started with a tin of antifoul that was over 24 months old. Perhaps Altex#5 is like a good red wine

Prior to Altex we had used Newport (Wattle/Sigma), it did not work as well.

I would consider doing the next slipping with a hard antifoul, except that I still have 5lt of Altex in the shed..

I use Altex 5 and it seems to work OK. I like to slip the boat each 12-18 months to take a good look over the hull, rudder, through hulls, prop etc. so using hard anti foul and taking the boat out every 2-3 years has never appealed. I find Aktex stays barnacle free for 12 months, but does start to get a bit of slime after 12months. My boat was last out 14 months ago and I have cleaned the hull once. I will probably take her out in April (17 months) and put another coat of Altex 5 on. I also need to withdraw and check the rudder and rudder support bolts.