The Five Steps of Applying Antifouling to Your Boat

As you will have understood, antifouling is a special and essential service that must be observed and carried out with great care. Only a specialist will be able to best apply this special paint to the hull of your vessel. To respect the order of things, the application of antifouling paint then goes through several stages.

Step 1 – Protect Yourself Physically.

Handling an antifouling paint is not trivial. The antifouling must be carried out while being equipped with protection as it contains chemical agents. Gloves, coveralls, and safety glasses are all protection to adopt to avoid the inconvenience associated with antifouling paint. 

Step 2 – Inspect the Boat to See If Already Been Painted Before

If the ship has already been painted in the past, we start by inspecting the boat. This step, as classic as it is essential, makes it possible to identify possible damaged areas on the hull and problems of adhesion. Then you have to start scraping the algae and other sea grass with a scraper to roughen the work during the inspection.

Step 3 – Preparing the Surface to Be Painted

Preparing the surface to be painted with antifouling is to be prepared and even represents 80% of the total intervention. This step allows the antifouling to hold over time and to avoid cracks, defects, and other detachments of the antifouling paint. The hull is washed under high pressure and with fresh water to remove antifouling residues, of course, complying with the legislation in force. After cleaning and drying the surface of the hull to be painted, masking tape is applied above the waterline area to delimit the area to be treated.

Step 4 – Application of a Primer and Repair of Hull Defects

A preparation primer is then applied to the part of the boat’s hull that will be submerged. This step is also the time to make some repairs if necessary. The hull may have irregularities and gel coatefects (surface protection resin). It is, therefore, necessary to repair the hull with epoxy resin, for example, to recreate a viable and smooth hull without roughness. If the hull is repaired or has no defects, a special primer adapted to the support is applied to the hull to allow the paint to hold and be durable.

Step 5 – Application of Antifouling and Drying

After the primer has dried, the mixed and homogenized antifouling paint is applied to the hull below the masking tape, which delimits the area to be painted and protected. An additional layer of antifouling is applied to the most exposed areas, such as the keel, the rudder, or even the waterline and the bases. Before immersion, the antifouling must be allowed to dry long enough so that the seawater does not directly damage the paint.