We cleaned the bottom on July 1st and sailed into La Paz on the 2nd. When these photos were taken on July 22nd -- only three weeks after cleaning the bottom -- it was clear that Coppercoat's performance was abysmal. This proved, once again, that if your cruising grounds are limited to Mexico, don't use Coppercoat.
The water was 25°C (77°F). We had a perfectly clean bottom only 21 days before.
As before, the barnacles are fairly easy to clean off. However, they leave thousands of their feet which must each be scraped off individually after the first pass with the scraper.
As we moved northward in the Sea of Cortez, performance seemed to improve. On August 24th we cleaned the bottom perfectly. The photos and videos below were taken exactly one month later on September 24th at Isla Partida (28º 53'N 113º 02'W). As you can see, most of the hull is in very good shape with a light coating of green slime that comes off with the swipe of a glove. There were barnacles on the stern where we always seem to have problems, and the strut, as usual, was in terrible shape. But comparing the growth to the prop and shaft, you can see that the Coppercoat is doing a good job.
The water temperature varied between 28.5°C (83°F) and 32.3°C (90°F).
Most of the hull looked like this... clean!
And this
But parts of the amas had some growth...
...and barnacles
More growth
Area around prop was bad as usual
Compare the prop growth to the hull
Always growth near the rudder
The stern always has growth as well
Slime on the rudder
You can see part of the rudder with the slime wiped away
Slime partially wiped awayWe sailed south as the summer moved into fall. When the north winds began to blow, the water temperatures ping-ponged between 20°C (68°F) and 29°C (84°F) -- sometimes within a few miles or days. The photos and video below were shot on November 15th at Isla Catalana, also known as Isla Santa Catalina, (28º 36'N 110º 46'W), 51 days after the bottom was last cleaned.
As you can see, Coppercoat's performance was very good over the last 7 weeks. There are hardly any barnacles at all, except -- as usual -- on the strut, above the rudder, and on the transom. Except for the strut, these were easy to clean off. In the areas exposed to sunlight (outboard sides of the amas and main hull transom and bows) there is a hula-skirt of decent length and more soft growth than during the summer months, but nothing that we would complain about given the time betweeen cleanings. Note: As you view the photos and video, do not use the growth on the prop for comparison as it had been cleaned a couple of weeks before.
We are hopeful that if we are able to sail to the South Pacific in 2021 -- and away from the poor performance areas near La Paz and Banderas Bay -- Coppercoat's performance will continue to be good enough to justify our continued use. In the meantime, we will be hauling Migration for a repair to the starboard wing deck. At that time we will probably add another layer of Coppercoat to the transom and resand. However, we will paint the problem areas of the strut and bottom of the keel with a traditional bottom paint.
