History
In the Age of Sail, sailing vessels suffered severely from the growth of barnacles and weed on the hull, called "fouling." Thin sheets of copper or Muntz metal were nailed onto the hull in an attempt to prevent marine growth. Marine growth affected performance (and profitability) in many ways.
- The maximum speed of a ship decreases as its hull becomes fouled with marine growth.
- Fouling hampers a ship's ability to sail upwind.
- Some marine growth, such as Shipworms, would bore into the hull causing severe damage over time.
- The ship may transport harmful marine organisms to other areas.
The inventor of the anti-fouling paint was Captain Ferdinand Gravert, born in 1847 in Glückstadt (Schleswig-Holstein, now in Germany but then Danish), who sold his chemical formula in 1913 at Taltal, Chile. Captain Alex Gravert has valuable documentation about this.
One famous example of the traditional use of metal sheathing is the clipper Cutty Sark, which is preserved as a museum ship in dry-dock at Greenwich in England. A modern version of this anti-fouling system, Coppercoat, uses an epoxy resin to permanently attach copper to the hull of the boat, helping to prevent marine growth for ten years or more.
Read more about this topic: Anti-fouling Paint
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