When it comes to boat paint, things get tricky. Every boat owner has their own philosophy when it comes to paints, varnish work and, of course, the choice of manufacturer. Some clubs even form colour camps. Some swear by company xy, while the skippers of jetty 3 only use products from the competition - and of course, everyone achieves optimum results.
Even if the paint factions in the harbour don't always see eye to eye, their main concern is always the same. Paint must be applied to the boat! It protects and beautifies the floating vessel and also caresses the owner's soul.
In fact, yacht paint should sacrifice itself to preserve the basic substance of the boat. This is the only reason why the superstructure is regularly painted in colour, the underwater hull is coated with antifouling and the wooden surfaces are treated with clear varnish.
The main enemy in the above-water area is UV radiation. It attacks unprotected surfaces and causes visible deterioration within a very short time. This is one reason why most paints intended for the above-water area of the boat are equipped with UV blockers. Similar to sun cream, they are designed to block harmful radiation from outer space.
Recreational boat owners are also waging a constant battle against nature underwater. Thanks to climate change and rising water temperatures, there are now over 5000 different species of life lurking in our waters that have nothing else in mind but to attach themselves to hulls in order to form colonies there.
Every boat owner knows what to do about it. Toxic paint is needed to spoil the appetite of mussels, pox and algae. But the list of anti-fouling agents that can be added to antifouling is getting shorter every day thanks to EU directives. Around 20 years ago, the wonder weapon was tributyltin hydride, or TBT for short, but today only copper may be used as a toxic substance. Increased environmental awareness is certainly to be welcomed, but this is also accompanied by a steadily increasing number of "miracle healers" who want to protect the hull from fouling using herbal substances or "materials from space travel", for example.
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