Coppercoat™ wins Environment Agency approval after 7-year trial!
In 1999 the Environment Agency applied Coppercoat™ to a 10m RIB to test its credentials and feasibility as a 'green' anti-foul. In October 2006 the RIB was lifted for the first time and Mark Warmsley, Transport Manager, said: "As the environment agency we are keen to use products that minimize the impact on the marine environment and as a result we decided to try Coppercoat™".
The copper is suspended in epoxy resin which gives the hull extra protection and it doesn't harm the marine life but just stops adhesion of growth. As a non-leeching, long term anti-foul solution Coppercoat™ was the obvious choice and its’ proven track record meant we were keen to trial it ourselves. The vessel, a 10mtr RIB has been permanently in the water since June 1999 and to date not had the need to have Coppercoat™ re-applied.
When the vessel is removed from the water for maintenance, there is no marine life or growth on the hull. If we can minimize the environmental impact of antifouling we will and as a result we will be using Coppercoat™ on our other vessels in the future.
Clearly we are delighted with the results of this seven-year trial from the Environment Agency. As no other available anti-fouling is proven to work for seven years from a single treatment, the fact that our environmentally friendly solution has been independently proved to do so once again is particularly pleasing.
June 2007 - W.Trout & Sons (Exeter) have now been instructed to treat the latest Environment Agency boat with Coppercoat™ also.