ANTIFOUL
It is an inescapable fact that many paints and varnishes can have serious consequences for the environment and people’s health, during manufacture and application, and throughout their lifetime up to the point of disposal, and as time goes on new rules are implemented to keep us and our environment healthier and safer. At the same time those coatings need to be effective in protecting materials and, in the case of antifouling, minimising the fouling of underwater surfaces.
It is in the interests of all boat owners that the underwater surfaces of their boats be as clean as possible. That will allow sailing boats to sail to their maximum potential (as important to most cruising sailors as it is to all racers), fuel consumption under power to be reduced, and the transfer of invasive species from one part of the world to another to be minimised.
Although traditional antifoulings emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds which are present in solvents) into the atmosphere during their manufacture and application (as do all other solvent-based paints), and leach biocides into the water, the really harmful biocides such as arsenic, lead, mercury and tin have long been banned, and paint manufacturers’ chemists have managed to find ways of formulating antifoulings to be just as effective
