ALUMINIUM & STEEL
The best-performing coatings on the market for a metal hull.
Aluminium owners come to us because we have the products that work on aluminium, not the ones that merely survive it.
Copper is what costs you a hull
Copper is cathodic to aluminium. Put a copper-bearing antifouling on an aluminium hull, drop it in salt water, and you have built a galvanic cell.
Your hull is the anode. The paint does not corrode. The boat does.
Ask the yard quoting you what they plan to put on your aluminium boat. If they cannot answer immediately and precisely, go somewhere else.
She stays in the water
Hempel Silic One. The best bottom coating there is, and on metal there is a second reason for it — no copper and no biocide at all.
It removes the conflict rather than managing it. Growth cannot grip it, it self-cleans as you run, and Hempel service life on the hull is two years.
She comes out, or you want conventional antifouling
Sea Hawk Colorkote. Ablative, self-polishing, and designed for aluminium hulls.
Sea Hawk state it can be hauled for extended periods and relaunched without affecting its antifouling properties. If your boat spends months on the hard, that is not a small thing.
We also apply International Trilux 33 — copper-oxide-free, tin-free, rated up to 18 months. The two are basically the same, and we will tell you which one your boat is getting and why.
The prep is where metal jobs are won
A bare aluminium hull needs the full build. Abrasion, etch, a heavy primer build, then the antifouling — each stage inside the manufacturer overcoating window.
A recoat over sound paint repeats none of that. You are not paying for etch and primer again.
We will tell you which job yours is when the boat comes out, before we start.
WRITTEN WARRANTY
We provide a 12-month performance warranty.
Not just that the work was done right. That the coating does what we said it would. Haul-out and relaunch included, and it transfers to the next owner if you sell.
Ask your current yard about their performance warranty.
Tell us the boat.
We will tell you what it costs.
Essential Shipyard 