Foul language

It won’t be long before boatyards around the coast are humming with the noise of sanders and the chip-chip-chip of owners removing old flakes of antifouling. Sam Fortescue looks at the latest products

- Sam Fortescue

A few years back, there was a question mark hanging over the common British practice of antifouling your own yacht. A failure to stick to best practice on wearing gloves, glasses and masks made the Health and Safety Executive nervous, while the Environment Agency was concerned about the amount of toxic old antifouling paint that was finding its way into marine ecosystems.

There was a concerted push by the British paint industry, as well as the Royal Yachting Association and industry body British Marine to get DIY painters to up their game. They put out a confetti shower of leaflets, posters and guidance to boatowners as part of their ‘Protect, Collect, Dispose’ campaign. And the industry’s Green Blue initiative tried to raise awareness of marine pollution among boaters generally.

Four years on, it is very hard to determine what has changed nationally. Although marinas and boatyards have been urged to install water collection and filtration equipment to ensure that old paint can’t run off and pollute the water, no-one has followed up on this. And in fact, no-one thinks it is their job to do so. “It is ultimately the responsibility of the marinas/ boatowners to follow [up],” according to Emily Bradley of industry body the British Coatings Federation.