Industry expert on antifouling in winter

Cold weather and damp weather don’t have to stop you from doing boat maintenance - except when it’s actually raining. Photo (c) Project Kahurangi.

With the closure of Pier 21 and The Landing it’s becoming a little harder to secure haulout space for some boats in Auckland. Before summer we chatted with the operators of several boatyards in Auckland to find out how much capacity they had and what their message to boat owners was.

They all said: book ahead, get in early, and try to do your core maintenance in the quieter winter months

Some readers were concerned that applying antifoul coatings in winter, when the weather is more variable and temperatures are colder is problematic so we chatted with a top boat maintenance expert to find out if winter antifouling is possible. 

Bruce Goodchap has run the Bridge Marina Travelift in Tauranga for 25 years. He is a qualified boatbuilder, with a great reputation for knowledge and skill in the area of underwater maintenance including antifoul, PROSPEED and cleaning. 

For anyone who is concerned about conducting boat maintenance in the winter months, he says there are no issues with applying antifoul in winter. “Antifoul coatings are forgiving substances. While you can’t apply it on rainy days, you can apply it at any other time,” he says. 

He also says that there are cost advantages to doing antifoul and other boat maintenance in winter - Bridge Marina Travelift is one of many that offer good deals to haul your boat out in the winter months. While those booking in summer are likely to join a wait list, he says that by booking your maintenance over winter you are virtually guaranteed to get it done. 

Bruce also recommends that July and August are ideal months to get boat work done  - getting you in before the summer rush, but still within the window to visit marinas that require you to meet the six or one rule - that is having applied an antifoul in the last six months, or lifted and washed the boat in the last month. 

What is the 6-or-1 rule?

The 6-or-1 rule is an extra set of protections that many marinas have opted into to keep marine pests out. These marinas require visiting boats to provide evidence that they have been antifouled in the last six months, or cleaned in the last month. These protections are stricter than those set by most councils and are designed to ensure that new species are not introduced to the marinas, where they will be expensive to control and might be carried to pristine places like the Poor Knights or Aotea Great Barrier Island. 

Photo (c) Project Kahurangi