The Experts in Non-Copper Paint and Non-Zinc Anodes

June 12, 2013 | by Peter Schrappen

It’s not every day that CBF shares the stage with two other boating experts, and I’d even go so far as to say Jim Brown of Monkey Fist Yacht Care and John Mitchell of Canada Metals are the world’s foremost experts on non-copper paint application and aluminum anodes, respectively. The real take-away from me is that both of these gentlemen are putting their names and companies on the line when they stand behind non-toxic alternative products, and that’s exactly what they did. Not once, but twice they delivered ringing endorsements to groups in Anacortes at the Clean Boating Symposium organized by West Marine and National Marina Day festivities in Everett put together by Harbor Marine.

You may remember why we like these products so much. For one, they work. Two, they are cost comparable to traditional, toxic products (Marty Anodes are even less expensive than traditional zincs). Three, they help Boatyards stay in business. How’s that, you ask? That’s because you’ll find the nation’s most difficult Boatyard Permit right here in the Evergreen State. As part of this 150-page document, two benchmarks limit the amount of copper and zinc that can come off of Boatyards. For copper it’s 50 parts per billion, for zinc, it’s 85 parts per billion. The trouble with zinc is that it’s much more difficult to remove than copper. The trouble with both of these benchmarks is that those numbers are next to nothing, literally. If you think about 50 parts per billion in terms of years and time. That’s the equivalent of 115 seconds per century.

We often get asked by boaters that want to help Boatyards stay in business, “What can we do?” For us, it’s pretty straightforward: Transition to products that are good for you, the salmon and Boatyards. When that happens, grab hold of those solutions. That’s exactly what we find with non-copper paint and aluminum anodes. Too much is on the line to not do it. Plus for the paint, you have to move to non-copper paint by 2018 anyway. It always comes back to the simple question: Why wait?

Growing up, I was told, “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” While I’m still waiting on that million dollars from that stranger that faxed me the other day in Kenya, I can tell you, categorically, that we have the right paint and anode products on line.