Copper is well known for its antifouling properties, it has been used for centuries. The first copper clad ship was HMS Alarm of the Royal Navy in 1761.

Today copper is the active ingredient in most bottom paints. No previous method of applying Copper is as effective or as easy as MM COPPER-COAT.

MM COPPER-COAT

Our copper coat kit is mixed into polyester resin. Also known as fiberglass resin, this is what your boat is made of. It is than saturated with our copper mix. This is far superior to epoxy based copper coat in both performance and application.

• EASY-can be applied over existing bottom paint with little hull preparation. (just sand any peeling paint first)

• EFFECTIVE-our copper mix is Nano copper and cuprous oxide (CU20). This is far more effective than simple copper powder.

• TIME- MM COPPER-COAT is a one day, one coat application as opposed to as many as eight coats of epoxy.

• COST- One gallon of MM COPPER-COAT covers 250 to 300 square feet. 1/5 the cost of epoxy based copper coat.

• LASTING-After season one a light sanding to bring out fresh copper is recommended. It will last as long as there is fresh copper left-3 to 5 seasons or more. A new coat can go directly over old.

• Our kit includes 1500 grams of Nanocopper/Copper/Cuprous Oxide (CU20), four one quart pro mixing cups, 3m pads, detailed instructions and mixing sticks. All you need is a gallon of fiberglass resin.(about $50) Kit $129

  Nano Copper

  Nano copper is quite expensive, and with good reason. This is copper in microscopic form. The same as microscopic barnacle larvae

• For those captains that don’t like the attractive natural copper color, we offer color pigments. Each enough for 1 gal. $33

The vessel above belongs to Mr. Shawn Zirbes. (waterline not finished) He purchased MM COPPER-COAT last April. We asked him to please give us a review when he hauled vessel for winter storage, Here is his review

And here it is. On haul, the team pressure washing the bottom indicated that this was the easiest boat they washed in the 5weeks of hauling. The growth that was there was all soft and came off very easily. The harbor master said that this appears to be the most resilient system on any of the boats in his harbor. He has heard of this style of copper infused resin and says he's found it to be the hardest wearing and longest lasting solution. And he complemented us on a job well done... He didn't even account for us being 'noobs'.

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Copper and some of the copper alloys, in particular the copper-nickel alloys, have been demonstrated to be highly corrosion resistant in marine environments. Their seawater corrosion resistance and antifouling are well documented.
Figure 1. The Copper Mariner. It was not until 1941 that a copper-nickel alloy was used as an antifoulant on a 44-ft (13.4-m) yacht, Miss Revere, on which sheets 0.08 in (2 mm) thick were applied. This was followed in 1968 by the construction of the Asperida. Over the following decade, the International Copper Research Association (INCRA - now the International Copper Association), the International Nickel Company and the Copper Development Association Inc. undertook a development program that culminated, in 1971, in the construction of what has probably become the best-known copper-nickel clad vessel, the 67-ft (20.4-m) shrimp trawler Copper Mariner, ( Figure 1). In this case, 1/4-in (6-mm) thick sheets of 90-10 copper-nickel, UNS Alloy C70600, were welded onto a steel frame. Data collected from the use of copper-nickel alloy hulls on the Copper Mariner and the many vessels that followed established that the alloys are highly effective in preventing biofouling of the hull. (The vessel remained essentially free from fouling for the first 11 years of service, despite the vessel's use in fouling-prone tropical waters.)

CUPROUS OXCIDE VS. COPPER

Copper

A reddish-orange metal, copper is highly conductive to heat and electricity. It shares this ability with silver and gold, as these elements each have an "free agent" electron that is open to negotiations for chemical bonds with any surrounding available atom.  All the other electrons are firmly contracted to stay with their team, but this one can be easily influenced to transfer. 

The metallic bond of a copper wire, for example, creates a crystalline form with a sea of electrons that are in a state of attraction to all surrounding nuclei, existing in a stable, shared state. As a result of these valence electrons, when electricity or heat is introduced to the wire, these free electrons move through the material, creating a current.

Right underneath the free agent electron level is a level jam-packed with electrons - no more can fit on this level. This means that transferring electrons from this level is very difficult. As a result, copper's metallic bonds only exist on this outer layer of free-moving electrons, a pretty weak bond as far as metals are concerned. This is why copper is so soft and easy to bend and cut.

This same free agent electron plays a role in oxidation, or rusting. When copper is exposed to water molecules (two hydrogen, one oxygen), this free electron is transferred to a neighboring oxygen atom, bonding it into a molecule. If only one atom of copper bonds to an oxygen molecule, it is called cupric oxide. If two copper atoms bond to an oxygen atom, it is cuprous oxide. Cupric oxide is considered "fully oxidized," while cuprous oxide is still in an active state.

The key to cuprous oxide, the aspect that makes is extremely effective as a biocide, is that active state. It is still producing reactive oxygen species, highly reactive molecules. These are unstable molecules that cause damage to cell structures.

When it comes to killing bacteria, you want highly reactive molecules. They are very good at pulling away electrons, releasing free radicals, and generally smashing up their environment. In the case of a pathogen, they tear through membranes and destroy DNA-making machinery like a hot knife through butter. Copper needs to oxidize to reach the same level of toxicity, and while cupric oxide is oxidized, it's in a more stable oxidation state so it doesn't wreak the same havoc as his brother, cuprous oxide.

So why is cuprous oxide so toxic to bacteria and so safe for humans? It all comes down to size. A surface infused with cuprous oxide to a bacteria cell is a highly toxic landscape because of the ratio of Cu2O to bacteria cell.  So a beautiful countertop or table to us is a toxic minefield to pathogens. (Which is just the way we like it!)