Conference unifix::sailing

    Interlux just introduced a new Micron (#44) which substitutes about
    50% copper oxide for the tins (about 25% in #33 as I recall). They
    must see the writing on the wall too.
    
    Walt (a happy #33 user) 

    
    	Duhh, summat on the (WGBH, Boston) radio about that yesterday
    morning.  Didn't get the polysyllabic details, just remember that
    somethings are getting poisoned and some authority wants anti-fouling
    paint banned.  I got the impression that it was a wide spread ban
    they wanted too, like anything thats poisonous to barnacles must
    be poisonous to all marine life, so lets ban it all.
    
    	Reg
    
    	(with a small boat that doesn't stay in the water long enough
    to need this stuff anyway)
    

    I have just noticed this note and I can tell you the following
    
    T.B.T. was banned completely in this country (UK) from 1st July (I think)
    and International have come up with one or two stop gap replacements.
    
    I regularly sail ( and drink ) with someone from International's
    marketing dept. and he tells me that they are have one or two
    very interesting new products for next year, including something
    for Aluminium yacht owners who shouldn't use Copper based paint
    because it will corrode the Hull !. 
    
    I Think they will be launched to the general public at the Earls
    Court boat show in January, so don't paint until that time.
    
    I sail on a Scampi (any Scapmi owners out there? ) based in the
    River Hamble, and our solution was to put on about 6 layers of
    Micron 25, which should of eroded away by the end of '88.
    
    Apparently in France, the ban only applies to Application of the
    paint, not the sale, so the french yotties just buy it and put it
    on when no one is looking !!

    By now, most US boaters have started to see the same sort of bans
    imposed on TBT antifouling paints that the UK has already experienced.
    
    I've gone from Micron 33 to Micron 44 and now it looks like Micron
    CSC for me.
    
    Massachusetts may be going a little further in the enforcement of safe
    handling of these dangerous substances and so I though noters would
    like to see the following letter I just received from my boatyard:
    
    --------------------
    
    Dear Sailor,
    
    Massachusetts Hazardous Waste Regulations 310 CMR 30.00 sets strict
    requirements for hazard waste generators. As a small quantity
    generator, we must make sure that all hazardous waste on this site
    is handled as required by those regulations. In order to comply
    with those regulations, and more importantly, to protect the
    environment upon which we all depend, we have instituted the following
    procedures for dealing with hazardous waste. If you generate any
    hazardous waste such as oil, solvents, paints, etc while working
    on you boat please take care to follow these guidelines.
    
    1. While sanding, scraping, or painting the topside or bottom of
       your boat you must spread a tarp under the boat. Absolutely no paint,
       paint chips, or paint dust should be allowed to fall on the ground.
    
    2. After sanding or scraping you must collect all of your paint
       dust and chips off your tarp and dispose them in the drums which
       we provide.
    
    3. Paint thinners, oils, and solvents must also be disposed of in
       the drum.
    
    4. Nothing with wet paint on it or in it (i.e. brushes, rollers,
       paint cans, etc.) is to be thrown out. Empty paint cans must be
       allowed to dry out before being thrown in the dumpster. They can
       have no more that 1" of dried paint in the bottom.
    
    5. If you are not sure what to do with a waste - ASK! Don't just
       throw it in the dumpster. 

    In order to insure proper handling of wastes, our waste drums are
    stored in a locked hazardous waste containment area. When you want
    to dispose of waste as an employee to help you. They will show you
    which drum to use. It is extremely important that wastes are not
    mixed together as each waste is handled differently.
    
    If you are working during non yard hours and no one is available
    to help you dispose of your wastes, please put your waste in your
    own secure containers. You can then either dispose of it at home
    or leave it aboard your boat for future disposal. PLAN AHEAD! Bring
    any appropriate containers with you. Don't forget a tarp.
    
    Please remember that disposal of this waste material is very expensive. 
    In fact, disposal costs are higher than the costs of buying new
    materials. Be frugal in your use of these materials. We will charge
    for the disposal of more than 2 gallons of any waste.
    
    We will be running a tight ship this season. At the end of each
    day we will inspect the yard. Any mess left will be picked up by
    a crew at the boat owners expense. We will charge $50/hr for this
    labor and we will charge for disposal. In short, we hope that when
    you leave your boat after working on her there will be no evidence
    of your trials other that glistening topsides and beautiful bottoms.
    
    Thank you for your cooperation. Please have a happy and safe boating
    season.
    
    ---------
    
    
    
    John_R

ay yup, now perhaps they'll get on with cleaning up Boston Harbor, the 
most polluted water system in the United States .....

    Just another example of "pound on the little-guy" for his 25g/yr
    'pollution' while corporate MA dumps into Boston Harbor by the TON
    daily. *** Keep up the good work MA ***

    I read an article over here a couple of months back - in Practical
    Boat Owner I think, which has shown some very good results for Micron
    CSC in tidal estuaries on the South coast of the UK. Anyone any
    first-hand experience?
    
    Brian

    I just put on MICRON CSC this year for the first time.   I will be able
    to give some Rhode Island Sound/Narragansett Bay usage info when I haul
    out in the fall.   Isn't CSC new this year?   Or isn't it the first
    year of use beyond test markets?
    
    Rick
    

    The story about Tin based paint ban that appeared in the Gloucester
    Daily Times 4/11/87.   By Donald Brichta and Bill Kirk.  Some local
    comments edited out to save typing.  No editorial intended, just
    thought it might be of some interest.
    
    Mark
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    	A state ban on tin-based paints used to keep barnacles off boat
    hulls has angered marine suppliers stuck with large paint inventories.
        The state, citing evidence that the paint can be toxic to shellfish,
    suddenly imposed the emergency ban April 1 - just as boatowners
    were getting their vessels ready for the summer.
                
    (...Some local coverage with a retailer in Gloucester stuck with $10,000
    worth of the stuff...)
              
    	The state says the ban, similar to one imposed in a half-dozen other
    states, is needed because tin-based paints is dangerous to shellfish
    and other marine life.
        Marine scientists have found that the tin-based chemical compound
    tributyltin comes off in water and in tiny concentrations can cause
    deformities in commercial shellfish, such as oysters, mussels and
    clams.
        Based on that evidence, the federal government is expected to impose
    a nationwide ban in January 1989.
    	Paints with tributyltin, commonly called TBT, have gained popularity
    among commercial and recreational boaters because they are long
    lasting and work well to keep boat bottoms free from marine life.
        Gloucester's Rule Industries is amoung the companies that manufactures
    tin-based paint.  Frank Dunbar, of Rule industries...
    
    (he goes into detail of switching his company back to copper based
    paints and how they feel copper based paints are no safer than TBT because
    you have to use more and they wear off faster)
    
    and the environment will loose, he said, because copper is more
    harmful to marine life than tin.
    	Dunbar said Rule had three days notice that the ban would be going
    into effect April 1.
        The order from the Mass Pesticide Board bans the application of
    paints with TBT on any non-aluminum boat less than 25 meters (about
    82 feet) and forbids dumping TBT paint scraping in the water.
        Aluminum boats are excluded because copper-based paints corrode
    the hulls.  Larger boats are excluded because they are used in deeper
    water offshore, where the environment effects af TBT are less severe.
    	TBT concentrated most in shallow water that is home to both
    shellfish and recreational boats.
    	Mass imposed the ban without any evidence of TBT accumulation
    in local waters.
    	"This is a case of what you have seen elsewhere," said Judith
    Penderson, coastal ecoloist with the Mass Office of Coastal Zone
    Management.  "we don't have large oyster operations here.  But we
    do have mussels and clams, hard and soft shell.  We have potential
    problems."
    	Scientists have found TBT can be dangerous to shellfish in
    concentrations as weak as 10 to 20 parts per trillion.
    	Pederson offers a simple analogy to understand just how small
    that is.  One eye drop in a bathtub of water is one part per million.
    One drop from that tub ina second bathtub of water is one part per
    trillion.
    	State officials warn that violators are subject to criminal
    and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, per day.
    	"we're going to enforce it, we have 12 enforcement people out
    threr," said state Agriculture Comissioner August Schumacher Jr.,
    who oversees the pesticide board that imposed the ban.  "It damages
    all shellfish.  We just can't have this damage."
    	The Pesticide Board has scheduled a public hearing on the ban
    for Wednesday morning in Jamaica Plain.
    	At the meeting, the board is supposed to look at several kinds
    of TBT paint and decide which ones should be banned and which ones
    shouldn't.
    	"Mass put the cart before the horse on this one," said a spokesman
    for New London Marine Supply, a major marine paint distributor in
    New London, Conn.
    	"We can't do anthing with it but dispose of it," said the
    spokesman, who did not want ot be identified for this story.  :This
    kind of legislation leaves us all in a tough perdicament."
    	He said the federal ban was "reasonable" and that a lot of states
    would be going along with the federal ban next year.
    	"But when they pull a ssneak attack in Mass, it's a tough one
    to follow."
    	"My phone has been ringing off the hook.  Dealers want to know
    what to do with this paint.  We tell them, accourding to the law,
    all tin paint is outlawed."
    	He said the regulations were written on March 31 and imposed
    April 1.
        

    After many discussions with paint suppliers at the London Boat Show
    in Jan and with a friendly boat yard in Chichester I applied Micron
    CSC in Feb. I use the TBT equivilent a cruising copolymer prior
    to the ban on TBT last year in the UK. The conclusion is that the
    new Micron CSC will not be so good as the TBT and I will have to
    scrub about 4 times during the season rather than my customery
    twice.....The developements of the antifoul should improve year
    by year. The first product had to be launched early as HMG (UK
    Government) brought forward the ban on TBT by one year at very short
    notice. There is a lot of talk in the marina where I keep my particular
    second mortgage of going back to copper sheathing boats. Expensive
    but lasts along time. If I eventually get costs I will enter them
    here.