Addressing the unspoken issue of antifouling with: Finsulate
Finsulate is proud to be part of the Cleaner Marina movement. It is only through raised awareness of environmental issues, and disrupting harmful outdated practices, that we can make meaningful change as a community. Cleaner Marina was formed on that ideal, and as a partner, Finsulate hope we can offer marinas and sailors a practical alternative when people come to consider antifouling.
This is nobody’s favourite topic, and the common annual maintenance of scrubbing, sanding and painting our hulls is the dirty, time consuming, but necessary part of boat ownership. However, beyond the well-known chore, it is the devastating impact of this practice on our waterways that often goes unseen, that we want to change. Every year, antifouling paints account for millions of litres of biocides, metals, solvents, and microplastics polluting our oceans when the sacrificial layer leaches into the water.
This isn’t “a drop in the ocean”, it is a devastating level of substances that are extremely toxic to marine life, and in hand, this enters our food chains and drinking water systems. Finsulate was invented by Dr Rik Breur to offer a clean and healthy alternative that can modernise how we approach antifouling. A self-adhesive wrap, it provides a solid robust coating to protect the hull.
Inspired by nature, the humble sea urchin, Finsulate has tiny spines across the surface making it difficult for organisms to bind.
A neat structural solution, using no chemicals.
Beyond the unique green credentials of Finsulate, it is also a solution that makes for less time spent on maintenance and cleaning, and each application will last for five to ten years. Boat ownership has always meant significant investment of both time and money, but Finsulate offers a win for sailors, by taking away some of the more laborious annual maintenance tasks, and simplifying cleaning.
What do we mean by simplified cleaning; well nature always finds a way, so some organisms will eventually bind to the hull no matter the treatment. Cleaning will always be necessary. However, with Finsulate those organisms can only loosely bind on because the spines minimise their contact area, so they very are easily removed by a light scrape or power wash. The next part is what will please owners and marinas alike – because there is no toxic run off, it is just the organic matter coming off, you can clean your hull anywhere with no need for capture (notwithstanding our joint responsibilities around bio-security).
Dr. Rik Breur holding the unexpected inspiration
In short, Finsulate offers a new generation of antifouling that is clean and healthy for our waterways, and it achieves this while making life easier for sailors.
This is exactly why Finsulate is part of the Cleaner Marinas initiative – unlike anybody else in the pleasure craft sector, Cleaner Marina is trying to partner with companies that can truly offer solutions or guidance to benefit the environmental issues we face as a sailing community. The criteria for involvement are simply the quality and integrity of our respective work to inspire change.
It will be the pioneering marinas and marina groups, as the gateway to the oceans, who are best placed to establish these more sustainable practices. We have been inspired by those currently involved and how motivated they are to ensure people are informed and have access to alternative approaches that can help us all safeguard the health of our waters.
From Finsulate’s perspective, we are now growing in reputation and coverage; we want to reach as many people looking for better cleaner antifouling. We are proud to announce that Finsulate UK has recently been launched and can now deliver our product solutions to sailors, marinas and companies across the UK. Please get in touch if you are UK based and want more information.
We hope Cleaner Marina continues to gain momentum, we speak with so many sailors who want to make sustainable changes, and for there to be hub where they can find trusted, unbiased information, is simply invaluable.
Our hope at Finsulate is to give people an option, and make every sailor who converts a little prouder of what lies under the waterline!
Finsulate has recently launched in the UK.
To contact Finsulate UK for UK hulls, please see details as follows:
0800 644 8440