How to keep the hull of your Imoca clean and fast for 90 days during the Vendée Globe is not a simple puzzle to solve
Nautix, a leading manufacturer of complete marine paint systems, has been a critical partner in Conrad Coleman’s preparation for this year’s Vendée Globe. Coleman chose the French firm, based near Lorient, France, to supply advanced marine coatings, protective systems and tailored solutions that will enhance his boat’s performance and durability.
The boat, MS Amlin, has a storied history. Launched as Groupe Bel in 2007, it’s a really fast boat for its era but years of use – including three circumnavigations – has taken its toll. Coleman, who has a longstanding relationship with Nautix, again turned to their expertise for this project.
The refit team started by stripping the hull back to carbon laminate, adding reinforcement where needed, then a new layer of carbon followed by a sophisticated protective system from Nautix. The refit process thus went far beyond simply fairing the hull and then applying a standard paint system or vinyl wrap.
Instead, Nautix and Coleman collaborated to tailor the protective and aesthetic coatings to perfectly fit the needs of his boat. ‘We can offer many solutions that can be adapted to each client or partner,’ says Nautix co-director Matthieu Taburet. ‘That's not always straightforward and can require many conversations, but we really want to adapt each system to the needs of each skipper. It starts with a technical analysis, but it’s also always linked to the budget.’
This started with use of Nautix Impregard, a very fluid, solvent-free resin designed to restore damaged fibres and create a tough watertight barrier. Next the hull was faired to a perfectly smooth, hydrodynamically efficient finish. This notoriously arduous process was speeded up using Nautix’s Blue Epoxy Filler and Pink Watertight Filler. These ready-touse- fillers are designed to be easily mixed, with a simple 1:1 ratio and a playdough-like consistency that significantly speeds up the process, while reducing the risk of waste or error. ‘It's a really easy product to use and apply,’ Coleman says.
How do you make sure that there's no risk of sanding through the critically important first waterproofing layer? ‘There's a wide variety of quite brilliant colours in the fairing compound,’ says Coleman, ‘so you can clearly distinguish where there is fairing compound and where you're going back to the hull and of course the Impregard resin being an epoxy is very, very hard.’
He also points out that as these are epoxy fairing compounds, ‘all products in the system are within the epoxy family, which means really good adhesion between all the layers and all the different products.’
Once the fairing was complete, a multi-layer system of Nautix Epoxygard and Nautix HPE epoxy primers was applied to provide complete protection to the laminate and fairing system.
Why not apply a vinyl wrap, like the heavily sponsored Vendée Globe teams with new boats? Coleman’s financial backing comes from a variety of sources, making it important to be able to apply and remove various sponsor decals at different stages of his campaign. ‘We chose paint for the topsides to have the flexibility to apply and remove sponsor decals without damaging the finish, which is crucial for a project like mine,’ he says.
After ensuring the hull protection, attention turned to deck safety which was addressed with Nautix’s customisable non-skid products. By experimenting with various formulations of non-skid paint, including adjustments to the granule size and varnish hardness, Coleman and Nautix created a mix to provide optimal grip for this project. Taburet says the ability to adapt products in this manner, even within the racing scene, is a key strength of Nautix that demarcates it from its rivals.
The same is true of Nautix antifouling systems that can cater for how slick owners want a surface to be, how long the boat will be afloat, whether there’s budget for frequent dive cleans and so on. ‘This means the product selected must be the most appropriate for any level of boat or campaign,’ adds Taburet.
Although he already had a great deal of previous experience with Nautix products, Coleman also benefited from Nautix’s extensive technical support, including detailed product guidance and expert firsthand advice. Nautix’s involvement in the refit was therefore far more than that of a supplier. Instead it was a partnership focused on achieving the best possible outcomes
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