I catch up with David Hanton from Bradford Marine and get deep and technical about protecting whats under your waterline. We dive into the typical issues with hull maintenance, osmosis in fibreglass and what causes it, how to know if it’s a big vs small problem, how to prevent and repair it and we talk about how significant the damage and repair bill can be. 

David shares examples of shortsighted shortcuts boat owners and tradesmen take and the extra problems they cause. We talk about the product choices for owners when it comes to anti-foul paint and the differences between budget and premium and how the life expectancies differ, the paint thats better suited to warm and cold climates and racing versus cruising application options.

We discuss some of the ugly things that can happen to poorly maintained hulls and the construction materials to avoid when buying a second hand yacht. We finish up on rudders and keels and the warning signs you should pay attention to.

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With a father who went to 5 olympics as Flying Dutchman competitor initially and then as coach, Jon Bilger spent his early years around sailing. He bought is first boat after saving $250 and asking his dad to build him an optimist. In a P Class he then won New Zealand’s Tauranga Cup twice amongst a fleet of 120 dinghies that included young sailors such as Craig Monk. Then the move to the 470 and the Olympics followed along with competing in various European sailing regattas before the days of professional coaches. 

Jon was thrust into the Tag Heuer 1995 Americas Cup Team as navigator and it opened the door to his newly found passion for weather analysis. From there a decade with the Swiss based, Russell Coutts led, Alinghi Americas Cup syndicate, Jon was responsible for weather modelling for the 2003 and 2007 winning Americas Cup team before the loss in 2010 to Oracle. The weather technology developed for this team led to the model that Predict Wind is based upon today and is now used all over the world by everyday sailors.

Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.