Hull coating roughness and the impact on fuel efficiency

In this paper, the roughness contribution of Fouling Control coatings on ship hulls is addressed. The two generic coating types, silicone-based and self-polishing antifouling coatings are compared under lab-scale and real-life application scenarios. It is concluded that silicone-based coatings give the lowest surface roughness irrespective of application and substrate conditions. It is also noted, however, that the surface roughness of coatings is orders of magnitude lower than that of biofouling organisms. Therefore it is a prerequisite that the coatings effectively hinder biofouling accumulation for the hull coating roughness to have a long-term impact on the fuel-performance. Read more here