Marclear is a straight antifoul coating applied conventionally.

The coating is made in the UK to Marclear's formula, a formula that is, says Robinson, "as effective as the law permits us to make it".

He told BB: "Our ideas are different, we have products that are good and we offer margins that aren't available anywhere else." He's talking 66.6% discount on retail prices. So a can that retails at ?120 can be bought by a Marclear Application Centre for just ?40 per can, excluding taxes.

And the different ideas are simply that Marclear is a powerful antifoul that comes with a written guarantee. It comes at a price that enables the yard to make a decent profit and this, says Robinson, allows them to spend the time on each boat to be able to turn out good quality work.

Backing the centres is the Marclear website - marclear. com - that has an instant quote section, which Robinson reckons is an industry first.

The owner keys in the hull area of his boat, selects single of twin prop and gets an instant quote. The quote is in euros and is a fixed price that's applicable to every Marclear centre throughout Europe.

"That's the cost of the work;

the whole job, " says Robinson.

"That's cleaning off, scraping, sanding, the propellers and shafts and changing the anodes, but not the cost of the anodes."

As yard costs vary and VAT varies, those are the only two not covered in the price.

Robinson reckons his is the only website offering instant pan-European quotes. And, he adds, if the owner doesn't know the area of his hull, there's a quick ready reckoner so he can get his instant quote.

The guarantee is in two parts - Marclear guarantees the product, while each centre covers the application. "But, " says Robinson, "at the price we sell them our paint, a yard could paint the boat three times and still make a profit."

He says five boats have been repainted in the eight years he has been running Marclear.

"And all of those were problems with adhesion and not the effectiveness of the product, " he told us.

Once a company has convinced Robinson it knows how to prepare and paint a boat, it has only to buy 100 tins of antifoul to get approved status for a year.

After that, they are required only to put in an order for more paint each year to keep approved status. The 100 cans will cost the application centre ?40 per can. The centre - which will also be a Marclear distributor - can sell to the trade for ?60 a can. And it can retail the paint at ?120. All costs are ex-tax and delivery is carriage free. "We want to make it as simple as possible, " said Robinson.

And as an added extra, the company will get distributor status for Marclear's other product range, Firex fire extinguishant products. "They're not expected to buy anything, just find prospects for us to sell to, " said Robinson.

But the main thrust of the Marclear operation is it's a small family run business that wants more similar businesses to grow the network. Call Bill Robinson on +34 971 137781 or email him on info@marclear.com - marclear. com is also the website.

Ecosea began by offering Cuproguard, a 90/10 copper/ nickel alloy as self-adhesive sheets made up of a matrix of small platelets of the alloy.

This alloy, they claim, displays the optimum resistance to biofouling in all water systems. Once applied, the alloy protects the boat for anything up to 20 years.

The company has now developed a spray-on version of the alloy and is marketing it under the brand name of Cuprotect.

Cuprotect is not a paint, says Ecosea, but is a complete hull protection system that inhibits bio-fouling. In addition, they say, to its unique antifouling properties, by forming an impermeable seal between the boat hull and the water, Cuprotect protects the hull from degradation caused by osmosis in GRP, rust in steel and rot and marine infestation in wood. And they add galvanic action as well.

To set up as a UK application centre costs more than the Marclear operation, but you get hardware as well.

The start package includes material, the application equipment - including the spray machine and safety gear for the installer, marketing material, technical support and full onsite training with the first boat.

Ecosea offers a five year guarantee on the materials and the application centre gets exclusivity for its area There are currently seven approved installation centres worldwide. And Ecosea is looking for UK centres. Email info@ecosea.com for more details. The website is eco-sea. com