Barnacles on my dinghy

[Cheechako]

Lift it out of the water. Antifouling kills barnacles but only after they have grown for a while! This is why you have to scrape all those dead barnacles off your recently antifouled boat!

[snort]

I was going to suggest a visit to the doctor (urologist), but it looks like you got things sorted out.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by AlwaysFORSAIL

If you are concerned about muratic acid check the plastic container it is stored in.

I had thought that too, and I've got a bunch of plastic gas cans, but that doesn't mean that a Styrofoam cup will hold gas even though Styrofoam is plastic too.

[sparrowhawk1]

I know this thread is about removing barnacles from a dinghy but some might be interested in the fact that
Muriadic
acid removes rust stains

[Reefmagnet]

I use a mixture of vinegar and flour to remove barnie bottoms from my prop. The flour turns it into a paste so it stays where it's put. I leave it on for a while covered in plastic to stop it drying then afterwards a bit of a rinse and scrub to get rid of the residue. This might work with a dinghy bottom as well.

Oxolic acid is another chemical that removes rust stain - and galvanising too if not careful!

[RTB]

Originally Posted by chris95040

They scraped off easily enough but leave some hard residue behind where they were attached.

Anyone tried Barnacle Buster? I was wondering if would work on a PVC dinghy?

A couple of weeks in the waters of Florida, and this is what you've got-



cleaning dinghy.jpg Views: 210 Size: 421.7 KB ID: 92934" style="margin: 2px" />

[DefinitelyMe]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

Thank you. I've been using muriatic acid for years and knew it was also called hydrochloric Acid but didn't know the distinction. It's great for removing calcium deposits of any type and to state the obvious: do not breathe the fumes

Laboratory technician here. They are indeed the same thing. 'Hydrochloric' is the more accurate chemical name and 'Muriatic' is an older name that is still used by the general public, contractors, hardware stores etc.

Which name it goes by is not related at all to it's concentration. Lab-grade, concentrated HCl is 37%. If you're buying 'muriatic' then you're probably getting it from a hardware store and it's probably a little more dilute. Here in Bermuda, it's sold at 30%. Maybe in the States 25% is the industry standard? Both are still quite concentrated!

At any rate, dilute it to whatever % you want to use, but make sure you read the label. If you're used to using 25%, or 20% or whatever and you buy a bottle of 30% the difference can be quite considerable!

Acetone won't do anything to barnacle residue (calcium carbonate). For that, you do need an acid, however I honestly don't know what impact an acid would have on hypalon, which is polyethylene based. It may make the plastic a touch more brittle. Certainly you won't see anything too drastic happening.

If it were my boat i'd give it a go with a fairly dilute solution first - enough to see just a little bit of fizzing......... or ask the manufacturer...........

If you want to get experimental, knock off a few barnacles and stick them in some disposable cups. Mix up a few different concentrations of acid, pour some into each cup (try to get the same no. of barnacles and the same amount of acid in each cup) and let us know what you find!

[Windwalker44]

Each spring before we launch on the Maine coast I coat the dinghy bottom with Destitin (that's right diaper rash protective paste) its 40% zinc oxide that keeps my bottom clean.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Windwalker44

Each spring before we launch on the Maine coast I coat the dinghy bottom with Destitin (that's right diaper rash protective paste) its 40% zinc oxide that keeps my bottom clean.

Interesting.
See ➥ Diaper Cream for Boats? - Inside Practical Sailor Blog Article

[Jim Cate]

IIRC, Zn oxide isn't a very toxic material, and I wonder about its application as a biocide. Since we have had decent results from use of surf board wax (not containing any known biocide) in similar applications, I wonder if the anti fouling effect of the Desitin is from the greasy coating more than the "biocide" zinc oxide?

And I sure agree that having to hoist a greasy dink onto the foredeck would be, uhhh, interesting!

Jim