Herrington Harbor North-bottom cleaning

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Deltasailor

Pardon my ignorance but why do you need divers to clean the hull? Surely you lift the boats once a year, apply anti fouling paint (takes about 1 hour per cote for a 37') and your good for a year or so. Please advise!

We need divers to clean the hulls because even with bottom paint, there is growth on our hulls in some parts of the country. It depends on many things including the temperature and movement of the water and nutrients in the water.

Perhaps it's different in your part of the world.

[mogulskibum]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Why doesn't he just ask the other boaters in the marina? They are all in the same situation. Certainly they don't all take their boats somewhere else once a month to get the bottoms cleaned!

The general practice in that particular marina, and most of the nearby ones, is to apply a new coat of cheap ablative anti-fouling once a year. 60-70% of the boats haul for the winter anyway, and slapping a fresh coat of anti-fouling over the winter isn't much of a burden since the boat is out of the water anyway.

There's actually pretty minimal growth over a season doing it that way - and what little bit there is can easily be knocked away with a brush attached to the end of your boat hook.

Trying to do 2 years between paint without a diver, that's the real trick...

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Deltasailor

It's a good idea to lift a boat and leave to dry out over winter to avoid osmosis. The boat also gets a hammering when left in the water over winter.

Nope! Arguably the best bottom paint available in the USA (Pettit Trinidad SR 77) loses effectiveness if left out of the water for more than a few days. I wouldn't want to repaint every year.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Bill O

For my own curiosity, just got off the phone w/HHN and they don't allow divers to clean boats bottoms. Primary reason was not to have any bottom paint scraped off in the water.

They do short hauls for $7.50/ft for <44' so they can capture any bottom paint in special collectors under the power wash areas.

"Primary reason was because the marina doesn't make any money on bottom cleaning if they allow divers to do the work."

There- fixed that for you.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Deltasailor

It's a good idea to lift a boat and leave to dry out over winter to avoid osmosis. The boat also gets a hammering when left in the water over winter.

Most of the world has a year-round boating season and does not need (or want) to haul for winter.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Deltasailor

It's a good idea to lift a boat and leave to dry out over winter to avoid osmosis. The boat also gets a hammering when left in the water over winter.

Hah!! Ours has been in the water for 9 years under our care with only one haul for paint!! The boat is currently 41 years old!

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

From Connecticut:

3. Never clean your boat bottom when it is in the water because toxic paint may be removed.

http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/long...tenance_08.pdf

That information is outdated. The current CT guidance is inline with EPA guidance.

From www.dep.state.ct.us/olisp/cleanmarina/ct_clean_boater.htm

Underwater Hull Cleaning
Your marina may not allow you to clean your boat bottom that
is painted with toxic antifouling paint. Consider hauling your boat
to clean it.
If your marina does allow underwater hull cleaning, please
proceed with caution:
• DO NOT clean boat bottoms painted with ablative paints.
• Ask your marina operator if there are any specific guidelines
you need to follow while cleaning your boat bottom.
• Use only soft material (sponges, not brushes!) to clean
growth off the hull.

[thinwater]

Many states have BMPs regarding in-water hull cleanings. Some marinas adopt these BMPs as a part of their storm water pollution control plan as a part of their stormwater general permit. That has the effect of making it a rule, within the boundaries of that marina.

But does any state, other than Washington, have a regulatory ban (not "a clean boating fact sheet" or a voluntary BMP) on in-water hull cleaning of recreational boats?

[Suijin]

The ironic thing is that power washing a boat bottom with ablative paint is going to send more toxic material into the waterway than a whole fistful of diver cleanings. Even if the marina has a system for capturing and filtering the pressure washer water, a good amount of it ends up back in the water.

A better strategy for marinas if they're really concerned about water quality would be to require their tenants to use hard bottom paint. Like that's really going to happen...

Pretty much every marina is a superfund site anyway.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by thinwater

But does any state, other than Washington, have a regulatory ban (not "a clean boating fact sheet" or a voluntary BMP) on in-water hull cleaning of recreational boats?

Washington did not ban in-water hull cleaning altogether, only in-water hull cleaning of ablative paints. Hard paints are fair game. It will be interesting to see what happens when copper-based paints are gone, due to that state's upcoming ban on them. Zinc-based paints are all ablative.