Ultrasonic Antifouling Kit for Boats

[Leggless]

Hi All. Your thoughts on these please. I have a 45 foot ferro and am thinking are these any good.

[Eleuthera 2014]

Originally Posted by Leggless

Hi All. Your thoughts on these please. I have a 45 foot ferro and am thinking are these any good.

OPINION: cannot see how they could work.....

[Tillsbury]

Talk to someone in your marina, if they have one? Reports are mixed and likely depend significantly on the details and the location. I installed mine a year ago and had new antifoul at the same time. The hull could do with a wipe now I guess, but nothing more. By comparison the marina itself has a veritable forest growing on it (it's only 18 months old), and if you leave a rope in the water for a week it comes out disgusting. So I don't know but am happy with what's happening.

If I can do a scrub early this season when the water is warm enough and don't need to haul out until next year then I'll be fine with that. If I can go three years I'll be delighted. I built and installed the dual-unit Jaycar system, which cost me exactly one-tenth the price of a haul and antifoul, so I don't need much to make it pay off.

[micknor51]

Originally Posted by Leggless

Hi All. Your thoughts on these please. I have a 45 foot ferro and am thinking are these any good.

Not much good for ferro.
Ultrasonic antifoul systems vibrate the hull through transducers mounted on the inside of the hull. They work on solid fibreglass , steel and aluminium but will not work on wood or ferrocement because the sound waves get absorbed by the hull. Foam cored fibreglass requires the transducers to be attached to the inside of the hull on the outer fibreglass layer ie cutting through the inner glass and foam.
Jaycar in Australia sell kits for $418 with two transducers or ready made up units by Soanar for $999.
Michael

[Simi 60]

If they worked wouldn't we all be using them?

[Waterford]

I agree with previous posts that they would likely not be of much value on Ferro. Also that their effectiveness may depend on location. That said, I've used CleanAHull ultrasonic transducers with great success on my boat in the Pacific northwest. My research of six years ago told me to avoid the Chinese brands and buy more transducers than recommended. Remember that these don't actually clean the bottom, but they help keep it clean so you must start with a clean hull and run them 24/7, even while cruising.