Boat Diver Question?

[pesarsten]

Here in St Pete FL , I pay $1.60/ft for monthly cleaning. That seems to be the average around here.

[ausaviator]

I didn't really know how dangerous it was until I took the classes.

As a non-diver you've got my attention. Why so dangerous? Presumably you're only a few feet under...?

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by gah964

Hi all anyone ever hear of this called a boat diver today and this is what they said.
they want $100 hr to clean my boat 30ft sailboat they said it may take them 4 hrs and they don't scrape any paint at all of the bottom.
I asked them how they did that, they said, they take their time and have special barnacle removing tools.
Sounds crazy to me what do you all think?

has 'RIPOFF' written all over it.

first, don't accept an hourly quote; there's no limit to the number of hours it could take. and especially when they say that 'they take their time'. that could only mean THEY TAKE THEIR TIME AT $100 AN HOUR! the only acceptable quote is a single price for a complete job.

second, have they actually seen the bottom of your boat? have you? if your bottom is really THAT bad then you really need to get hauled and pressure washed. then you can scrape, sand, and paint the bottom. if you have no bottom paint now then just scraping won't help you in the long run.

if cash is a problem, find out if there's a sand bar around key west where you can partially dry out at low tide and do the scraping yourself. or you can do a pretty good job yourself just by snorkeling, although it may take some time. that's what i do.

there are no SPECIAL barnacle scraping tools. but there are a lot of divers in key west, so keep looking. and if you decide to have the bottom scraped in the water, make sure you're there when the diver is working on your boat. some of these guys seem to do their work awfully fast - too fast to actually do a good job.

[Kevin84]

His "special tools" are a paint scraper and a brillo pad. Lol. Keep looking. No reputable diver is going to charge you hourly. And certainly not $100/hr. In SC, the going rate it $2-3/ft. You can definitely find better options. Even considering its been untouched for a year.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"but I let it go over a year "
I'd bet that's part of the problem. Routine bi-monthly or monthly cleaning is a LOT less work than using a machete to clear the jungle after it has grown for a full year...

Good post. This is correct. All you others who are quoting monthly maintenance costs are way off the mark. When a dive service does a first cleanup on a neglected boat, they do well to charge appropriately.

[motion30]

I am NOT in the keys but I am in South Florida. I have dealt with lots of divers. even with a hull that has sat over a year not being cleaned , the most I was quoted was $5 foot, and we settled for $3 per ft.for the first cleaning. the thing about the bottom cleaners, there is lots of competition.

[klmmicro]

I dive and clean my own hull almost every month. Takes about an hour. Unless you have barnacle growth, two hours tops. Only tools needed are green scrubber pads and a plastic bladed scraper.

Called a local diver and asked what he would charge me here in So Cal on a boat that has sat for a long while. First cleaning, $150 and $75 a month there after.

I would simply call someone else if I was quoted $400 for a cleaning.

[hellosailor]

aviator-
The most unconsidered danger is probably pneumothorax, literally blowing out a lung. I vaguely remember the lungs can tolerate something like a 4 psi pressure differential, they're not designed to be pressure bottles and in normal life if there is a weak spot in a lung, so what? There's rarely any stress on it.
But as our dive instructor pointed out, all you need to do in the water is take a deep breath of pressurized air, hold it in, and now swing from horizontal to a vertical position. If you swing about your body center, not much of a depth/pressure change on the lungs. If you swing by rotating "up" from your feet...that will be a 4-5' depth change at your lungs, and that's enough of a pressure increase to blow out a weak spot. The resulting shock, pain, collapse of one lung, would result in most folks drowning.

Diving is something like Olympic Luge. Easy, all you have to do is lie down and...

I wouldn't call diving "dangerous" though. Divers, and bad instructors, can be dangerous. But proper training will give you at least three solutions to any problem, and a proper frame of mind will do the rest. Quick training, or being panic-prone, will be dangerous.

And to try to come back to bottom cleaning estimates...Yes, there's a lot of variation in the costs of "good" training, too.

Shouldn't be hard to get three estimates, and see if one of them is a pirate.

[appick]

In the water bottom cleaning?!? Never heard of it and definetly never touch the stuff haha! One of the very very few advantages of the Great Lakes, by the time your hull has even a bit of slime it's time to pull it out for the winter!

[Jbingham]

Originally Posted by konakoma

$66 per month for 44 Morgan in Madeira Beach, FL. Had a 64 year old guy clean the hull in Nassua last winter for $50 and without diving gear-he held his breath(!) and when he was done he lit up a smoke. We gave him $75 and a scotch too. Go figure

thats awesome

[gah964]

Originally Posted by pesarsten

Here in St Pete FL , I pay $1.60/ft for monthly cleaning. That seems to be the average around here.

can you have him call me at 941 822 2 six three o

if you think he will come to Sarasota I can pick him up or pay for gas

[maytrix]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

As a non-diver you've got my attention. Why so dangerous? Presumably you're only a few feet under...?

I think he was referring to doing it the way he did. Diving with borrowed gear and no training is dangerous. Diving once you understand the risks, limits and adhere to them, is probably safer than my drive to work every day.

[gah964]

Originally Posted by maytrix

I think he was referring to doing it the way he did. Diving with borrowed gear and no training is dangerous. Diving once you understand the risks, limits and adhere to them, is probably safer than my drive to work every day.

I remember seeing the women dressed like mermaids that sucked on a tube of air in a big tank, I wonder how that's done safe, or was this just bs I seen on tv?

[bgallinger]

So in Canada I pay an auto mechanic $80/hr. and the boatyard here charges $90/hr. With these rates, $100/hr. for a diver to clean your boat seems like a bargain. As a union diver 35 years ago I was paid $29/hr. Go figure.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by gah964

I remember seeing the women dressed like mermaids that sucked on a tube of air in a big tank, I wonder how that's done safe, or was this just bs I seen on tv?

Weeki wachee mermaids http://www.floridastateparks.org/weekiwachee/
Weeki wachee is a difficult cave to dive as well and is only done by permit