Scuba Gear for Basic Boat Maintenance

[fstbttms]

I could take exception to many of the statements in the post above, but the suggestion that hull cleaning be done naked really stands out. I'm sure the author was being facetious, but the reality is that the growth and bugs you remove during an in-water hull cleaning event (not to mention anti fouling paint, which is a pesticide) need to be kept off your skin as much as possible, as well as out of any orifices. At the very least, you should never clean a boat bottom without wearing a hood.

[Blue Crab]

And a scraper? Maybe for the prop and shaft but if you need it for the boat, you need new paint, or start wiping down ... gently ... much more often with the lightest nylon pad you can find, not the one you use on the BBQ.

I have to wonder how many authoritative posts are made by folks just winging it.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I could take exception to many of the statements in the post above, but the suggestion that hull cleaning be done naked really stands out. I'm sure the author was being facetious, but the reality is that the growth and bugs you remove during an in-water hull cleaning event (not to mention anti fouling paint, which is a pesticide) need to be kept off your skin as much as possible, as well as out of any orifices. At the very least, you should never clean a boat bottom without wearing a hood.

One post that I am in complete agreement with. In addition to protection from toxic paint and all the small worms and bugs on the bottom, all it takes is rubbing some sensitive part of ones anatomy against one small barnacle or prop or what have you to end up with a nasty gouge and good spot for potential infection.

[silverheels3]

Sorry mate but we're neither dockrats or posers and especially not fascious. For the record, we're now in the 6th year of fulltime liveaboard cruising on our 35 ft fiberglass sailboat in Eastern Caribbean. We sailed away from Canada in 2008 and have had many summers of anchoring in Grenada during the summer hurricane season. That means not moving the boat from June - Nov, plenty of time to grow stuff on the bottom.

My wife actually prefers to clean the hull in the manner I described as the cleanup of shrimp from her body is much easier than getting the kritturs off the usual BCD and wetsuit etc.

As for tools to clean the tropical growth from the bottom, our hull has soft ablative antifouling paint which is in it's 4th season without hauling out. If you use a brush or cloth instead of a hard plastic windshield type scraper, the antifouling paint will scuff off instead of the barnacles, mussels and coral polyps. Soft growth and slime are not the issue as in northern waters, the sea temps in summer approach 34C which encourage hard growth not slime.

Wearing excessive clothing plus a BCD traps stinging coral polyps and tiny shrimp against your body...instead of allowing the current to sweep them away. Professional SCUBA companies who clean bottoms in Grenada use hard scrapers and will not wear hoods.

[skipmac]

Hey Silverheels.

Not meaning to insult you and certainly didn't think I implied you are a dockrat or poser, just saying didn't agree with your preferred method of bottom cleaning.

Also didn't suggest BCD. Don't generally use them. If I have the time and don't have the tanks I free dive to clean the bottom. If I need tanks a simple harness over the skin works well and doesn't really capture a lot of the refuse.

So all I wear is a thin wet suit or a skin and a hood. With a 2 mill wetsuit I wear just enough weight to get neutral, with a skin need no weights at all.

Last time I cleaned the bottom without a suit I came out covered with little critters, some kind of shrimp or worm or something and it was very uncomfortable. So unless I am forced by necessity I personally prefer to keep them off my skin.

Even you aren't concerned about the critters what about the hard growth? All it takes is one little baby barnacle in the wrong spot and a minor bump can give you a pretty good gash. Had it happed once when I was living in the islands and it started getting infected very quickly. Only very aggressive treatment saved me from a trip to the doctor.

And there's still the issue of keeping the paint residue off. The fact that the pros in Grenada don't wear hoods seems moot. I've had bottom work and fiberglass grinding done where the workers didn't even wear a dust mask but don't think adopt that practice.

[hellosailor]

skip-
"Had it happed once when I was living in the islands and it started getting infected very quickly"
What no one ever mentions is that the fine traditional punishment of "keelhauling" almost always resulted in severe infections from the barnacle cuts. "Keelhauling" actually translates into "a painful lingering death is almost guaranteed".

So barnacles? Yup. Them, the slime, whatever. Slices up a neoprene wetsuit too, but that's just money.

Folks want to bath naked with whatever...that's OK, that's their choice. Mr. Darwin would have approved, whichever way it went.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

So barnacles? Yup. Them, the slime, whatever. Slices up a neoprene wetsuit too, but that's just money.

Oh yes, that's a fact. 2 mils of neoprene is not exactly protection like SS mesh shark suit. It will take the brunt of a light brush against a barnacle and probably protect your skin from a major gash but hit one hard enough and you will be bleeding.

[hellosailor]

2mm...In the northeast we're more used to 5mm and farmer johns, so there's either 5 or 10mm of armor to be dealt with. Which is also really nice if you're in the salon and being tossed against the furniture.(G)

[downunder]

There is a big difference between a professional cleaning vessels in marinas in colder waters and a liveaboard cruiser in the Caribbean and thus I expect the difference in kit to be considerable and understandable.

[Downline]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I could take exception to many of the statements in the post above, but the suggestion that hull cleaning be done naked really stands out. I'm sure the author was being facetious, but the reality is that the growth and bugs you remove during an in-water hull cleaning event (not to mention anti fouling paint, which is a pesticide) need to be kept off your skin as much as possible, as well as out of any orifices. At the very least, you should never clean a boat bottom without wearing a hood.

I'm sure the naked guy is just having fun with the forum. You only need one of those little shrimp kritters trying to crawl into your ear or some other orifice before you invest in a decent wetsuit.

[Blue Crab]

Heh. I am the one suggesting poser-ship, and glad to be proven wrong. Always good to chat with folks actually on the move.

That said, I had a little com'l dive outfit in Miami for years and cleaned a bottom or three meself in similar water conditions. And I think we can take it to the bank that Skip and FSTB and likely everyone else has cleaned a few too. Can't see why some "professionals" in Grenada would know any more than we do, and I would expect far less.

And I'd opine if you are using tin-based paint which I understand is available thereabouts, you are living on the edge indeed with that naked approach. The couple of boats I cleaned with it back in the 80s (I think it was Micron 33 back then, not the Trilux 33) left me all tingly even thru my wetsuit. I stopped doing those in hopes of living longer without some damage we hadn't heard of back them. But, as always, YMMV.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

2mm...In the northeast we're more used to 5mm and farmer johns, so there's either 5 or 10mm of armor to be dealt with. Which is also really nice if you're in the salon and being tossed against the furniture.(G)

Yes my son-in-law lives in New England and spends most of the summer free diving. If I recall, he calls it a really good day if the water is close to 60 F and 20-30' viz.

Being from FL if the water gets colder than 80 I go for a dry suit.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

That said, I had a little com'l dive outfit in Miami for years and cleaned a bottom or three meself in similar water conditions. And I think we can take it to the bank that Skip and FSTB and likely everyone else has cleaned a few too.

My personal count is at about 25,000 hull cleaning events and I still don't want the bugs on my skin.

[pbiJim]

When I was younger, & low man on the totem pole on a racing team in Massachusetts, it was my job to clean the hull of the race boat each weekend before the races started. I always just jumped into the water in a swim suit with a mask & a rag. If I came across a tough spot that the rag would not take care of, then a piece of 600 grade wet/dry paper came into use. This was back in the early 1980's. I think that the bottom paint was still full of mercury & lead back then. I had no noticeable problems aside from the occasional touch of hypothermia. The current at that mooring ran up to 3 knots at peak, so that may have helped to keep the crud off of me. The cold water probably caused limited growth in the first place.

I think that appropriate equipment & methodology varies with the conditions in a given area.

[Blue Crab]

This pic could have been of me thirty+ years ago in warm water Miami. This was routine on boats cleaned monthly, and I was doing several boats a day as I'm sure FstB is in SF. These critters sure get around. But haven't made it to Grenada I guess.

Very tough to get them out of your ears. After a bit I bought a hood. I think in the winter the water would get all the way down to 70°! Brrrrrrr..... I had a 7 mil suit for winter that I had built with a 3 mil right shoulder and arm. Still, I needed scoping after awhile. That was the year I gave up my dream of pitching for the Yankees.