So, how hard do you scrub your bottom anyway?

[ErBrown]

Howdy Folks,

We're about 10 months into our first year of cruising, may there be many more to follow. Anyway, we typically do our our bottom scrubbing with a 3M pad, almost always the less aggressive white pads with the addition of a plastic scrapper and light brush for hard to reach places and things like the prop. We have a good hard bottom paint (Petit Trinidad Pro) and our growth has been typically fairly light soft growth only.

My question here is how hard should we be scrubbing? Or maybe asked another way, how clean should the bottom be when we finish a cleaning? Should we just scrub until every last bit of greenish growth is removed from the bottom paint? Typically, we just scrub until the bulk of the growth is gone, since we want to preserve the paint. As I scrub I can always see a light clouding of bottom paint coming off with the growth, which I hate. We're currently in southern Puerto Rico working our way East and just wrapped up a complete bottom cleaning today, so I thought I'd ask. The paint seems to perform well, I just want to be sure I'm doing my part.

I know we have tons of folks here with more experience than me, so if you can shed some light on what we should be aiming for, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Erin

[fstbttms]

The bottom should be very clean after an in-water cleaning of an anti fouling paint in good condition. How often are you cleaning it? A hard paint like Trinidad should not "plume" when cleaned.

It is also possible that the paint was applied incorrectly. If insufficient time was allowed between coats (causing solvent entrapment), a hard paint can act very much like an ablative when cleaned.

[ErBrown]

Thanks fstbttms, was hoping to hear from you on this one.

I’d guess we give it a light scrub every month or 2. Not sure it’s actually required this often but seems to be easier if we keep up with it regularly. I’m not sure how much of what I see is paint vs the soft growth clouding when I wipe it. I do know the paint was done by a reputable yard and that it appears to be in good shape after about 14 months or so. Our white 3M pads do have a bit of black (our bottom paint color) on them after a cleaning. Not really much but you can tell they’ve been cleaning something black.

So by very clean, do you mean no sign of any soft growth at all. In our case, only pure black bottom paint? The first 12-18” down from the waterline I usually have a few light patches of greenish growth left. I can remove it completely but it requires either scrubbing hard with our current pads, or possibly a more aggressive pad.

[fstbttms]

I can only say that from a professional hull cleaner's point of view; a Trinidad bottom, slightly more than a year old and dived monthly should come up essentially spotless after a proper cleaning. That's what I (and my customers) expect.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I can only say that from a professional hull cleaner's point of view; a Trinidad bottom, slightly more than a year old and dived monthly should come up essentially spotless after a proper cleaning. That's what I (and my customers) expect.

I don't want you to give away all your secrets (actually I do), but I'm compelled to ask what your go-to scrubber is. And also, what are your feelings on using a suction cup handle to keep you attached to the hull? Does it damage the anti-foul/paint? Is it necessary? Is it helpful?

[fstbttms]

[fstbttms]

https://youtu.be/9hAortJEG_w

[LoudMusic]

Suddenly this all seems familiar ... thanks

[gamayun]

Hey Er, how awesome you two have been cruising the past 10 months! Are you in the Gulf Coast area still? I took off 30 years of bottom paint recently and put on Petit Trinidad, too, because I scrub K's bottom before each race, generally about once a month. This summer will be two years and I still use only a shammy cloth. I am not aggressive at all, but I am starting to notice that the algae is being a little more tenacious on the rudder. The reason (I believe) is because the rudder is not as smooth as the bottom is. I believe this affects how quickly creatures and algae adhere. Warm water will affect that, too. I would try to go as soft as you can for as long as you can. My intent is to bottom paint every 4 years. So far, it's looking pretty good.

[arsenelupiga]

my last antifouling was done very unprofessionally by very expensive and hyped up yard and things started falling apart week 2.

I will now change the yard and hope to get some quality in workmanship in a month time. Else will have to resort DIY method.

I clean hulls every 20 days, 2 years since antifoul, 5 % area no antifoul left. However only 30% of non-antifoul area gets growth.

So i am questioning micron extra useability.

[steamgoat]

Read the very current issue of Practical Sailor,a ‘cleaning your hull’ article.

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

https://youtu.be/9hAortJEG_w

Well I liked that Remora Solo until I checked the price. Yikes ! $1695 for a new one. If I was cleaning hulls for money I could see it. But for just me I'll have to stick with the 'ol scrubbie pad. Nice job though, it looked great.

[Blackduck]

Still pricey but has anyone used the NEMO underwater drill? Here's a link to it being used for boat hull cleaning.
https://nemopowertools.com/product/n...-yacht-socket/

[ErBrown]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Hey Er, how awesome you two have been cruising the past 10 months! Are you in the Gulf Coast area still?

We’re currently down on the South coast of Puerto Rico and working our way East & South towards Grenada for H-season. So for we’ve done the gulf from TX to FL, gulf coast of FL to Dry Tortugas & US East coast up to Long Island Sound and Connecticut. This year we went down through the Bahamas, DR and now PR.

So far I’ve been pretty happy with the performance of Trinidad but have been reluctant to really scrub hard to get off the last little bit.

[Benz]

In warm waters, you'll find growth more aggressive, and if you visit harbors that are somewhat polluted, it'll get really aggressive. I guess one man's pollution is a barnacle's dinner...
I always try and remove every trace of growth, since those little hairs and specks are the seeds of bigger things, and I can never be sure when I'll have a chance to dive it next (again, more pollution=less desire to swim).
I got better than a year out of my first bottom job on my new boat (so no old paint buildup--just two coats of Trinidad on bare gelcoat), cruising the fecund water of the Pacific coast of Central America and the southern Caribbean. By the end I was just lazily cleaning a small patch or so every day while the children swam, working my way all around the hull every couple of weeks, then beginning again. Good way to keep fit.