Ultrasonic Antifouling Info

[Rapanui]

One question posed in this and other threads was why do commercial and naval vessels not use the system. The reason is that more and more they are using a non stick rather than conventional antifouling. These self clean, emit no poisons or anything and have a major benefit to fuel economy. We used this on the UK Type 45 destroyer and it has a 12 year life and guaranteed 6 years between docking. Its a major cost saving. I think it self cleaned at 14 kts. It was International but there were several manufacturers with similar products.
Naturally, as a sailor I asked about its use on yachts. They gave various reasons why it was not marketed, speed for self cleaning, difficult to apply, difficult to patch up etc, but I suspect the real reason was economic, its would kill their lucrative yearly sales of antifoul paint to yachties. No doubt it will come now that some of the Scandinavian countries are banning active antifouling coatings.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Rapanui

One question posed in this and other threads was why do commercial and naval vessels not use the system. The reason is that more and more they are using a non stick rather than conventional antifouling. These self clean, emit no poisons or anything and have a major benefit to fuel economy.

This doesn't explain why ultrasonic anti fouling devices were not in use on commercial and naval vessels prior to the relatively recent advent of "foul release" coatings.

[Rapanui]

I guess that is because the two have matured more or less in parallel. Plus the driving force for commercial and naval is economy and through life cost. The other factor is scale, the mind boggles at the number and cost of fitting ultrasonic transducers to a supertanker, wheras it is more practical for a yacht.
I am not wholly convinced that ultrasonic is right for me yet, I believe there is something in it, but am looking for enough evidence that a commercially available system actually works

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Rapanui

I guess that is because the two have matured more or less in parallel.

Except that ultrasonic anti fouling systems have been around for decades while foul release coatings are a new technology that have been in use for only a relatively few years.

Originally Posted by Rapanui

The other factor is scale, the mind boggles at the number and cost of fitting ultrasonic transducers to a supertanker, wheras it is more practical for a yacht.

Large ships burn many millions of dollars worth of fuel every year. If there was an electronic system that reduced fuel consumption and lengthend anti fouling coating lifespan, my guess is that you'd see it in use on these vessels.

[bill good]

3 weeks of standing with a product called OceanGard!! 5 weeks & lots of $$ to remove it. Good if you want to make an instant reef!!

[Ian R]

Originally Posted by bill good

Attachment 111746 3 weeks of standing with a product called OceanGard!! 5 weeks & lots of $$ to remove it. Good if you want to make an instant reef!!

Any barnacles Bill ?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Ian R

Any barnacles Bill ?

Looks like plenty of South China Sea coral worm

[bill good]

Originally Posted by Ian R

Any barnacles Bill ?

They were fighting for space on the hull along with everything else!!

[garibri]

Our conclusions concerning the Jaycar anti fouling system:

We installed FOUR units on our Beneteau 50, more than enough by all accounts.
And, after solving the fuse blowing issue (as reported in former posts here) we are VERY SORRY TO REPORT that we have come to the conclusion that they ARE NOT WORTH IT. Period.

Although upon inspection of hull we initially thought we saw some cleaner areas than usual, one being in the area where one of the transducers was installed, basically we have found no conclusive evidence of any improvement since using them other than a noticible increase in our shore power bill. Really!

How we hoped for something, ----anything(!) in the way of a good report. We would have been happy with even a MINIMAL improvement, but found none.
Your results may vary. (But I doubt it.)

For us, it was a complete waste of money and labor.

[longjonsilver]

i didnt see anybody post a link to this:

Ultrasonic Anti-fouling | Cruising World

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by garibri

Our conclusions concerning the Jaycar anti fouling system:

We installed FOUR units on our Beneteau 50, more than enough by all accounts.
And, after solving the fuse blowing issue (as reported in former posts here) we are VERY SORRY TO REPORT that we have come to the conclusion that they ARE NOT WORTH IT. Period.

Although upon inspection of hull we initially thought we saw some cleaner areas than usual, one being in the area where one of the transducers was installed, basically we have found no conclusive evidence of any improvement since using them other than a noticible increase in our shore power bill. Really!

How we hoped for something, ----anything(!) in the way of a good report. We would have been happy with even a MINIMAL improvement, but found none.
Your results may vary. (But I doubt it.)

For us, it was a complete waste of money and labor.

Funny, that result is exactly the same as reported by a neighboring boat owner moored in Sydney.

[Tillsbury]

Well at the risk of raising an old thread, I bought one of the Mk2 Jaycar kits this weekend. There are a number of improvements over the mk1, principally to address some of the issues mentioned in previous threads. And, most importantly, one controller can run two transducers for larger boats (it says up to 14m). I’m 15.4m, so not expecting miracles, but if it saves me a few months between antifouls it’ll be worth it. The kit is easy and fun to put together (components are far better than the mk1 and don’t require coil winding etc). Although I’ve soldered before I’ve never put together a kit like this. Took a couple of hours to get the board done, then another hour to test and assemble it into the case with switches etc. Very happy with how it’s looking so far, and intend to install it this week. Boat was last antifouled at the start of the season (9 months ago), pressure washed and was fairly clean in April when we did the survey. I promise to report back with results.

Anyway, check out the newer version of the kit (board marked 2017) if you’re looking through google for info on this.