Antifouling on a Dinghy?

[carstenb]

I'm getting tired of cleaning the bottom of my dinghy (algae growth). Several companies make antifouling for dinghies.

My questions:

1- do they work?
2- are they ablative - meaning willl they smear on my boat or me or anything when I take the dinghy out of the water, or do they dry hard and not smear?
3 - do they crack when the dinghy is folded for passage sailing?
4- anything else you want to add that might help me


carsten

[Emerald Sea]

They work until you need to beach your dinghy.

[MarkJ]

I've thought about it often.
It's difficult to buy hard antifouling. Many these days are semi hard is ablative.

[Group9]

On my trip before last to the Bahamas, I bottom painted my 11 foot Whaler. I didn't get any growth, but I got blue bottom paint all over me every time I put it on the deck.

On my last trip, we took the bottom paint off, thinking it would be easier to just scrub it off every so often. It wasn't. I got really tired of cleaning it off.

I just bought some Petit Vivid to put on it for this trip coming up.

[clownfishsydney]

Why would your dinghy be in the water so long that it needs to be anti-fouled?

[Group9]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

Why would your dinghy be in the water so long that it needs to be anti-fouled?

Until we went cruising, it didn't. It never got a bit of growth on the trailer in the back yard!

[bvander]

We have good success with the petite inflatable anti fouling, but use it on our rit and rarely deflate it.

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by carstenb

My questions:

1- do they work? Aquagard, yes
2- are they ablative - meaning willl they smear on my boat or me or anything when I take the dinghy out of the water, or do they dry hard and not smear? It is multiseason, but it dries fairly hard and I haven't noticed any smearing.
3 - do they crack when the dinghy is folded for passage sailing? Not much, if any. I deflate and roll up my dinghy to store in the attic at the end of the season, and again to move it back to the boat in the spring. No noticeable cracking yet.
4- anything else you want to add that might help me See this thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1191514

I used Aquagard on my inflatable and I am very happy with it. You may need to thin it with some distilled water if you're applying in hot weather. My answers to your questions in red

[motion30]

I am a full-time live-aboard living on the hook period so I finally painted the bottom of my rib period seems the hold up very well and does not rub off when I take the boat out of the water period I think I use petttit inflatable bottom paint. Seems like regular ablative think to me

[Scaramanga F25]

I have used an anti-fouling wax with mitigated success.

[knockabout]

fender polish that's designed to anti-foul works for a while /also warm up some lanolin grease and paint it on then let it dry before putting back in the water /

[JPA Cate]

Carsten,

If you make up a bridle for the dinghy and hoist it by the spinny halyard, every night when you're through with it for that day, leaving it about amidships, the air time will help keep it clean. To me, it's easier than cleaning. For grass growth, if that's what you're getting, household bathroom mold cleaner will kill it. Barnacles, scrape, use a dry wall goop scraper, blade's about 20 cm. long, found in hardware stores.

Ann

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

Why would your dinghy be in the water so long that it needs to be anti-fouled?

Because its 4.2 metres long and weighs 300kg :-)

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Ziggy

I used Aquagard on my inflatable and I am very happy with it. You may need to thin it with some distilled water if you're applying in hot weather. My answers to your questions in red

Thanks

my questions are answered

[JstaRebel]

I dunno, maybe a person lives on the hook travels and their dinghy is the same to them as your car is to you. Should one take a daily user, hook it up to the halyard and pull it out of the water every night?

This was a response to the poster that wanted to know why the dinghy was in the water so much.