Bottom Cleaning

[missourisailor]

I'll also chime in on the $2 per foot price.
Going rate in N.C. with a monthly plan.

No way I'd do it for that price.

[Diesel Bill]

I agree with fstbttms on the performance degradation. Only thing is the boat was at the dock all this time while doing a partial refit and engine work. Never left the dock. Seems like money saved over the long term. Could be penny wise and pound foolish. All the anodes were new before leaving La Paz. Still 75-80% remaining. Now that I've got the gear to dive the bottom I'll be more attentive, as I plan on doing some sailing now that the engines are reliable.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by CaptsWife

a64pilot: Aren't you at Brunswick Landing Marina right now? If so, the guy we use is about $110 for a 37' boat.

I am, however I'm a pretty well trained diver, and have the equipment.
I have always dove the boat before, well most of the time anyway and in the Panhandle it was much better vis and I never really had any hard growth on the boat. Prop and other metals, yes big time.
I'm sort of ashamed to not know the paint that is on it, it is ablative. I had a good reputable yard put it on, and to be honest they know more about which paint works best in the Panhandle where I was than I would as they do a lot of boats. I only expect two years out of paint, this job is about four months old. Before I left I wiped all the slime off of it, that is all I normally get, but the hard growth started in Stuart.
I think it's only .25' or so barnacles, and I assume mostly just near the surface.
This is something I need to do and get used to. I was just trying to ensure that however I did it, that I wouldn't cause harm if at all possible.

[mikedefieslife]

I'm a bit of wimp when it comes to diving on the boat. I don't like all the sea sum and creatures that come off getting near me. I'm sure they are harmless provided you have a good shower straight afterwards, but it just doesn't seem pleasant.

I suppose with a full wet suit, and ear protection etc.. I might be more comfortable.

[Taichungman]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

I'm a bit of wimp when it comes to diving on the boat. I don't like all the sea sum and creatures that come off getting near me. I'm sure they are harmless provided you have a good shower straight afterwards, but it just doesn't seem pleasant.

I suppose with a full wet suit, and ear protection etc.. I might be more comfortable.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mike, I agree...I don't like the scum in the marinas. But, that might be the least of the problems. I posted this once before a year or so ago but I'm going to paste it here again in hopes it might save someone some misery.

In Feb. 2014 I sailed from Panama to the Galapagos Islands. I was crewing on a Kurt Hughes 65' Cat. and about 5 miles off our entry Port the Captain decides that we should clean the hulls. So in the water we go with our scrapers and pads and begin the job which took about two hours. There is nothing to hold on to so we had to drift with the boat and occasionally I would have my knees dragging along the hull. Anyway we got the job done and went into port and later when we cleared in they did take a look to make sure we had a clean hull, It's a big deal down there in the Islands.
Later in the evening when I was showering (bucket of water over my head) I noticed I had two scratches on my right knee and two on my left arm. No big deal; I'm a big tough old sailor. Well, about a week later the little scratches had little blisters on them, so I backed off a little and put some medicine on them. They kept getting worse and after three weeks sailing around the islands we were ready to jump off to the Marquesas but I had a close friend die in the States and had to leave and that's another story.
Anyway, I got back to the States and the little scratches now had turned into bigger sores that wouldn't heal. Actually the ones on my arm did heal some and looked better but the knee was worse. I'm a veteran so went to the VA hospital. They looked at it and said, "hey that's looks pretty bad." Gave me some antibiotics to take and bandaged it up, this was about a month after it happened. I stayed in the States for another month and it didn't get any better and they gave me more antibiotics.
I live in Taiwan half of the year so it was time to go back from my sailing adventure. When I got back I went to the doctor and they said, " hey that looks pretty bad" in Chinese of course and gave me more antibiotics.
OK, to make a long story shorter....I took antibiotics and went to 5 different doctors for 8 months and telling them the same story before I found one who told me that I have an Mycobacterium marinum infections. Which the doc could only tell me after he took a sample and sent it to a lab. They doubled up on the antibiotics and my stomach was getting all chewed up because of it. I finally said enough as the two sores on my knee were an inch long, gaping and bloody. I went to the hospital and over a two month period they surgically removed all the infected skin, meat, etc. and sewed it up. They had to do one at a time because they were so close together.
Lots of people and doctors are not familiar with this infection. I would suggest at the minimum you protect yourself from getting it in the first place. In other words be careful around seawater with barnacles and such. By the way the boat originally came from South Florida where I found out later that breeds this kind of infection. A common name for this is "Fish Tank Infection" I added a couple of pics to encourage you to wear protective gear.

[Spindrift NH]

Originally Posted by missourisailor

I'll also chime in on the $2 per foot price.
Going rate in N.C. with a monthly plan.

No way I'd do it for that price.

I paid $1.75/foot in New Bern and now pay $1.50/foot in Charleston. I'm considering the purchase of a hooka, not due to the quality of my bottom guy but because I'd like to be able to do it myself.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Spindrift NH

I paid $1.75/foot in New Bern and now pay $1.50/foot in Charleston.

There's an outfit in New Bern that charges by the minute.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Taichungman

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mike, I agree...I don't like the scum in the marinas. But, that might be the least of the problems. I posted this once before a year or so ago but I'm going to paste it here again in hopes it might save someone some misery.

In Feb. 2014 I sailed from Panama to the Galapagos Islands. I was crewing on a Kurt Hughes 65' Cat. and about 5 miles off our entry Port the Captain decides that we should clean the hulls. So in the water we go with our scrapers and pads and begin the job which took about two hours. There is nothing to hold on to so we had to drift with the boat and occasionally I would have my knees dragging along the hull. Anyway we got the job done and went into port and later when we cleared in they did take a look to make sure we had a clean hull, It's a big deal down there in the Islands.
Later in the evening when I was showering (bucket of water over my head) I noticed I had two scratches on my right knee and two on my left arm. No big deal; I'm a big tough old sailor. Well, about a week later the little scratches had little blisters on them, so I backed off a little and put some medicine on them. They kept getting worse and after three weeks sailing around the islands we were ready to jump off to the Marquesas but I had a close friend die in the States and had to leave and that's another story.
Anyway, I got back to the States and the little scratches now had turned into bigger sores that wouldn't heal. Actually the ones on my arm did heal some and looked better but the knee was worse. I'm a veteran so went to the VA hospital. They looked at it and said, "hey that's looks pretty bad." Gave me some antibiotics to take and bandaged it up, this was about a month after it happened. I stayed in the States for another month and it didn't get any better and they gave me more antibiotics.
I live in Taiwan half of the year so it was time to go back from my sailing adventure. When I got back I went to the doctor and they said, " hey that looks pretty bad" in Chinese of course and gave me more antibiotics.
OK, to make a long story shorter....I took antibiotics and went to 5 different doctors for 8 months and telling them the same story before I found one who told me that I have an Mycobacterium marinum infections. Which the doc could only tell me after he took a sample and sent it to a lab. They doubled up on the antibiotics and my stomach was getting all chewed up because of it. I finally said enough as the two sores on my knee were an inch long, gaping and bloody. I went to the hospital and over a two month period they surgically removed all the infected skin, meat, etc. and sewed it up. They had to do one at a time because they were so close together.
Lots of people and doctors are not familiar with this infection. I would suggest at the minimum you protect yourself from getting it in the first place. In other words be careful around seawater with barnacles and such. By the way the boat originally came from South Florida where I found out later that breeds this kind of infection. A common name for this is "Fish Tank Infection" I added a couple of pics to encourage you to wear protective gear.

Hey, guys,

I don't really know what the tropical medicine specialists are saying today, but when the lab Jim worked for sent him to tropical places, the practice was to scrub out any cut whatsoever with betadine. I am well aware some people say not to do this. However, in over 30 years of this practice, and a great deal of exposure, between the two of us, there was only one open nick that developed into an infection, and that one had a fly walk through it before we got back to the boat (and the betadine).

Out in the Pacific, I think the most common bug you pick up from coral cuts is staph. Not sure about that.

Taichungman, dang, those were nasty! I hope everyone can avoid them.

Ann

[a64pilot]

OK if anyone is interested I cleaned the bottom today.
Wasn't that bad, hard growth was sparse and seemingly only close to the surface and near the bow, almost none on the port side.
Pretty sure it was due to how much light the bottom got, I tie up port side and that is in the shade, so no growth? Funny thing too is my Dyna plate is as clean as the day it was installed?

Metal drywall knife removed growth easily, also removed paint easily too.
I didn't use it for that reason, plastic dry wall knives worked, but blunted easily. I believe a happy medium would be pieces of broken plexiglass, it's what I used on aircraft surfaces that we couldn't use a metal scraper on and broken plexi is sharp and tough.

I need gloves, and a suction cup would be nice. I'm thinking rubber coated fabric work gloves? I don't want to pay $30 for a good set of SCUBA gloves

[fstbttms]

A scraper (of any kind) should only be used to remove hard growth. It is not an appropriate tools for all-over, all-the-time cleaning. Further, a scraper doesn't really do a very good job of cleaning, period. 3M Doodlebug pads are the industry standard for hull cleaning.

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Taichungman

I posted this once before a year or so ago but I'm going to paste it here again in hopes it might save someone some misery.

Ugh, nasty stuff. Thanks so much for posting and yes, those pics with that story will certainly help me be more careful. I also like the Cate's idea of the Betadine flush, mom used Iodine on me when I was a kid and it worked!