Barnacle removal without scraping

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, hock.

[Aethelwulffe]

On topic:
Answer: Yes.


-You have someone else scrape them; and then grind them to finish the job. Otherwise sand/soda/shell blasting.
Some of the most important to remove barnies, like around your swim gear and through-hulls, are mechanically wedged into place as well as cemented on. They will not come off with some magic sonic doo-dad. If someone believes that is true, then they probably also order charts with parallel longitude lines.


Shell gets cemented on, in some cases, with better adhesive strength than your gel-coat does to a secondary bond of the fiberglass layup of your hull.


In any case, scraping barnies is a tiny tiny little cleaning chore. It just doesn't take that long. Scraper on a stick, wide razor scraper for the waterline to get off the scum, and a hefty banger hand scraper for the rudder roots and other swim gear. Just do it.

[NorthernMac]

Originally Posted by fisherman.ben

or you can leave the boat in the water and use a pressure washer (yes, they do still work under water, I do it once a year on the commercial fishing boat I work on) use a 35 tip, close the sea cocks, put on the dive gear, keep it away from strainers and about a foot (or so) away from the boat and go to it. (just don't do it in the harbor, people don't seem to mind if you scrub the bottom with a carpet or brush, but some of them don't like the noise of the pressure washer.)

I’m going to remember this. Thanks

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by NorthernMac

I’m going to remember this. Thanks

Take it from somebody who earns his living cleaning boat bottoms- if you care about your anti fouling paint; you will never aim a pressure washer at a painted surface.

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Take it from somebody who earns his living cleaning boat bottoms- if you care about your anti fouling paint; you will never aim a pressure washer at a painted surface.

What tools do you use?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

What tools do you use?

https://youtu.be/Y_Q3S-r0iGs

[Lost Horizons]

Cool! I wish I had it when I was cleaning my boat in Florida. (I used my two children instead.)

[Michael Cobbe]

You need a calcium remover, or a mild acid such as oxalic or phosphoric acid, found in hull cleaners.

[Paul Carey]

On our 1977 (if you want solid fibreglass, you need to buy pre 1983 ) Catalac 8m , the coppercoat applied during refit in 2010 (although the boat was relaunched until 2017 ) still seem to grow a a fair amount of weed & mussels in our salt water mooring ,,The sages in the yard suggest reactivating the copper coat by rubbing down with scotchbright pan cleaner or even sandpaper !! Any thoughts or experience please

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Paul Carey

The sages in the yard suggest reactivating the copper coat by rubbing down with scotchbright pan cleaner or even sandpaper !! Any thoughts or experience please

One of the dirty little secrets about Coppercoat is that it needs to be sanded periodically (a Scotchbrite pad isn't going to get the job done) because it is essentially copper particles encased in epoxy. You need to remove epoxy to free-up fresh copper and that needs to be done annually at least.

[phalo]

I just gave my Farr 6 its first monthly careen on the yacht club beech in Noosa River Qld since taking a marina birth with no anti foul .There is a fair amount of fresh water at times but one black oval of growth about 2" and 1/2 inch thick line would not come off and appeared almost in the gelcoat. I had no chemical with me but will try bleach this month. Any idea? I have a photo but escapes me how to get it from "photos" on my Oppo phone.🤔

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

https://youtu.be/Y_Q3S-r0iGs

Very nice but that aint going to work on a soft ablative.
Well it will work, but there will be a cloud of colour right?

[dlymn]

Phalo, Check that the growth isn’t near where the batteries are. I had an anode connected to the battery system that had been painted over many times

[dlymn]

Phalo, Check that the growth isn’t near where the batteries are. I had an anode connected to the battery system that had been painted over many times

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Very nice but that aint going to work on a soft ablative.
Well it will work, but there will be a cloud of colour right?

Any cleaning media can be improperly used. I could scrub your anti fouling paint off with a microfiber towel, if I tried hard enough. The Remora is no different. With the proper brush selection and rotation speed, Remora is no more damaging to your paint than cleaning by hand. Maybe less so, honestly.