Cleaning the hull, without removing antifoul

[simonpickard]

As the topic says.. How to people go about this? Whenever I cleaned the hull back when I had the boat I always felt like I was taking half of the antifoul with it thereby reducing it’s usefulness.

Any tips or tricks I can bank away for when I get the next boat?

Regards,
Simon

[sailorboy1]

use softer things to clean with

[motion30]

when you paint the bottom of your boat use hard paint not ablative

[Hudson Force]

I would choose a thin, somewhat flexible, putty knife with the corners ground smooth. I spent most of my time in relatively warm waters and found that I could remove most barnacles in the water with just a wipe with a gloved hand. The most difficult removal comes when the growth is left to dry with the boat remaining a few days or more on the hard.

[Pete7]

I use the garden hoe to scrape the weed off and then lightly pressure wash it on a gentle setting. We only use ablative paints because I want to keep the build up to a minimum. Hard paints tend to be for power boats. Paints like Micron extra just come off with a cloud of blue in the water if you use a brush so a gentle approach is needed. Just don't let it dry out before tackling it.

Pete

[Bill O]

+1 for using hard bottom paint and a Dri-diver. Been using this combo for years and works great.
Still need to dive on the prop, rudder and keel, but the hull can be cleaned in a few minutes. Frequency of using the Dri-diver/cleaning depends on the amount of fouling in your area and age of paint, but typically no more than once/month.
The other plus w/the Dri-diver is it lightly polishes the surface and by the time the bottom needs to be redone, there is minimum hard paint build up.


Bill O.

[sailorboy1]

and then there's people like me who have Seahawk's top of the line paint that started failing after only 2 months

may as well use a diamond blade scraper and remove the paint at same time as the growth and save time

[fstbttms]

https://youtu.be/qzawnxVPlL0

https://youtu.be/kgPmXg1-o5g

[Olivier_51]

Oysters require lots of force so is not always possible to use softer devices... my answer is put a lot of coating, as I did not find a better solution. Good question anyway, as both antifouling and hauling out are expensive, so this needs compromizing ?

[AZ-Oldguy]

Slightly related...I have 1 year on 2+ coats of ablative. I had hoped to go 2 years here in the PNW. I have to haul out for packing gland. Should I pressure wash? Or is it hopeless and I will need a new coat of paint?

[Capt. Ray]

Have you thought of replacing fax in your packing gland without hauling out? It can be done.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by AZ-Oldguy

Slightly related...I have 1 year on 2+ coats of ablative. I had hoped to go 2 years here in the PNW. I have to haul out for packing gland. Should I pressure wash? Or is it hopeless and I will need a new coat of paint?

Even if you haul out I wouldn't add paint. We are on year 2 of two coats of Micron 77. Dried out several times and gently cleaned twice now.

[sailorboy1]

I would pressure wash sand and put some paint on. Why wait and pay again next year for a haul out to do it.

[AZ-Oldguy]

Capt. RAY,


I have thought about that, but access is very limited in my old Endurance, and I know how fast the water can pour in by just backing off the nut. I really wouldn't want to try it. Also I have no idea when this was last done but it has become increasingly hard to get any adjustment that doesn't involve water spraying out when I am motoring and dripping 20 drops a minute when I'm not.
I probably will take the last suggestion, bite the bullet and throw on another quick coat of paint after light clean and sand.

[sailon46]

FYI I have been experimenting with covering my gori 20 and the shaft with a garden bag dive under tighten the strings. I am docked in Green Cay Marina in St Croix. Well with intervals about two months between trips to the boat and sailing the usvi and BVI . The growth in those intervals I called chandeliers from the prop. Now I take the bag after 2 months and I can still see the shine on the prop.
Ernie on the Mary Jane