Inside water hull cleaning

[XAVIER]

Hi subscribers,
I have a daysayler and have no means to take it out from water to make a decent hull cleaning and antifouling paint.
I bought a sheet of plastic foil enought to cover the entire bottom to create a little water pool around the hull and mix 20 liters of clorine (natrium hipoclorite) and let it clean the fouling during two days followed by suba brushing.
It is a crazy idea but I hope it would work.
Did you have tried such thing before?
I saw before an expensive sailer inside a plastic pool encircled by top floats, probably to preserve from fouling and take the idea.
Do you know if this kind of plastic down covers can be bought?

Greatings to everybody.

Francisco Xavier
francisco.xavier@csanet.pt

[ssullivan]

Better than spilling bleach into your local waters:

*Buy a snorkel, mask, and fins.

Also, buy 3M "ScotchBrite" dark green plastic scrubbers and a plastic putty knife/scraper.

During my short stint working on a megayacht, I used to clean the dinghies (23' Parker and 21' Novurania) with the tools listed above.

Using this technique took me approx an hour to do a very good job on each boat. It's worth the extra effort to protect the environment and keep the water clean for all of us to enjoy.

[Alan Wheeler]

Chlorine (Sodium Hypochlorite) kills anything and everything. What happens when you remove the cover and let the stuff enter the water???
Also, as Sean stated, it is a bleach. Bleaches break down paints. Thus it will be breaking down your surface paint. It will eat the surface and bleach it and turn it to a chalky substance that wears away faster.
You can buy or have made a cover that encases the entire hull. But it is a paint to get on and off. Plus the hull maybe kept clean, but the cover gets encrusted.
You can buy a water powered scrubing macine, but I can't remember its name.

[Jentine]

The Azores have beaches. Pull the boat up onto the beach and give the bottom a proper cleaning and then apply a bottom paint to prevent the same from happening again.

[Strygaldwir]

Isn't chlorine what they used to put in our water and have us drink? Yes, chlorine is very toxic to fish in sufficient concentrations and sufficeint exposure. But, it does break down VERY quickly. It is also diluted very readily. Not that I'd recommend it, but it probably has about the same overall impact to the ecology as painting your boat. Ever look at the biocides they put in that stuff??? Hmmm.... Copper is just as toxic as chlorine, and I don't think it breaks down.