Diver Hull Cleaning Frequency

Here in Los Angeles, my dive service charges $1 per foot. Monthly cleaning is required because even with new bottom paint, brown slime appears after a week and is substantial after four weeks. A bare hull dinghy or an inflatable can be left in the water no more than a week before hard barnacles sprout.

For discussion:

How does frequent diver service affect the life of expensive bottom paint?

Since bottom paint loses effectiveness after a year or less, is it more rational to simply reply on diver service than to frequently repaint?

Older boats often have a thick layer of old paint, which results in cracking and roughness under new paint. Since all the old paint needs eventually to be removed (expensive and messy), is that an argument for only one new coat of bottom paint--to delay the build-up?

we have a fresh coat of Pettit Trinidad (Nov. 2013) and we get the brown slime after a few weeks. It wipes right off, but it grows back quick

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

Perfect timing for this question....

In Florida, we have our hull cleaned monthly ($25 per). We just had our boat hauled and the bottom painted two weeks ago and I am happy to report that our two year old bottom job looked great! Our diver really earns his money. He even replaces our zincs when needed. The paint we used is Sea Hawk. It is the same that was applied two years ago. Rick

(Sent from my iPad 10 miles offshore of Naples, Fl enroute to Key West)

Yup Monthly.

Yup Monthly. Every month for the past 12 years. Here in LA Harbor you might get away with two months in the winter, but stuff grows like heck in the summer. Until this year I was paying $28.35 per month. It just went up to $31.05. Worth every penny. I recently took photo's of a friend's boat's hull with 3 or 4 months growth. You couldn't see the prop, strut, shaft and could hardly distinguish the rudder from the keel.

Bottom cleaning service cost.

Jeff and all, Here in Marina del Rey, my bottom service charges me $31.00 per month and changes my zincs when needed, maybe twice a year but I'm really not sure, this for our 31 foot boat. Cheers, Glyn, E31 hull #55, MDR

Rick R. said:

In Florida, we have our hull cleaned monthly ($25 per). We just had our boat hauled and the bottom painted two weeks ago and I am happy to report that our two year old bottom jib looked great! Our diver really earns his money. He even replaces our zincs when needed. The paint we used is Sea Hawk. It is the same that was applied two years ago. Rick

(Sent from my iPad 10 miles offshore of Naples, Fl enroute to Key West)

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I saw in the local paper last week that Sea Hawk is in trouble with the feds over their bottom paint.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts...at-paint-company-face-federal-charges/2168554

Don't worry, Rick, the feds won't be looking for you in the Keys. Stay safe.

Tom Metzger said:

I saw in the local paper last week that Sea Hawk is in trouble with the feds over their bottom paint.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts...at-paint-company-face-federal-charges/2168554

Don't worry, Rick, the feds won't be looking for you in the Keys. Stay safe.

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Tom, you missed the best part from the article, "Studies have shown that the compound can cause female snails to grow male genitalia". With the way things are going these days, the snails can get the shemale snails equal rights under the law. What's wrong with that?:0 A little butch maybe but hey, the bottom is clean.

You really should consider staying down here. Way more fun than NY!

Rick R. said:

You really should consider staying down here. Way more fun than NY!

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Possibly so, but in NY we don't need to poison snails to come up with freaks. :0 And divers are people we occasionally pay to retrieve sunglasses or tools we drop overboard at the dock.

never

Up here in Oregon we have it easy. I have never had to scrub the bottom...... Maybe the rough bar crossings four times a week scrub it off for me for free. I really never knew people had to do that. I use a hard semi ablative.

More to the point, keep those snails in a jar and turn them loose on the hull after you dock. Problem solved!
Might take a while to get them back into the jar when you're ready to sail...

When I had my boat hauled out, after purchase, the bottom-growth wasn't nearly as thick as I thought it would be... and there appeared to be child's hand prints in the slime, all over the bottom.. Beavers? Nutria? Maybe we just gotta get a healthy population of grazers living in the marina.

Bottom Cleaning

When I had my boat in Florida (East Coast......Fairly Brackish in the canal I was berthed in) the diver rate was $2.00 per foot .....$70.00 for my boat and the zincs replaced when needed (Zincs extra).....I got three years out of the bottom paint, which was 2 heavy coats of Trinidad (2006)......when hauled out the paint was pretty thin......ready to be re-coated......

After soda blasting, two coats of clear West System Epoxy, three coats of Interprotect, and a coating of VC-17M, and the boat back in fresh water and no diver during the summer season there is a bit of slime and light growth when the boat is hauled in the fall.

I just wish I knew where I have been putting the $70.00 that I have been saving......I can't find any of it.......

Another FWIW diatribe

Well you are all making me wish we lived elsewhere -short season and expensive care. Diving here in Boston costs me $100 per month. We have used, over the years, Baltoplate, Fiberglass Bottomkote (reg & aqua) and now Hydrocoat. All have a very similar fouling profile. When I used to dive myself I would get away with 2 times a season. Now I pay someone it is the same total seasonal cost to have the diver dive every 4 weeks as it is if I have him dive every 2 months. Hence the monthly wipe.

I have had very good luck with Pettit's Ultima SR-60. I had been having problems with tiny barnacles using Trinidad Sr and Micron CSC and a few others, but the Ultima SR-60 has done very well. I've been doing one mid-season dive, and it is usually just a little slime around the water line and immediately below, and it knocks off easily with a stiff brush. I am on the Chesapeake, which is brackish.

Monthly April - October

I am on the Chesapeake, a brackish creek in Annapolis. Last season, my bottom had to be cleaned monthly or it was out of control. However, the paint is five years old and well past due. I'm hauling this Spring for a complete bottom strip and re-paint that I should have done sooner. I'm going to Pettit Ultima SR-60 based on many favorable local reports. Hopefully, this will reduce the frequency of diver cleanings and reduce the cost. Last season, I was always over $100 due to the time required due to the failing paint.

Mark

Matey said:

I get the boat dove on timed with races and algal bloom. $80 with 2 barrel zincs I provide. I'll have growth in spring / summer within days.
Petitt Trinidad has been on going on 3rd year and Diver says he's still on the softest scrub pad, all looking good

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My E25+ is in Marina Bay (Pt Richmond) and the paint is over two years old (micron ablative) my diver comes by every 8 weeks or so. He says its time for new paint.

Hull Cleaning

My E3511 Hull is cleaned every 4 weeks by a Dive service that charges $1.15 a foot or $40.25. They also report on the condition of the bottom paint and replace the zincs when necessary.

With ablative when do you actually need to have the hull cleaned

For the first time in the 2+ years that I've had Southpaw I have had a dive company clean my running gear monthly during the warm season. My bill for that is $40. The other day I got a bill for $60.25, when I called to question it they said the diver thought the hull needed to be cleaned. Since I use an ablative paint I thought that the full hull cleaning was a no-no generally speaking. Granted I had not said the boat or about 6 weeks as I waited for my new prop to come in. But I took her for a spirited 5+ hour sail on Sunday. Got the bill on Monday. Anyway, question is, do I tell them never to clean my entire hull because of the ablative paint, or is what they did good practice...when in need it's okay to wipe down the entire hull? thanks,

Jay

Our E30+ is in Nanaimo on Vancouver island and stays in the water year round. I use Micron CSC ablative anti-fouling paint, applying two new coats every two to three years after only sanding lightly when I haul for maintenance and/or insurance survey. I clean the bottom myself, usually every two weeks in the summer and every six weeks in the winter when water is colder. If I don't keep this schedule, a thin coat of algae/slime will begin to grow on the hull and has a noticeable effect on boat speed. The antifouling paint lasts well between haul outs, even with this frequent cleaning schedule. The antifouling paint does not slough off as much as I expected it would.

To clean the hull, I use a fairly stiff bristle brush screwed onto the end of a six foot wooden handle, and I systematically work my way along both sides of the hull. Afterwards, if I'm not too cold, I will clean the keel using just the brush without the handle. From May to September I'm in the water with just swim suit and goggles; from October to April I use an inexpensive wet suit. Admittedly, it's cold most months, but manageable. Replacing the prop shaft zincs in the winter cold water is a challenge, but that's another story.

Frank

Lake Michigan Interlux Y999 racing bronze (similar to VC17) we will get substantial algae growth every 2-3 weeks in the high summer. spring she'll stay clean from apr-15- june 1 after that it should ideally be cleaned every 2 weeks but too expensive at $2.00 + a foot here in the Chicago sub. I actually decided this last year I'm doing it myself. No more waiting, no more, oh i didn't get to it. and most importantly no more bills! don't know about others but the diver always seems to really hammer my boot stripe with that aggressive scotch pad and every spring it takes a real buffing to bring back it,s lustre.

Capt. Ian