barnacles

[Loualfr]

anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the barnacles from growing on my boat just above the waterline. this happens every year and I'm always scraping them off.

[Cruisingdad]

Paint your bottom paint higher. We did.

- CD

[Freesail99]

This months issue of Practical sailor did a review of bottom paints. Well worth reading.

[AjariBonten]

Sail Faster, they don't swim so good!!

[TrueBlue]

Originally Posted by Loualfr

anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the barnacles from growing on my boat just above the waterline. this happens every year and I'm always scraping them off.

Barnacles can't survive for long out of water - since they feed on micro-organisms floating in the water by projecting feathery legs from their crusty shell.

Aside from keeping the boat in constant motion, there are two ways to stop barnacle growth. Either raise the boat's "waterline" as CD advised - since it apparently falls just below the actual waterline, or lighten the boat's load to reduce displacement.

[chucklesR]

As a rule of thumb the bottom paint should continue up to two inches above the DWL, (design water line) - that way when the crew and equipment (hair dryer, ice maker, disco ball and lit palm tree) find thier way aboard you are still 'covered'.
Do you happen to know how many pounds it takes to sink your boat 1 inch (I forget the scintific term), on mine it's 450 pounds per hull, so 900 lbs of crap sink me 1 inch.. Reason I ask - if you don't want to raise the bottom paint, unload the boat enough to bring the waterline back to where it belongs.

[tenuki]

Take all the useless crap out of your boat and stop putting more in there. It's a sailboat for goodness sakes, not a storage locker!

[sailingdog]

Chuckles-

The term is Pounds Per Inch... which is the amount of weight it takes to submerge a given boat 1" deeper... However, as most boats change their water plane area as they draw deeper means that the PPI number is a moving target...

[Sailormann]

IF you wax your boat really well they willfind it difficult to get a grip on the hull. Wrap a rag around the head of a long-handled brush once every couple of weeks and you'll be able to get them off pretty easily (if it is waxed).

[wind_magic]

They taste yummy with hot sauce.

Or maybe that's thai food, nevermind ...