ultrasonic antifouling?

[Kiltmadoc]

On my facebook page, this popped up:
Smartantifouling

I have never heard of such a thing, and i wonder if anyone has ever used it on a boat, and if you can leave this on for a week without charging batteries. Seems awfully fancy-dancy to me.

[bljones]

psst, wanna buy a bridge?

[Kiltmadoc]

haha....But seriously, looking a bit further afield, I see that Practical boat owner magazine did a limited test with some decent results. It just seems to be an impractical and power-hungry way to keep the bottom part clean

[sailingdog]

Yeah, and you'll still be painting the hull and scrubbing it too... If it actually worked, don't you think people would be using it?

[Kiltmadoc]

Well, it's quite expensive and I doubt there's a money-back guarantee. So, with those two things, I am thinking that people wont rush out to buy it. One forum posting I saw had pictures where the person had very little fouling and claimed it was from an u/s system.

When 1 quart of anti-fouling paint cost $45 you start to look for alternatives....

[AdamLein]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Yeah, and you'll still be painting the hull and scrubbing it too... If it actually worked, don't you think people would be using it?

Obviously this is exactly what the OP is trying to find out. Do you know if people are actually using it?

I don't use a watermarker, therefore watermakers don't work. Duh.

[tommays]

The navy and shipping in general has huge money riding on clean bottoms and i am pretty sure if it worked

[eherlihy]

This has come up a couple of times before; see here, and here.

[SlowButSteady]

I've never used such a system. However, from what I've read about them the actual results are probably akin to those produced by various biocides; namely, that they work very well for some organisms, not so well for others. I also am a bit skeptical that all that vibrating will have no effect on the structure of the boat (e.g., chain plates/tang to standing rigging connections, various mast fittings, et cetera). I realize that these are capable of all manner of vibrations and stresses while the boat is sailing (or even when the wind picks up at the dock), but it's hard to imagine that constant 24/7 vibration for years on end won't have some effect.

[overbored]

[QUOTE=Kiltmadoc;688241]Well, it's quite expensive and I doubt there's a money-back guarantee. So, with those two things, I am thinking that people wont rush out to buy it.
/QUOTE]
are you talking about the ultrasonic thingy or just boats in general