Botanical Gardens Or How fast is your boat at the moment.

[Fstbttms]

Originally Posted by bubb2

A bottom needs to move though the water to wash it's self clean.

In marine environments that experience moderate to heavy fouling conditions, 5 or 6 knots won't knock off much.

[NOLAsailing]

I raced to Pensacola this summer and slowly cruised back, stopping in Alabama and Mississippi. In all, my boat was on the coast for several months and I did not clean it until I got back to New Orleans.

By the time I got back to New Orleans, I could barely rev the motor without lots of vibration. I hopped in the water and the prop was just encrusted with barnacles. The bottom had quite a bit of soft growth on it also. This is less than 3 months in Florida/Gulf waters!

I keep my boat on a bayou here and I get a lot of soft growth, particularly on the rudder, but no hard growth between cleanings (even on the prop).

[bubb2]

Fast, I keep my boat on the Hudson river. There is so much silt in the river that it is kind of like wet sanding with 5000 grit paper. I do agree nothing beats a good bottom cleaning.

[eMKay]

You guys never heard about anti-fouling paint? Just curious :P

[bubb2]

Originally Posted by eMKay

You guys never heard about anti-fouling paint? Just curious :P

I sure have, I use micron, only the best for my boat. I wait until a cool windless morning and get out the roller with the extension handle. I can do the entire top sides before the day starts getting warm. The only criticism I have of micron is it does repel the bird poop!!

[Joel73]

We're pulling "At Last" out this March to put a fresh bottom coat on her. It will be the first time she's been out of the water since we bought her in May of 2007. We decided that we could clean her ourself during low tides and that would be fine until we could pull her this year for a proper antifouling job. I don't recommend waiting two years but we decided to take a chance since she had a brand new barrier coat when we launched her. There are no barnacles but the buildup of slime is getting a little thick... not too bad though. I'm excited to get her all cleaned up this spring for a full season of sailing.

[mrwuffles]

We only get that thin layer of slime but it may be because we have brackish water you think that makes much of a difference on growth? The striped bass certainly like it.

[Boasun]

Maybe I should have asked on how many of your are cultivating your botanical garden on the wet side of your boat??

[camaraderie]

Boasun...If yer gonna be ship shape...ya need to go bow in to the dock every 90 days or so to even out the growth!

[Fstbttms]

Originally Posted by mrwuffles

We only get that thin layer of slime but it may be because we have brackish water you think that makes much of a difference on growth?

Absolutely. Here in the Bay Area, we have both saltwater and brakish environments. The main part of the bay is salty while the further up the delta you go the fresher it gets. Boats that live up that way are cleaned very infrequently. In fact, any number of times I have seen boats leave the main Bay with a dirty bottom, go up the river for a week or two and come back nice and clean.