SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Recommendation needed: Diver/bottom cleaning Annapolis area

15K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  Jeff_H 
#1 ·
Hi all,
I'm looking for a reliable diver to check out our boat bottom, check/clean the shaft and prop, and perhaps a light bottom scrub. I'm not racing, so I don't need a spotless boat. But this is our first year with her, and I'd like to make sure the zinc is holding up OK, and I'm assuming the shaft and prop probably could use some cleaning.

I'm on the South River on the Chesapeake. Can anyone recommend a local diver for this? Reasonable pricing would be a plus.
Thanks!
-J
 
#2 · (Edited)
I recommend Christian Graf (aka Yellow Dick Diving). I'll get his number for you when I get home tonight if nobody else posts it first.

EDIT: I'd also like to add that Christian dives all winter unlike most other divers in the area, so if you leave your boat in like I do and are paranoid about your zincs like I am, he's perfect!
 
#3 ·
I recommend Christian Graf (aka Yellow Dick Diving). I'll get his number for you when I get home tonight if nobody else posts it first.

EDIT: I'd also like to add that Christian dives all winter unlike most other divers in the area, so if you leave your boat in like I do and are paranoid about your zincs like I am, he's perfect!
Thanks painkiller! Please do forward his info when you can...
 
#5 ·
Here you go, Jos!

Yellow Dick Diving
970 Yachtsman Way
Annapolis, MD 21403

yellowdickdiving@gmail.com

I don't seem to have any of his business cards handy, so I don't have his phone number. But he does respond to email, which is how I usually contact him. I'm on a regular schedule with him now, so I don't have to talk to him very often.
Thanks painkiller--really appreciate it!
-J
 
#11 ·
I liveaboard and don't haul for the winter. If you keep the boat heated it isn't an issue.

I use Patrick McMahon ( diver-4-hire@hotmail.com 410-271-0340 ) and am pleased with his service. I particularly like that he will send me an e-mail when he is planning to be at the boat (I am on a 5 week schedule) so I can leave a check out for him. That works for us. If you choose to use him please tell him Auspicious recommended him. He is $3/ft for the first service and now charges me $90 / service for the regular cleaning.

I did use Yellow Dick Diving a few years ago with good results, but that was before Christian bought the business. I do know he and his girl friend are very active in the local sailing community and sponsor at least one race boat. He's a good cook also. *grin*
 
#14 ·
I am curious to know what sailors are paying for this type of work. Bottom cleaning, inspections, zincs, etc. Is $ 3.00/ ft. about the going rate for bottom cleaning ? Do any of the divers services yu know of charge a minimum? thanks, Rick
Hull cleaning rates vary from region to region. Seems like the going rate in Annapolis is $3.00/foot. You being in New York it may be different. Here in the Bay Area, for instance, we generally charge $2.25/foot for sailboats and $3.00/foot for powerboats. Zinc replacement is usually $10.00/zinc, plus the cost of the zinc. In SoCal hull cleaning is even cheaper, by a buck or so a foot.

I personally have a $50.00 minimum wet fee and that buys you half an hour of my time for inspections, retrievals or other misc. dive work. Again, YMMV depending on where you are located.
 
#13 ·
We also use Blue Planet and pay $3 to $4/foot. They charge based on how much time they spend on the boat, so it varies depending on how gucked up our bottom is. We schedule together with a couple of other boats on our dock, we save a little bit of money because the divers only mobilize once to do 3 boats.

Sally Morris
Robert van der Gon Netscher
BLUE PLANET DIVE SERVICES
410-867-2962
blueplanetdive@comcast.net
 
#19 ·
Has anyone heard from them lately? I've left email and voicemail messages for over a week and have not heard back from them.
I wrote them and didn't hear back, but I only tried the one time.

Jos,

Assuming your prop and shaft are comparable to my own (big assumption) you can check/clean yourself very easily. I can reach my shaft and prop with my right hand while holding onto a rope attached to the stern cleat with my left and still have my head above water. Guess if I found the zincs missing I'd have a different problem but for scrapping and cleaning find a clean creek, get into the water and see what you find.

Best of Luck...MGM
MGM, I figure I can reach it--it's probably the same distance as yours, though might be the opposite side of the boat. But when I tried it, I couldn't see anything whatsoever. And I didn't want to just reach out and grab the prop if there were barnacles or something on it. I'm betting I can get the hang of it if I can find someplace where I can see it, at least with a mask on.

By the way, sounds like you guys had a good Labor Day weekend!
 
#18 ·
Jos,

Assuming your prop and shaft are comparable to my own (big assumption) you can check/clean yourself very easily. I can reach my shaft and prop with my right hand while holding onto a rope attached to the stern cleat with my left and still have my head above water. Guess if I found the zincs missing I'd have a different problem but for scrapping and cleaning find a clean creek, get into the water and see what you find.

Best of Luck...MGM
 
#21 ·
i dive my boat at the entrance to rock creek, it has a nice soft bottom. as well as it gets shallow gradually, moving 50 feet means about 6 inches of depth change.

just watch the minnows, they swarm when scraping barnacles. then they try to clean you off and it feels funny
 
#22 ·
Scotty,

IMHO I would be carefull with the quaility of the water out of Rock Creek, Unless I was out far. There have been all sorts of alerts about high fecal chloroform counts as well. A number of people in our club have gotten sick swimming in the water there.

We keep our boat at the Maryland Yacht Club at the entrance to Rock Creek. I swim in the Chester, Whorton, Sassafrass. Personally I would never go in the water there unless it was an emergency.

Dave
 
#23 ·
I'll second what Chef said. I used to keep a boat up there in Rock Creek. I thought I had a line wrapped around my prop, so I asked the marina office if I they had a mask I could borrow. The marina manager said "What?? You're not going IN that water, are you? If you do, you take a shower as soon as you get out!" Soon thereafter, I found the website for Anne Arundel County that listed the poop counts in the local waters and was astonished at how filthy Rock Creek and the Patapsco are. I even called the county and the guy said "That's nothing. Not too long ago, the water was so polluted, it was like battery acid. We were getting complaints of damage to boat hulls." I'm not sure how long ago that was, though.
 
#25 ·
Other names for divers

Thought I'd post a couple of names for divers I found after Blue Planet Divers didn't show up on their scheduled appointment. All of the following divers seem good, and they all were willing to work on Sunday. And, they answer their phones and return calls :)

John at Commander Dive Services: 410-971-4777

Ryan at R&D: 443-763-0994
 
#26 ·
I'm refreshing this thread because Blue Planet got a lot of recommendations early on and then appeared to go MIA last fall. Anyone have any divers they've used this season and would recommend?
 
#28 ·
I would NEVER EVER use Yellow Dick Diving again and I would emphatically recommend against them to anyone. He was supposed to clean the bottom of our race boat every Wednesday, and again at the end of the week on a regatta weekend. On a Saturday two weeks ago I went swimming with my family and friends and sliced my finger open on three LARGE BARNACLES. I called/left three voicemails and sent two email; no response. Then I showed up to race the next Wednesday and the bottom was still untouched. Called and sent emails again; again, no response. Had a regatta on Sunday...still nothing done. When I finally got in touch with him, on Sunday morning, all he had to say was "Gee, ya dude, I hear ya." This is the third time in a year and a half that he has screwed me like this. Stay far far away from Yellow Dick Diving.
 
#29 ·
Im charging 3.00 a foot for sailing vessels, 2.50 for power boats privately owned. Commercial vessels I will charge an hourly or flat fee depending on the circumstances. I make more business in the winter than I do spring through end of summer because when its 25 degree air and 34 degree water im the only one around and you can bet the rates go up for that. Now, EVERYONE and their brother who has a tank calls themselves commercial divers, undercutting my company to the point that I cant compete with them which in turn, only hurts the entire diving community as well as myself. Do be careful on who you hire. Ensure they are properly trained, knowledgable and insured! Not just some weekend warrior looking for beer money. If they are just a recreational diver and get hurt while under hire YOU are exposed legally for them getting injured.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I have used Yellowdick Diving for the better part of 10 years now. The company had really been top notch, but with Christian out of town, in Florida and some other diver filling in, for him the coverage had been terrible. After several missed appointments, Christian referred me to:

Kyle Sobeck
Slippy's Dive Service
Annapolis, MD 21401
301-641-8499
divemutt@gmail.com

Kyle 's company is a separate company from YellowDick but he has been very professional, thorough, and timely.

Jeff
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top