[matthewwhill]

I enjoy sailing in Puget Sound much more than Lake Washington, but it takes nearly three hours to motor through the shipping canal and locks. Thinking about mooring my boat at Shilshole.

If I decide to keep my boat in salt water, how much more often will I have to haul it out to get the bottom done?

I have an outboard, so I don't think I have or need zincs, right?

I would need to get some rabbit ears and an outboard stand of some kind to flush the cooling system of my outboard.. right?

Anything else I am missing?

Trying to get a sense of how much more difficult this would be.

 

[Alex W]

You can flush using rabbit ears by themselves, you don't need a stand.

You'll probably need to haul out for bottom paint every 2 years instead of every 5. The ideal bottom paint is a little different since the things attaching themselves to the boat are different. Either way it isn't a big deal.

I moved from Lake Union to Shilshole almost two years ago and love it. Some of my friends are happy being at the marinas located at the top of the locks, where you get to be in fresh water and can get to the locks or Lake Union quickly. I don't like the idea of having to deal with the locks or drawbridges every time I go sailing.

You might not find an open slip at Shilshole until October. Here is the open slip list:
Wait List & Availability

Ignore the wait time, they are often incorrect. In September it will say 2-6 months, and then in October they'll have 15+ 30' slips available.

 

[MedSailor]

Life is better at shilshole. Great community of knowledgeable liveaboards there too. Flushing the outboard sounds like a good idea. Some outboards have a small zinc that goes on the cavitation plate.

One neat trick a friend at shilshole did was to buy a standard, kitchen sized garbage can. He slides it under the outboard leg and pumps out the salt water. Keeps his motor crispy dry except for rainwater, which he pumps out occasionally.

With the right bottom paint you can go 3-5 years up in the puget sound before the growth gets excessive.

MedSailor

 

[Zarathu]

ARe you keeping her in the water all the time?

You are in cold water, and this reduces the little buggers that collect on your hull. Where is your mooring? In my mooring where the water temperature even at its warmest doesn't exceed 61 degrees, and is mostly below 55, we don't have as many little pieces of plant life attaching. Also, my mooring is subjected to continuous movement of the tides forward and backward so the constant flow of water drops it back.

Our yacht club puts out 6 Mercury Sail boats for club usage, and they paint the bottoms every year. But its probably not necessary, since those of use who haul the boat out of the water for winter, have found that all we need to do really is pressure wash the hull.

It really depends a lot on the conditions and how long your boat will sit alone in the water, IMO, and based on the experiences of friends at the yacht club. My boat has bottom paint from the PO.

BTW, PRACTICAL SAILOR posted a couple of articles about putting the baby diaper rash ointment Destin© on the boat, and how at least in a one year basis it matched the expensive $250 gallon preparations. You can get a 16 tin of Desitin for $16 on eBay.

 

[Alex W]

One neat trick a friend at shilshole did was to buy a standard, kitchen sized garbage can. He slides it under the outboard leg and pumps out the salt water. Keeps his motor crispy dry except for rainwater, which he pumps out occasionally.

This sounds like a lot of work compared to just pivoting the engine out of the water.

With the right bottom paint you can go 3-5 years up in the puget sound before the growth gets excessive.

I think it depends on your expectations for boat performance.

 

[matthewwhill]

Alex-

Unfortunately my motor doesn't pivot out of the water, its stuck in a well near the transom.

Do I need zincs? Even if I pull the motor out every time I still have a through-hull... does that mean I need zincs?

I agree with you, I don't want to deal with the locks every single time I go sailing. Especially since I'm almost always single handing.

I definitely love Shilshole and the Sound. What a great place.

 

[Alex W]

My outboard powered Catalina 25 had no zincs. The through hulls were not bonded to anything and shore power was never used (there was no battery charger).

The only other Kent Ranger 24 that I've seen had a system that allowed the motor to be pulled up out of the well. I thought yours would be similar. Unfortunately that boat was sold a long time ago and I don't know where it is anymore.

 

[matthewwhill]

Yeah, I can pull it out of the well. I'm trying to think if I can then clamp it on the transom or one of the sidewalls of the well so that the prop is up out of the salt water.

Still fixating on the zinc issue. Hopefully my outboard has a sacrificial anode, and now I'm wondering if my brass seacock sink drain needs one....

The haulouts will be more frequent, but its worth it. I enjoy being out there so much more. Lake Washington was a great place to learn and practice heaving to , reefing underway, anchoring etc...

 

[MedSailor]

If you do want to protect the underwater seacocks, the only way I can think of is to wire them all together (bond them) and then run that wire to a zinc that you hang over the side when you're at your slip.

Since you have so little metal aboard, why not just replace the seacocks with marelon plastic ones at your next haulout. Then, never worry about it again.

The trash can idea might be easier than lifting the motor out every time. You could even add a small 12v bilge pump to the setup to make it automated and easy.

MedSailor

 

[Zarathu]

Diaper Cream for Boats? - Inside Practical Sailor Blog Article

 

[aeventyr60]

Woolsey Neptune bottom paint worked for me berthed inside the locks for years. i T

 

[miatapaul]

Diaper Cream for Boats? - Inside Practical Sailor Blog Article

Well here is his summation:

My take-away from our 1995 report is that the product worked (sort of) for a limited period, but it is an impractical solution for hulls, and it can’t compete with antifouling paint over the long haul ... but I think it’s better to let you read the article and decide for yourself. Here it is:

Remember the original study was from 1996 and paints have changed since then, and are changing every year.

 

[Alex W]

The trash can idea might be easier than lifting the motor out every time. You could even add a small 12v bilge pump to the setup to make it automated and easy.

His boat has the motor in a well (it isn't transom hung), so I don't think the trash can idea will be very easy. It would be like trying to put a trash can around the rudder on your boat.

This poorly exposed photo shows what his boat looks like out of the water:

 

[Zarathu]

Well here is his summation:


Remember the original study was from 1996 and paints have changed since then, and are changing every year.

You have missed the point. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY.

The key here is not the fact that paints have changed in their composition. The key here is that you can buy enough to coat your entire boat for a year or two of protection for $16 in a 16 oz on eBay, compared to $400-$500 plus the cost of equipment to paint it, and gear to protect you from the noxious chemicals that are used.

And if you have the boat yard do it, expect to pay $1000+. There is a serious cost differential: The desitin treatment costs 1.6% of having a boat yard do it for you, or 2.9% of the cost of doing it yourself with chemical paints.

 

[Fstbttms]

You have missed the point. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY.

The key here is not the fact that paints have changed in their composition. The key here is that you can buy enough to coat your entire boat for a year or two of protection for $16 in a 16 oz on eBay, compared to $400-$500 plus the cost of equipment to paint it, and gear to protect you from the noxious chemicals that are used.

And if you have the boat yard do it, expect to pay $1000+. There is a serious cost differential: The desitin treatment costs 1.6% of having a boat yard do it for you, or 2.9% of the cost of doing it yourself with chemical paints.

Sure. And then in two months when all the diaper cream has been washed off the bottom of your boat, you can haul out an do it all over again. You know, after you've scraped off all the barnacles because the diaper cream actually washed off a month previous.

 

[Zarathu]

Sure. And then in two months when all the diaper cream has been washed off the bottom of your boat, you can haul out an do it all over again. You know, after you've scraped off all the barnacles because the diaper cream actually washed off a month previous.

If you had actually read the whole article, you would have discovered that the stuff didn't wash off; it was still on after more than a year.

But heck, nobody is making you spend all that money. Its your money; do what you want. Some people, clearly not you, might be interested in an option explored by Practical Sailor, that is substantially cheaper.

 

[Fstbttms]

If you had actually read the whole article, you would have discovered that the stuff didn't wash off; it was still on after more than a year.

I did read the whole article. And the fact that one boater (20 years ago) claimed that diaper cream didn't wash off a dinghy while it was being towed (for an undetermined amount of time) means very little, IMHO and I don't believe for a minute that it would stay on a boat bottom for two years in real world conditions. What does mean something is the fact that in the ensuing two decades since that initial report, NOBODY uses diaper cream as an anti fouling coating on their boat hulls. If it was even close to being as effective and long lasting as anti fouling paint, boaters would flock to it. But they don't.

 

[miatapaul]

You have missed the point. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY.

The key here is not the fact that paints have changed in their composition. The key here is that you can buy enough to coat your entire boat for a year or two of protection for $16 in a 16 oz on eBay, compared to $400-$500 plus the cost of equipment to paint it, and gear to protect you from the noxious chemicals that are used.

And if you have the boat yard do it, expect to pay $1000+. There is a serious cost differential: The desitin treatment costs 1.6% of having a boat yard do it for you, or 2.9% of the cost of doing it yourself with chemical paints.

OK use your own numbers, and assume it will last a year as that is the max the article claims. I highly doubt it will last a year at least if you ever use your boat, or have any current where you keep it. So figure 199 a gallon (West Marine PCA Gold that gets good reviews) and if you need 2 that is $400 and hull out at say 350 and figure it will last 3 years you are at $750. OK do you really think 16 ounces is going to cover a boat bottom? Lets give you that, again I doubt it will be done with $16 but it is minimal cost. OK 3X350 + 3X16 for three hull outs to get the same life so you are at $1095. Who is saving money? Desitin costs about 345 more. And I bet you can get 4 years out of the paint with the same performance of the diaper cream, and so that make the Destine cost $711 more.

There is a saying penny wise and pound foolish. Perhaps you should have read the whole thing. When an author starts off saying it really does not work, you get the gist of what will come.

 

[Zarathu]

OK... I get it. You want to find lots of reasons why it won't work, and you have plenty of cash to pay for what you want. Just say NO; Go for it. But what is NO for you might not be NO for everybody.

For those of us who can trailer out whenever we want, and who have a small boat, it might work. But then where I am, I moor in the tide current, and just pressure wash at the end of the season.

I'm actually going to try a section where the trailer bed doesn't touch the boat and see how it works for a couple of months. I'll let you know. At the end of the season, I'm going to suspend a piece of steel coated with Desitin at a dock in either BH or NEH to check what it does in six months over the winter. I'll let you know.

 

[Fstbttms]

I'm actually going to try a section where the trailer bed doesn't touch the boat and see how it works for a couple of months. I'll let you know. At the end of the season, I'm going to suspend a piece of steel coated with Desitin at a dock in either BH or NEH to check what it does in six months over the winter. I'll let you know.

Such a test is completely meaningless unless you include a commonly used (in your area) anti fouling paint as well as an uncoated control panel, all three tested simultaneously in the same location. And then provide pix of the results. And of course, the test will not indicate how well the product stays on the hull of boat that actually sees some use.