Barnacles - More Good Than Harm?

[MVNightWatch]

Please oh please do not attempt any navigation more serious than turning the boat in your marina. With heavy barnacles you will find her absolutely unmanageable to steer and handle.

[MVNightWatch]

“Below the water line, I need to redo the stuffing box (not that I have a cause for alarm now), “ You gonna wait until you actually have a cause for alarm? I never like jets of water coming in! Probably best to do it now...

[Kolchac]

[QUOTE=stickyscissors;3132796]
Above the water line stuff is probably less "important", but I can keep sailing and getting the boat more comfortable for my family.

I admit, I am probably not doing things the smartest way,....
/QUOTE]

You are definitely not doing things the smartest way. When experienced sailer told you: Haul it! You should do it. I'm surprised, that you bought a boat before hauling it and check. Are you sure she does not have some significant damage? Or even not significant damage underwater is a big problem!
"getting the boat more comfortable for my family" - means getting safe!

If you have barnacles on the waterline, be sure you'll find the jungle below.
Max speed you'll be reaching is 1-2 kn.

About "limited funds": a boat is a hole in the water, you throw money into. If you do not have money for hauling a boat (probably the cheapest part), you are not able to afford a boat.
Keep your family and yourself safe!

[Bruce.N.Smith]

Amazing that mature barnacles grew in 6 months, Florida is much different than BC! When you haul out in the fall I'd recommend planning/estimating extra contingency time in the boat yard. Could save you from feeling some stress due to time pressures. Hopefully the yard wouldn't mind dropping you back in early if you managed to finish ahead of schedule.

5 years ago I bought a little 21' Islander sailboat, probably built in the early 70s, and had an in the water survey done. My first boat, got her for a song and a dance. Sure has been a learning curve! She's been good, glad I bought her, but I've learned to expect surprises when I haul her out. First time I hauled her out, just under a year after I bought her, the bottom was more green and white than blue. But she cleaned up nice after the yard scrapped and pressure washed her.

This spring I thought I'd splash on a quick routine coat of ablative paint. Was feeling like I was starting to know what I was doing. Foolishly I imagined a leisurely 3 days over a long weekend, having time to crack a beer and enjoy the sun while I worked. But then reality struck and I found some small blisters on the iron keel I didn't expect. So, a tonne of surprise research into metal and chemical compatibility later, I had to hustle to grind the blisters, prime the iron and put on 5 coats of Primocon as a barrier before getting to the ablative paint. Was super glad for the one obscure blog post, and a quick response from Interlux tech support to confirm, that warned me to not put 4200 over or under the Primocon. Sure saved me some gnashing of teeth. If I could go back in time it would've been nice to have time to use the Interlux InterProtect 2000e, but I feel like the Primocon served it's purpose well in a surprise situation.

Luckily the yard let me stay an extra 3 days (on top of my 4 planned) to give me the time for the Primocon and then ablative to cure between coats. Added bonus was that the boat had extra time to dry out a bit more the first 4 days. I probably could've used another 3+ days in the yard honestly to do some more topside work, but I was feeling bad about the backlog of boats behind me wanting to get into the packed yard.

Anyhow, hope you stay out on the water any way you can, and stay out of the yard as much as possible

Originally Posted by stickyscissors

Having a nice, clean, growth-free hull is obviously the best. But, if you had to choose, which is the best of the two:

- a barnacle free hull with missing spots of bottom paint?
- a barnacle encrusted water line with all paint intact?

I bought a boat, 1969 Morgan 30, in the water in NY. I am told the bottom paint was last done in Spring 2019, and the boat's been in the water since. Now, there are some pretty mature barnacles along the water line, on the rudder, keel, etc. I tried to removing some along the water line and scraping the barnacles took the paint right with them.

I already have enough projects and items to deal with, and limited funds, so I wasn't planning on hauling and painting her until late fall 2020. Some people tell me:

1. Leave'm alone, removing the barnacles and taking the bottom paint off is worse than leaving the barnacles on.
2. Scrape the barnacles off, your boat isn't being protected anyway, and the loss in cruising speed will be so drastic that you'd rather have missing bottom paint in spots and just deal with the increased need to scrub the bottom.

Missing paint is ugly and fraught with other problems. Barnacles slow me down. Not sure which is the worse of two evils?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

[Seacod]

[QUOTE=stickyscissors;3132643]Having a nice, clean, growth-free hull is obviously the best. But, if you had to choose, which is the best of the two:

- a barnacle free hull with missing spots of bottom paint?
- a barnacle encrusted water line with all paint intact?

I bought a boat, 1969 Morgan 30, in the water in NY. I am told the bottom paint was last done in Spring 2019, and the boat's been in the water since. Now, there are some pretty mature barnacles along the water line, on the rudder, keel, etc. I tried to removing some along the water line and scraping the barnacles took the paint right with them.

Congrats on your Morgan 30, they are fun boats and have a good temperament! Are you on the north or south shore of Long Island?
I keep my Morgan 24/5 on the south shore and often do not do a short haul until fall or late summer. If I stay on top of it I have few barnacles but slime usually requires scraping with plastic blade and soft brush.
If you've got barnacles go after them asap and use the least intrusive blade you can to get them off. Then a soft brush and or plastic scraper for all the non calcareous stuff. Leaving barnacle growth on the bottom is a negatory and your boat will gradually turn into a slug with lousy windward performance (which the 30 actually does well) While down there clear any stuff away from the centerboard opening especially at the forward edge of the opening where occasionally growth and or pebbles can jam....running a stainless putty knife edgewise along sides of the opening will clear any growth and prevent problems with your centerboard....(They really do make a difference despite what many say)...Have fun, Ive been tempted to grab a 30 near here but not really finished upgrading this one yet!
Windwitch 1967 Morgan 24 sailing out of Babylon, NY

[popeye101]

A64is right
get rid of them and plan to repaint in the fall

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by stickyscissors

Having a nice, clean, growth-free hull is obviously the best. But, if you had to choose, which is the best of the two:

- a barnacle free hull with missing spots of bottom paint?
- a barnacle encrusted water line with all paint intact?

I bought a boat, 1969 Morgan 30, in the water in NY. I am told the bottom paint was last done in Spring 2019, and the boat's been in the water since. Now, there are some pretty mature barnacles along the water line, on the rudder, keel, etc. I tried to removing some along the water line and scraping the barnacles took the paint right with them.

I already have enough projects and items to deal with, and limited funds, so I wasn't planning on hauling and painting her until late fall 2020. Some people tell me:

1. Leave'm alone, removing the barnacles and taking the bottom paint off is worse than leaving the barnacles on.
2. Scrape the barnacles off, your boat isn't being protected anyway, and the loss in cruising speed will be so drastic that you'd rather have missing bottom paint in spots and just deal with the increased need to scrub the bottom.

Missing paint is ugly and fraught with other problems. Barnacles slow me down. Not sure which is the worse of two evils?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Sure you can ignore the barnacles and other marine growth.
It may come to a point were it becomes unmanageable, marine growth will slow your vessel down a lot.
There is a boat in my area on a swing mooring which has a 2ft marine fauna growing on the bottom of his boat, I would rather clean the underwater body every 2 years for obvious reasons of mobility and maintenance.
So its more harm then good

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by taxwizz

But you would have to be able to hold your breath a looooong time. LOL

Scuba gear comes to mind, its been around for a while

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by stickyscissors

I love this idea. Unfortunately, I don't have any rivers nearby that would help without traveling a decent distance.

I wonder how long it would take for the fresh water to do its job?

On the other hand to fix the barnacle problem is to take the boat out of the water altogether, saves cleaning the hull, reduces your mooring fees and reduces anchor chain wear and tear. It's a win win.

[le chat beaute]

Originally Posted by stickyscissors

I love this idea. Unfortunately, I don't have any rivers nearby that would help without traveling a decent distance.

I wonder how long it would take for the fresh water to do its job?

Dream on. Freshwater will kill barnacle but only elbow grease will remove them. Very wishful thinking. Most bottom paints that come with a warranty encourage wiping of Hull every month. In some areas, San Diego comes to mind, when the barnacle bloom happens even brand new paint, month old will see tiny barnacles.luckily they wipe off easily when bottom is fine and barnacles are young. Best way I found to remove ,use a dry wall blade minimum 12 inches and scrape Hull. Round down corners so it does not dig into Hull. Once a month or every two if in colder water. Then Bobs your uncle.