How Often do you Clean the Bottom?

[markpierce]

How is it that ships always seem to have clean bottoms? Are they allowed better paint, or is it because they don't sit in a harbor/marina for 99.9 percent of the time? Or do they hire a squad of divers to scrub?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by markpierce

How is it that ships always seem to have clean bottoms. is it because they don't sit in a harbor/marina for 99.9 percent of the time?

Bingo.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Astral Blue

I might have come across this ad at one time or another. Thought I'd share it...

Sooooooo.... If your boat is in the water or even out of the water (we'll give you as many reasons as you can tolerate hearing as to why your boat's bottom should be cleaned three times a day, even if its on the hard or trailered), and you need our bottom cleaning service, just mention this ad and we'll treat you to our two for one special.

Please remember us when it comes to your bottom cleaning needs. We don't use fuzzy math or show you exaggerated pictures. We'll give you the straight truth you want to hear. Guaranteed! (wink)[/B]

Well, you may not know what you're talking about, but you do have a sense of humor.

[Jim Cate]

You know, I don't always agree with fastbttms posts, but in this case he's right on the money when he says that one can't extrapolate from one set of fouling conditions to another.

We move about the SW Pacific pretty regularly, from the tropics to the Southern Ocean, and experience very different rates and types of growth on the bottom as we travel. Some places it is hard growth that is the problem, tube worm, coral, barnies and so on. Others it is soft things whose names I don't know, grassy, stringy or branchy in shape.
And so on...

It would be foolish to say from experience in Port Davey (Tasmania's SW coast) in cold water with high tannin content that one wouldn't need cleaning in Port Vila, Vanuatu... even though we saw no growth down there in the south.

Years ago I sailed and raced in SF Bay, and remember how quickly performance tailed off if you didn't clean the bottom frequently, so I can cut the pro a lot of slack even though he may have a pecuniary interest in the subject.

Cheers,

Jim

[Lojanica]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

That's not what I said. At least it's not what I meant. The salient point is, clean your bottom before it gets moderately foul. For some people, like those who have short sailing seasons, maybe this means when you haul for the winter. But that doesn't change the point. You clean while the cleaning is easy, not when the cleaning has become difficult (regardless of how frequent that may be where you do your boating.) This is the way to prolong your paint's lifespan and improve your boat's performance both under power and/or sail.

I am gonna chime in here. I have owned many boats in many climes and conditions---trailerable, fresh, warm salt, cold salt. So no paint and no cleaning to bidaily cleaning---yes 3x/week. I had a friend that had a bottom without paint in Indonesia and had the locals snorkel clean with a chamois 3x/week. Cheaper than bottom paint and he got to keep the fish they speared while on duty. But I digress, FWIW for me more frequent cleanings is keeping things "better" and I'd say cheaper for the Norcal moored vessel with ablative bottom paint.

[GaryMayo]

I notice some in this thread have gotten into key click war with other members. Shame on you guys. Mods are posting rite through it all. If they won't say something, I will. Cut it out. It is ok to have opinions, but kindness needs mingled in.

After a season of slip, in water I would not swim in, the moss was about as thick as a fuzzy blanket. SS I said in my other post, washed off with powerwasher at marina while still dripping wet. Interlux Micron Extra.

Will use it again, but the $200 a gallon is highway robbery. Nothing on this Earth should command that ransom.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by markpierce

How is it that ships always seem to have clean bottoms? Are they allowed better paint, or is it because they don't sit in a harbor/marina for 99.9 percent of the time?

Yep they move it and lose it. Cruisers don't often like to keep schedules like the cargo ships do. Nor would we want too IMO.

[ElGatoGordo]

Well said Gary.

Here in Texas (Galveston Bay anyway) stuff will start to grow the day after you drop it in the water. If you blatherers had just said this up front: "Clean when it needs it" all the imature "I know more than you..." on both sides could have been avaoided!

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by mbianka

Yep they move it and lose it. Cruisers don't often like to keep schedules like the cargo ships do. Nor would we want too IMO.

Foul bottoms cost commercial shippers millions in fuel annually. The anti fouling solutions they use are for the most part very similar to products you can buy. They just know the value of a clean bottom.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by ElGatoGordo

If you blatherers had just said this up front: "Clean when it needs it" all the imature "I know more than you..." on both sides could have been avaoided!

Yeah... pretty sure that was the very first sentence of the very first post I made in this thread...

Originally Posted by fstbttms

You should have your hull cleaned when it is foul.

But you got to get your two cents in, so good for you!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

You know, I don't always agree with fastbttms posts, but in this case he's right on the money when he says that one can't extrapolate from one set of fouling conditions to another.

We move about the SW Pacific pretty regularly, from the tropics to the Southern Ocean, and experience very different rates and types of growth on the bottom as we travel. Some places it is hard growth that is the problem, tube worm, coral, barnies and so on. Others it is soft things whose names I don't know, grassy, stringy or branchy in shape.
And so on...

It would be foolish to say from experience in Port Davey (Tasmania's SW coast) in cold water with high tannin content that one wouldn't need cleaning in Port Vila, Vanuatu... even though we saw no growth down there in the south.

Years ago I sailed and raced in SF Bay, and remember how quickly performance tailed off if you didn't clean the bottom frequently, so I can cut the pro a lot of slack even though he may have a pecuniary interest in the subject.

Cheers,

Jim

Indeed, and the rate of growth varies not only by location but also by season and water temp. And besides that, sometimes you just get weird variations, even in the same location and season.

We don't have divers here who will give you a wipe for $90, unfortunately! So we have to get hauled and pressure washed. I have gone three months and found only a very light slime, and another time after just one month, I had an underwater forest and lost 2 knots - same location and season.

Best thing would be to get under the boat every month and see what's going on. Doesn't seem like anyone wants to do that, in our cold water, not for $90, and not for $190

[Kenomac]

QUOTE:" fstbttms "And you base this statement on what- your extensive experience cleaning boat bottoms in the Bay Area? "

Shall I go on? I've got hundreds more like these."



fstbttms

I'm really tired of your demeaning sarcasm directed towards other members who don't agree with you, and don't understand why the moderators let you get away with it. I base my previous statement on real life experience. Why don't you use my entire quote instead of just bits and pieces? I'll say it again,

We went three months in Alameda water without any bottom scrubbers on new paint applied at KKMI in Sausalito back in 2010... no growth! Didn't scrubb the bottom until after four months.... just to check the anodes. I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR PICTURES!

I'm sure you do have hundreds of pictures to scare you clients into more cleanings.

[Sandero]

The water where we moored is full of marine growth.. probably too warm or something. If you aren't moving fast and a lot you definitely need a scrub each month. Northport NY.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I'm really tired of your demeaning sarcasm directed towards other members who don't agree with you, and don't understand why the moderators let you get away with it. I base my previous statement on real life experience. Why don't you use my entire quote instead of just bits and pieces? I'll say it again,

We went three months in Alameda water without any bottom scrubbers on new paint applied at KKMI in Sausalito back in 2010... no growth! Didn't scrubb the bottom until after four months.... just to check the anodes. I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR PICTURES!

I'm sure you do have hundreds of pictures to scare you clients into more cleanings.

You typically wouldn't clean for 90 days after splashing a new bottom. That is as per the paint manufacturer's directions. But for continuing, ongoing maintenance, every other month is the ideal hull cleaning frequency in the Bay Area. I don't know where you get off calling me a liar about that, based on you having kept a boat here for a few months once, a several years ago. Had you kept the boat here for several years, you would have found what I am saying to be true. Or not. Some people can't be told anything, even when the photgraphic proof is being waved in their faces.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Yes, perhaps you do not have to go at it that much. But for the umpteenth time, the fouling rates you experience in your part of the world (and therefore the necessary hull cleaning frequencies) are different than in somebody else's part of the world. Nobody here has said that monthly cleanings are neccessary for everybody. But they absolutely are for some. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?

It's not. That's why I shared my experience with fouling, and what I do to counter it. I don't recall telling anyone else what they should do. Chill. And stop assuming we are all ten currants short of a bun (is that hard for you to understand? )

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Here is a good example:

This is three months growth on a year old Trinidad bottom in San Francisco Bay. Do you think that this level of fouling is not affecting the boat's performance? Do you think this can be cleaned with a sponge or carpet? This boat absolutely should have been cleaned before it was allowed to get to this point.

That looks like soft growth to me, so yes I am sure it could be cleaned with a piece of carpet.