Bottom cleaning

bob daily

bob daily

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 5, 2015
Messages
1,107
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C SE
Hull Identification Number
2129K809
Vessel Name
Scuttlebutt
I read a post on here where the dealer took a boat out for a high speed run to remove the algae and marine growth off the bottom of the boat. The boat had only been in the water for less than 2 weeks, this seems like a story that I would question and think maybe I was dealing with a dishonest person!
Has any one cleaned the bottom of there boat by speed? Owning a R-21 I don't have the knowledge to know if that would work. For those of you with the fast boats please let me know! Bob
 
bob daily":1xadwzwi said:
I read a post on here where the dealer took a boat out for a high speed run to remove the algae and marine growth off the bottom of the boat. The boat had only been in the water for less than 2 weeks, this seems like a story that I would question and think maybe I was dealing with a dishonest person!
Has any one cleaned the bottom of there boat by speed? Owning a R-21 I don't have the knowledge to know if that would work. For those of you with the fast boats please let me know! Bob
Click to expand...
Cleaning hull by going fast is a bunch of nonsense. My 27OB, that would do 40mph, after 6 weeks in the water with no bottom paint, would do no more than 28 mph. Nothing got cleaned off after 30 min of WOT, as speed didn't increase.
 
it does depend on the bottom coating.

the ablative paints are designed to slough off underway removing the growth. the hard paints or no paint isnt designed to do this.

my experience with Ablative paint however is that 20 mins isnt going to do it.
 
An easy way to do this, if you are in an area where you can (and do not want to scrub), is to take the boat to a fresh water lake for a while (or salt, if the growth is in fresh water.) We did this in the Loop several times (Rivers t Gulf, Gulf to Okeechobee, back to salt, up the Hudson, etc.) Really did a number on the critters. Noticed improvement in about a day or two.

TK
 
Running a boat will keep the bottom clean-ish, but not after it sits for 2 or 6 weeks. For that to work, you pretty much need to use the boat daily. You always keep the bow clean by beaching on a sand bar. 🙂

Jeff Radwill,
Margaux - R27 OB
 
I'm fortunate that e keep the boat in a boathouse in salt water in PNW. No sunlight under the boat means very little growth, if any. Though the boathouse has a roller door the sun does come underneath and there is some growth on the stern so I hang a weighted tarp of the rail on the swim platform. Despite all this I do pick up slime on the bottom. I use Micron CSC, an ablative paint and in these conditions easily get a couple of years between paint jobs. The CSC has some anti-slime component.

If I haven't been out for a couple of weeks (usually no more than two as per Volvo advice) I do find the boat sluggish. After 2-3 hours cruising the slime has sloughed off and I've regained performance. Today, for example, I was out for about 1.1/2 hours cruising around 11-12 knots. At the end I had probably picked up 10+ rpm at WOT, back up to 3000. Not a lot. Certainly we are talking about slime not critters.

I posted a while ago about the effect of cleaning the bottom and included some before and after numbers for interest.
 
I agree with some....the type of bottom paint will depend on a high speed run working to remove growth. In the sailing world, ablative will shed growth if the boat goes sailing vice buildup sitting with the same coating. However, usually on a slow boat, 1-2 hour sail will not sluff off growth. You need a 10+ hour or way more at 6-7 kts to get off "some" of the growth.
 
bob daily":2yxh12e4 said:
I read a post on here where the dealer took a boat out for a high speed run to remove the algae and marine growth off the bottom of the boat. The boat had only been in the water for less than 2 weeks, this seems like a story that I would question and think maybe I was dealing with a dishonest person!
Has any one cleaned the bottom of there boat by speed? Owning a R-21 I don't have the knowledge to know if that would work. For those of you with the fast boats please let me know! Bob
Click to expand...
I'm happy to report that we just took our boat out of the water after 3 1/2 weeks in a saltwater marina (Everett) with virtually no growth on a boat with NO bottom paint. Of course we have an R23 with a 200hp and we ran at fast cruising speeds about 15 miles each way between Everett and Edmonds every weekend during this time. I'm sure this explains why there was no growth.

I was afraid we would have quite a bit of growth on the original factory hull bottom and was very pleasantly surprised when the boat was lifted out yesterday only to see a minimal growth on the chines from mid-ship to stern and growth on the trim tabs. The rest of the bottom was pristine. The growth was very easy to scrub off. Of course, if and when we decide to permanently wet moor the boat, we will bottom paint at that time. For now, I consider us very lucky.
 
Just to add a note, if you need to haul your boat out of the water for more time than it takes the bottom to dry, you do not want to use a hard bottom paint. If a hard paint dries, it will oxidize. When re-wet, the oxidization will prevent the bottom paint from leaching. If you fit in that category, as I do (pulling boat for maintenance for more than an hour), you will want to use an ablative paint.
 
i think the story you heard was all freshwater use but i could be wrong. running fast doesent get the boat bottom very clean but it can knock off some small stuff like a layer of slime but still takes cleaning when pulled out of the water.
 
The post that I was referring to was from Dave with the hull cracks, vessel name (Lemon$Aid).
He said that the salesman at the Ontario dealer took the boat out for a high speed run to clean off the algae from the bottom of the boat! The boat had only been in the water less than two weeks and had no bottom paint. I have a hard time believing this statement and would suspect it was taken out to get a up angle to get water in the fwd part of the boat to the aft, so it could be pumped out by the bilge pumps after the mop and bucket trick didn't work!
I would suspect if someone told me that they were taking me to the cleaners which is where Mr Dave is now! Just my thoughts Bob
 
Yep ..... that's my personal opinion also ! Dave
 
It’s been a while since I caught up. What is your lawyer suggesting Dave? I would hope you have good case against the dealer. Good luck.
 
Chimo":355qu4rq said:
It’s been a while since I caught up. What is your lawyer suggesting Dave? I would hope you have good case against the dealer. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, "on advice of counsel", Dave will not answer specifically what his counsel advised, lest he risk waiving attorney-client privilege. 😉
 
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