Barnacle remover

[timtim]

I just bought and was amazed that the Wave Blade really works.
There is a little learning curve using it, but it beats a grinder.
Different prices out there, get the best price by searching their website
And their distrib to great the lowest price. I paid 299.00 and free shipping.
Go to waveblade.com to check it out. If you know of a better way to clean the
Bottom, please share.

Now for a better solution to keep the growth off the bottom

 

[patrickfarley]

I sail in salt and fresh water. When I am in fresh water for a few months the barnacles rub off like dirt.
I don't know if it will work on large barnacles.

I did not paint my rudder or depth finder.
The barnacles on my boat were small only a little over a month old. However they appear to change in fresh water. I am guessing that they loose chemicals into fresh water through diffusion that they would not loose in salt water.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Perhaps the problem here is the bottom paint you're using.

Barnacles are unacceptable with any maintained bottom paint and after that, it's a matter of which one can keep the slime to a minimum. You may want to do a search of "bottom paint" here as a library has been written on the subject.

Another consideration is that bottom paints are very selective as to what type of environment they give the best service. You may want to check with your neighbours to see what works best for them.

 

[timtim]

thanks for the feedback. i just bought the S2 and sat in water for 3 years with no care. not much bottom paint left. S2 is in North Carolina @ Little Washington. Brackish water, I've been told most are using ablative copper paint. I plan on pulling out every year to clean and fresh coat the bottom. do any maintenance needed and launch back in water. also plan on monitoring bottom and cleaning as needed. I'm new to sailing and in water all the time boats. could use any suggestions you can give to make sailboat in the water more enjoyable. just being around the S2 at the water whether working on it or playing is a great getaway from work

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

i just bought the S2 and sat in water for 3 years with no care. not much bottom paint left.

Ouch ................... I hadn't realized that your hull was a marine reserve for barnacles . Looks like your Wave Blade is the ideal tool for dealing with these little buggers.

I know that our waters are quite dissimilar but for my experience, I've been using Micron CSC which is an ablative copper paint. No barnacles and very light slime. The only problem is that I have to rob one or two banks each time just to afford a gallon of the stuff.

We do have a bad barnacle problem here as the bottom of the keel manages to pick up several feet of barnacles after sitting for the winter and then lifted in the spring. Quite a sight to behold.

Once you do get the hull de-barnacled (if such a word exists) I would suggest you first apply a marker coat and then a final coat of bottom paint. The first coat (the marker) is a colour which is completely different from the second coat. My first coat is black and the second coat is light blue. Now, when you haul each time, you'll know how much thickness is left in the top coat by the showing of any of the marker coat. I can usually go 2-3 years before my black starts to show through.

As you say, maintaining or sailing, it's a good excuse to get away from work.

"Your worst day of sailing is better than your best day at work"
​

 

[Gary_H]

I use Pettit Trinidad which is a hard bottom paint which usually last three or four years. But I'm a diver so I actually wipe down my hull every couple of weeks which keeps stuff from getting started good. Usually I can keep it clean with just a scotchbright pad that way. If something does take hold I just use a five in one scrapper to knock it off.

 

[woodster]

that wave blade is a very impressive tool i must say.....but if you have a multi tool already in your arsenal and have no intentions of removing them in the water.....just wait till you are on the hard and take the widest multi tool blade you have and regrind it to a straight edge (most are arched or radius) install it and scrape away .....

regards

woody

 

[Witzend]

All of the demonstration videos are done with the Barnys fresh, alive and wet. If you let them dry out and die, I would be surprised if this tool would be as effective.

 

[timtim]

the barnacles on my S2 were a good week old, I did scrape them while the boatyard was pressure washing it at pullout. it works better than the grinder sander that was suggested to me to use by the boatyard employee that does the bottoms.
It is a little pricy at 300 bucks, but I see myself using it often to keep the bottom clean in and out of the water

 

[fstbttms]

If you regularly need to use a scraper of any kind to clean your hull, you are not cleaning it often enough. Scrapers should be used for spot cleaning of ocassional hard growth. They are not appropriate for all-over, every time hull cleaning. Soft scrub pads or carpet should be used. If your hull becomes too foul to use soft cleaning media to clean it, you need to clean more frequently.

 

[timtim]

I plan on cleaning monthly and putting on the hard once a year to do maintenance for a month or so. Both marina's said most use ablative paint with copper. If I am cleaning more often than others, which paint type would best to choice? I'm in warmer brackish water, Washington NC

 

[fstbttms]

I plan on cleaning monthly and putting on the hard once a year to do maintenance for a month or so. Both marina's said most use ablative paint with copper. If I am cleaning more often than others, which paint type would best to choice? I'm in warmer brackish water, Washington NC

You don't have much of a choice. Hard anti fouling paints cannot withstand prolonged periods out of the water, which is apparently what you plan to do. You are therefore pretty much limited to an ablative paint.

 

[timtim]

OK, I plan on cleaning bottom each month if needed in the water and have it pulled each year to service sail drive plus any other needed issues.
I was told to do a barrier coat, then hard coat then the ablative coat. Then each year touch up or apply one or two coats of ablative if needed.
Does that sound right?

 

[Doc_holiday]

I'm thinking pulling and cleaning (if its easy to pull) is not a bad idea. This is 7 months after applying new bottom paint. Seems I could have just as we'll used cheap Walmart paint to get the same results. I will be cleaning mine monthly and won't waste good money on bottom paint.

 

[timtim]

Mine looked like that to, after two years just setting in slip.
PO did not clean bottom or top side. Pressure washing helped,
But then there were a lot of barnacles. I scraped, but still had to
Remove the feet left behind.

 

[FourPoints]

see the recent bottom paint thread, in Long Island Sound (similar water to the Chesapeake), West Marine PCA Gold did quite well.

 

[fstbttms]

I... won't waste good money on bottom paint.

That is a decision you will regret, I guarantee it.

 

[capta]

As a full time voyager, I'd sure like to find a bottom paint that works for a couple of years. So far, no one I've talked to has had any real success with bottom paint working well for even 12 months.
Biggest problem w/ the Micron line, which does seem to be one of the better ones, is that should a Micron paint not be available, I've been told, is that you cannot over coat the stuff. Total removal, ugh!
We were caught in a huge fuel oil spill last year and it destroyed our bottom paint, so it will all have to be removed. Hopefully, when the court case is done, we should have the $ for the complete job and I would really appreciate any suggestions from anyone sailing in the tropics only, please, as to which paint they have had the best luck with.
Just as an aside; could the toxic stuff in bottom paint affect us, as we take sea water and desalinate it?

 

[fstbttms]

Biggest problem w/ the Micron line, which does seem to be one of the better ones, is that should a Micron paint not be available, I've been told, is that you cannot over coat the stuff. Total removal, ugh!

Most copper-based anti fouling paint is compatible with most other copper-based anti fouling paints, be they hard or ablative. The Interlux Micron line is no different. If you are in doubt about what can go over your current Micron product, go here:

http://www.yachtpaintforum.com/antifouling_forum7.html