Keel full of barnacles

[Mike Bates]

I have a 1985 Hunter 28.5 with a 2½ year old bottom paint job. During the most recent in-water scrubbing (with scuba gear) I noticed that the paint on the hull itself was in great shape, and there were very few barnacles. The paint on the keel, however, was awful. About half the keel sides were covered with barnacles. Thick patches of barnacles covered much of the keel, but the hull was almost free from any barnacle growth. There was plenty of algae everywhere.Why would the keel accumulate so many barnacles while the hull does not? Mike BatesZenith IImbates@pcola.gulf.net.

 

[Rich Stidger]

What kind of paint?

I was very disappointed with the second year on Interlux Micron CSC. This was the 'IMPROVED' formula. At the beginning of my second year, my buddy dove on the bottom and cleaned off all of the scum and changed the zincs. Other than heavy barnacles on the prop shaft, the bottom was pretty clean. Mid-way through the season, I found many barnacles about every 8 inches covering the hull. After haul out this fall, most cleaned off with the pressure wash. The paint looks OK, but the performance was terrible.Sorry I can't explain your keel problem, but I would be interested to know the brand of paint that you used.

 

[Bob E.]

Fresh water zebra mussels

My boat was hauled for the winter a few weeks ago. It became the immediate topic of conversation of the yacht club. There must have been 100 lbs. of zebra mussels on the bottom of the keel. They were at least 6" thick.The boat is a 1989 Hunter 30. This model boat has an iron keel with a very large flat bulb/wing at the bottom. I bought the boat this spring, in the water. The previous owner was a live-aboard so the boat spent last winter in the water with "bubblers" to keep it from freezing in. This was in fresh water (Lake Ontario). The mussels were only on the bottom of the keel and (weird) in between the top edge of the rudder and the boat bottom. (This was scary since they could eventually jam the rudder.) My guess is that the bubblers kept nutrient-rich water from the bottom upwelling over the keel, allowing the mussels to grow even in freezing cold water. Between scraping and pressure washing, I got most of the little buggers off. No other boat in the club was infested like this. The bottom paint was VC17, and did a fairly good job on the hull considering the time the boat was in the water. Do zebra mussels especially like an iron keel? Do they grow better where they are shielded from light? Maybe the VC17 worked really well but whoever painted the bottom didn't do the bottom of the wing or in between the rudder and hull. Mystery to me.No wonder I couldn't get quite 3600 RPM out of the Yanmar 2GM in gear -- I was dragging half the lake's wildlife along on my keel!

 

[Ken Palmer]

Zebra Mussels

My guess is that the under-side of the keel and the space on top of the rudder wasn't painted with VC-17. How difficult is it to paint under the keel while the boat is in it's cradle? It can be painted just before launch while in a sling. That paint dries very fast. I keep my H33 on Lake Ontario, and have no problem with Zebra mussels.Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty