How long can I leave my boat in the water (Long Beach, CA) with virgin gelcoat (no bottom paint) before excessive fouling is experienced?
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Depends on the Condition
Rob - The amount of water or current under the boat and the amount of life and nutrients in that water will dictate how long. The running water is what feeds the marine growth. If you are docked towards the mouth of an canal, you should experience much more growth verses the same boat in the same canal docked towards the very end of the canel. Reason being : all the water in the canal needs to pass under your boat w/ every tide change. Now, if your on a lake or fresh water - the rules are completely different. Rob
Rob - The amount of water or current under the boat and the amount of life and nutrients in that water will dictate how long. The running water is what feeds the marine growth. If you are docked towards the mouth of an canal, you should experience much more growth verses the same boat in the same canal docked towards the very end of the canel. Reason being : all the water in the canal needs to pass under your boat w/ every tide change. Now, if your on a lake or fresh water - the rules are completely different. Rob
Bottom paint
Hi Rob - In Long Beach, I'd suggest you paint the bottom sooner rather than later if you plan on leaving the boat moored in the water for any period longer than a week or two at a time. If you just daysail and pull the boat for storage, going without should be fine. You could always push the envelope and see what happens; worst case is you'll notice the boat slowing down over time
Best, Trevor
Hi Rob - In Long Beach, I'd suggest you paint the bottom sooner rather than later if you plan on leaving the boat moored in the water for any period longer than a week or two at a time. If you just daysail and pull the boat for storage, going without should be fine. You could always push the envelope and see what happens; worst case is you'll notice the boat slowing down over time
Best, Trevor
In Kemah
I would say about a week at max. I left my dinghy in the water for three weeks (got lazy) and when I pulled it, I scrubbed for an hour to get all the growth off including about 30 barnacles. Two days later the seem busted so I bought a new one and left it in the water for a week. I pulled it out of the water and not much growth on it. Kemah is a lightly salt warm water with decent growth.
I would say about a week at max. I left my dinghy in the water for three weeks (got lazy) and when I pulled it, I scrubbed for an hour to get all the growth off including about 30 barnacles. Two days later the seem busted so I bought a new one and left it in the water for a week. I pulled it out of the water and not much growth on it. Kemah is a lightly salt warm water with decent growth.
Bottom Paint
Right now in Long Beach, you will get slime in a week to ten days. Tube worms will begin to appear after two weeks, and barnacles in a month. These last two will do actual damage to the gelcoat. Do like Trevor said, aand if you are going to actually leave it in the water, get some bottom paint on it. If you are dry sailing it and taking it out every few days, then it shouldn't be a problem.
Right now in Long Beach, you will get slime in a week to ten days. Tube worms will begin to appear after two weeks, and barnacles in a month. These last two will do actual damage to the gelcoat. Do like Trevor said, aand if you are going to actually leave it in the water, get some bottom paint on it. If you are dry sailing it and taking it out every few days, then it shouldn't be a problem.
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