Why hasn't anyone made a robot to clean our boat bottoms?

[DakineRobotics]

Hey everyone! My name is Lyle and I've been sailing for 5 years now. Two years on a Catalina 22 and 3 years on a Catalina 30, all in the SF Bay Area. Like most of you I'm sure, I've always been frustrated with the bio-fouling maintenance owning a boat that is kept in the water requires. Having a service take care of it for me is too expensive to justify, and doing it myself is exhausting. After years of dealing with this headache, I'm exploring whether there might be a better solution. I have a graduate degree in robotics and mechatronics system and worked in robotics integration for 10 years. After doing some research, it looks like there are quite a few startup companies that have made some robotic hull cleaning devices but none have mass produced them and using robotics to clean hulls has not caught on in popularity from what I have seen.

Before I go any further with this idea I'd love to hear from fellow boaters about your experiences and pain points with hull cleaning. What's your current approach? Would you be interested in a pool cleaner/Roomba like device for cleaning your boat hull? I'm most curious about the different perspectives across boat types, regions, and maintenance philosophies. Drop a comment below to let me know what you think or take the short survey (Link) I created in an effort to gather feedback from boat owners.

Fair winds! -Lyle

 

[Foswick]

Hi, and welcome.

I've spent some brain time on this idea and believe there is a decent market opportunity. (Though we don't think it is in the recreational space.) We've looked at this and came to the conclusion that the engineering challenges were too great, so moved onto lower hanging fruit. It sounds like you came to a different conclusion. I hope you've solved some issues that we gave up on.

To answer your questions:

We haul out once a year and clean and optionally bottom paint at that time. In our area, that is adequate. We get a thin layer of slime if the boat sits for a few months, which we sometimes clean with a brush on an extension, as far as we can reach. Simply moving the boat on a regular basis seems to keep the bottom clean, provided we clean annually and keep up on bottom paint.

Every once in a while, when anchored out, one of us takes a dive to give the prop a bit of a scrub, as that is really the only surface that gives us any problems with growth.

If we needed an interim cleaning, we would just hire a diver for a couple hundred bucks. But, we never do.

In our area, many people have those curved poles - most of them made out of PVC pipe - and are pretty adept at using them. Takes about 10-15 minutes, I think, maybe once a month at most.

If we lived in an area where growth was more aggressive, I would consider paying for a routine service that uses such a solution, but I would never own it myself - pretty much at any cost. And, I would pay around $100/mo for that service.

 

[sailme88]

They have and they are available.. Look very similar to a pool bot...google it !

 

[FastOlson]

There may be other reasons why this service/device has not happened.
About 20 years ago we had a hull scrubbing machine appear at a marina near where we moor. It was kind of like a couple of bristle rollers that a power boat could slowly be pulled over. While a bit of a Rube Goldberg contraption, it worked. The season was limited to about 6 months, and rumor was that the proprietor gave up after getting some warnings about releasing a cloud of sloughing bottom paint into the environment.
I note that all boat yards have stringent regs about collecting any bottom paint sanding dust and preventing it from flowing/leaching back into waterways or the ground, so that "legality" might be the major hurdle.
That said, I betcha we've all pondered something like this at one time or another.....

 

[shemandr]

Anyone who has cleaned a bottom in the water learns pretty fast that they need to use suction cups to keep brush strokes from pushing the person away from the hull. I'm not trained in design or mechanical systems but I think maintaining the robot's attachment to the hull while it is moving on the hull surface would be the major challenge.
Based on sailme88's post I did a search and found many versions of a mechanical bottom cleaning "Robots." Many are directed to shipping. An interesting yacht application is the Remora Solo. It is demonstrated by SBO poster Fast Bottoms, who has a hull cleaning business. It's remarkable as demonstrated. I think the spinning brush creates the suction needed to keep the brush against the bottom. It also has adjustable buoyancy which would be useful. A diver is still needed to direct it. So it isn't what we think of as a robot. Nevertheless, if I were still cleaning my sailboat bottom I'd be looking to buy one.

 

[dLj]

Honestly I can't see any reason why I would want to spend the money on a robotic bottom cleaner. Everytime my boat is hauled it is mandatory that the bottom be pressure washed. During the sailing season, sometimes I need to clean the water line region. The best way to keep a clean bottom is to sail a lot. Keep the boat moving in the water.

But thinking about it - I'd like to see a design that can clean the bottom, AND clean my bow thruster, prop shaft and propellor. If it can't do that, I'm not sure how useful it would be to me even if I were to entertain getting such a device. Plus, it would have to be pretty inexpensive given what it currently costs me to keep my bottom clean..

dj

 

[ShawnL]

Our seasons are very short in the far northern midwest, so it wouldn't pay for us. I did see an episode of Sam Holmes Sailing on YouTube where we brought a 27 foot full-keel boat through a bottom cleaning station. It was in Europe, but I cannot remember where or when. As others have said, it had a bunch of roller brushes like a car wash. I remember being impressed they could do a full-keel sailboat.

 

[Art12050]

Agree with ShawnL, our season here in the Northeast is equally as short. We usually haul in late September. As mentioned, when boats are hauled they’re power washed almost immediately. EPA Regulations requiring capturing the wash down water to keep it out of waterways.
If your boat stays in the water year round, I can understand the issue. I’d probably have it hauled, power washed, touch up or re-bottom paint if needed then relaunch.