Getting pulled for power washing.

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Stephen

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I just replaced my exhaust manifolds after a few weeks of inactivity. I took the boat out for a test and couldn't get on plane. I assumed a damaged a plug and was just going to change them all. My marina guy told me he was confident it wasn't a miss but that the boat likely has excessive growth. I've only been in for 6+ weeks and wonder how this can be. He said it could have been a bad batch of paint or any number of factors. He said he sees it all the time and already has someone else getting pulled tomorrow. He won't even block me. Just lift, power-wash, and drop back in.

My question is this: How often does this happen? I know my boat usually doesn't perform so great by the end of September, but I've never had it pulled in August. Anyone else ever have to get power-washed mid-year?
 
Boats can grow attached to the bottom in six weeks around here.
 
Why not grab a mask and go under to check and /or scrub?
I do that a couple/few times a season here in MA, and replace any of the U/W anodes that are near the end of their useful life, clean intakes and transducers, including sTW paddlwheel and make sure sure there is no fishing line or other fouling on shafts, struts or props while I'm at it.

IMO, power-washing removes more ablative paint than U/W soft brushing.
 
It would really help if you d feel is where you are... down south in warm water after 3 weeks you may get enough growths to prevent a boat from gettin on plane.

I agree, grab a mask and take a look
 
The river I'm on feeds the Delaware bay and is extremely cloudy. You can't see six inches even with mask. I'm going to replace the plugs first. If it's not a broken plug I'll have it lifted and cleaned. I'll report back.
 
Let us know what you find. IMO it would not be unusual this late in the season.
 
Ah, yes, the quick haul does make sense in your case vs the swim.

While new gapped plugs may be a good thing, you should be able to easily tell if there is good combustion in each cylinder with a power balance test to check for any cylinder which does NOT drop rpm a bit when its plug cable is disconnected ( or injector de-energized on MPI engines). Just mentioning that as my 16 plugs are `painfully hard to get at & out.

If by any chance the distributor cap had been checked or replaced since it last planed off, you might triple check for proper firing order & timing

Could your gas be going stale? Does a sample look smell nice and fresh?

This is a 25' 1978 Chris Craft, right ? Is it I/B and what engine? ( Maybe Catalina 251 I/B?)
 
Yep, 25ft Catalina with Merc 350 260HP and 14in Nibral prop. The plugs were perfect, so I pushed that off till spring. I couldn't believe my eyes as it lifted out of the water. There were so many barnacles on the prop that it looked like the inside of a bees nest or a pine cone! I took a picture of it because no one would believe me. There was nothing anywhere else; very little growth on the hull, no barnacles on the rudder or shaft or trim tabs. It's like they attacked my prop! True to his word, he power washed all of my running gear and dropped it back in the water. I then took it out for a test and basically had it standing on the stern in 5 seconds at WOT (at least it felt that way to me)!

He said that they thrive in fresh water and we have had much more rain this year than normal. The river is brackish with a lot of drainage from many streams up-river. He said to be sure to spray my prop with zinc in the future and that will prevent them. That makes sense as I use that on my strut and trim tabs.

Oh, BTW, no more high temp alarm above 3000RPM with the new exhaust manifolds.
 
Thanks for sharing what you found. It will be interesting to see what I have. Mine has been in the water for 13 years. It still pulls along ok but I am having RPM limitations. I am in fresh water so I may have the same problem. I dropped in the water when I was on hook and went along the side feeling the bottom with my hands. The bottom didn't feel as fouled as I expected. I didn't go under her to feel the props since the water was too shallow to risk that sort of a move. The first few times I tried to come up on plane I was only able to pull 3300RPM. I kept it under 2500 most of the time for several trips. The last time I tried it the boat came up on plane and was running around 3800. I was told that I should not expect more than that since it was a 47' houseboat after all. I don't think that is right. I looked at the MFG max RPM and they are saying I should be between 4200-4800 max RPM. She did come up on plane last time but I felt she still had more in her. I may have a lot of growth on the props. I am surprised that they can stay on there after all of that spinning. Fall will be interesting.

What is the best method to clean the bottom prior to paint? I am looking at pressure washing then leaving to dry over winter with bottom paint coming in the spring.

Thoughts?
 
Pressure wash then see if more aggressive removal of residue is needed.
 
River maybe it will plane but why do you want to? Regardless a clean bottom will add to performance and economy.
 
quote:
Originally posted by pdecat

maybe it will plane but why do you want to? Regardless a clean bottom will add to performance and economy.

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Why do I want to? I was unable to plane at all and I have a planing hull. In addition, I had a lot of vibration and noise even at 2500RPM and while it was pulled for cleaning I observed obvious wear to my cutlass bearing.

The reason why this was strange was that in the 16+ years I have owned this boat, I have never had to pull it mid-summer for cleaning. I have always pulled it at the end of Sept with very few barnacles.
 
I was replying to River with his houseboat. Sorry I was not clear.
 
I guess the answer to that is because it can. I have seen houseboats just like mine running on plane and mine will and has done it when owned by the previous owner. Honestly, I don't do it often. Most of my trips are around 1800-2200 RPM. I have noticed that each time I do it the engines seem to pick up a little more RPM. Maybe working my way through all of that old fuel. Maybe the growth on the bottom is peeling off. I'd just like the ability to get back to the max RPM range that Gibson said I should be able to get. Max RPM not being to the manufacturers spec is an indication of a problem. I am still trying to identify all of the problems. Growth on the bottom still? Maybe. Barnacles on the props causing lack of thrust? I would have thought this to be the opposite... RPMs higher with speed lower due to prop cavitation and barnacle fouling. Who knows. I am just throwing thoughts out there. I guess I honestly won't know until it gets hauled in fall.

So... pressure wash first. If there is still residue what then? wait until it dries and sand? That seems a bit extreme. Is it better to pressure wash immediately or wait for it to dry then go back and hit it? Plastic scraper blades? Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanks!
 
wash immediately before the stuff dries out. Plastic scrubber pads will work on most stuff except .barnacles
 
I pull my boat out or Lake Erie about half way thru the season to have it power washed. Always makes a big difference.
 
Be very careful going into the water in a marina if it supplies electrical power to boats at their slips. Stray electrical current can exist around those slips, which can cause electricution under certain circumstances. Every marina we've used does not allow any diving near the slips because of that reason. We've had the running gear on our boat painted with anti-fouling paint. Yes, it wears off the props during the season, but it does help in keeping them clean. Hy
 
quote:
Originally posted by Stephen

He said that they thrive in fresh water and we have had much more rain this year than normal. The river is brackish with a lot of drainage from many streams up-river.

Click to expand...


This is the first time in over a decade I've had to pull and power wash mid-season in brackish Chesapeake waters. We anchored and scrubbed the hulls (power cat) 2 weeks ago and that helped but I had to drop $200 on a short haul and power wash to get things back to normal. I've never seen so many barnacles!
 
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