Hull staining and fouling, saltwater

[Bill D.]

When I leave the Whaler in the water for a couple of days (Little Lagoon, Gulf Shores, AL) the hull yellows and more than 3 days early stage barnacles start to grow. The hull is always waxed, but not bottom painted. I end up using one of the acid hull cleaners to get the stain off and then wax again. Have any of y’all had success using one of the newer hull anti fouling treatments?

 

[Brian N]

Wow...barnacles in three days...that's crazy...

 

[Bill D.]

Wow...barnacles in three days...that's crazy...

Even at the very early stage, feels like coarse sandpaper, they require some tough scrubbing to remove. Let it go for a week and your doing the scrape them off thing. Now I pull the boat every 48 hours for a wash down. That yellow stain can not be washed off with a soap cleaner. The good thing is the boat ramp is right at the condo and it’s not crowded.

 

[Radioactive]

I too found that 3 days was about the limit. At the dry stack ( near Bay of St Louis ) it was common for the boat bottoms to be brushed, not just rinsed, after being in the water as little as 48 hours. "A weekend at the islands" ( Chandeleur ) usually meant a sandpaper bottom.

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Stain may be tannin from the fresh water component of the local brackish water We see it here, too. Yes, they used an acid wash, but the stains were never specifically addressed except by detailers.

 

[sugilbert]

Just a thought, but you could try one of the new ceramic coatings instead of the was you were using.

 

[alk]

i didn’t know there were any options beyond the acid cleaners. Everytime I use, I swear I’ll remember gloves next time - but of course never do. that stuff does work though. Burns like crazy when it gets in your eyes !

 

[Bill D.]

i didn’t know there were any options beyond the acid cleaners. Everytime I use, I swear I’ll remember gloves next time - but of course never do. that stuff does work though. Burns like crazy when it gets in your eyes !

You spray it in your eye’s??? Very strange, does it clear things up for you?

More seriously, once that stain is there I don’t know of another option either. I was hoping something along the lines of VS721 from Aurora would pevent and/or make cleanup easier.

 

[alk]

first couple years I had my bowrider it wasn’t painted. And every now and again I’d leave it in for two weekends ( ten days) which meant Sunday evening i was laying under the trailer, spraying acid on the hull and scraping the mini barnacles onto myself. Still remember the smell of acid mixed with dead barnacle.

they make this great stuff to prevent and/or make cleanup easier. It’s called bottom paint. That’s what I use now.

 

[Radioactive]

"When I win the lottery", my Whaler look-alike will have a cupro-nickel hull. No more painting, no more barnacles...



( And no more money! )