It's been over 2 years since I last applied antifoul to my Endeavour 26.
I have been busy with a new business till now.
Now I have no business till who knows when due to the lovely Covid19!!!!
I find myself in a position where I now have time to go sailing but she has a bum full of barnacles. I can scrape them off again. However I don't have the dosh to take her out and do the much needed antifoul.
Any suggestions as to what I can do, if anything, to help slow down the rapid regrowth. I scraped her hull in December and it is back with a vengeance.
Cheers.
Where are you?
im in port hacking and a monthly scrape is as long as you'd want to leave it. I have patches of bare hull and undercoat I do every two weeks. It's due in May.
As you'd probably know, it will slow down dramatically when the water cools.
Years ago I rang Maritime and/or the environmental guys about putting my boat alongside the rock wall on the inside of the Spit, where there used to be wooden pads for keels so boats could be dried against the wall. They agreed that if I put tarps down so that no paint or other material remained in the environment, it couldn't really be seen to be polluting. I'd still be very discreet, though, and perhaps work very quickly over a couple of weekday evenings if the tide is right.
I have seen other people drying their boats out alongside walls in the Lane Cove River and in Iron Cove.
Valo.
This the time that you should be glad that you have a small boat.
If you want to sail you will need to go over the side and scrape.
This is when you find out what your mates are made of.
Do it as soon and as often as you can before the water gets too cold.
I tried to apply anti-fouling on a boat the was dried out on her side.
Didn't have access to fresh water to wash her down so ended up being a waste of time and money.
If you can come alongside somewhere and scrape it is easier than duck diving.
Either way time to do it.
I disagree with Chris.
Winter is the growing season for oyster,scallops, seaweed and kelp so I reckon barnacles and slime with be just as active.
P.S you are not in an especially unusual situation. I think most of us have been there.
gary
Gary, I spent quite some time in the same situation as Valo, and it was clear that growth grew much faster on hulls in NSW during the summer than in winter. I also tend to use hard racing which needs wiping even when new.
I promise you, if you are diving under a boat to keep it clear in the winter in southern NSW, you really do become quite familiar with fouling growth rates!
Thanks Guys.
I'm in Lake Macquarie.
I'll be scraping her later this week. The council has kindly built a new floating jetty right near my mooring. I have checked the depth and it is 2.5m at the end. So I should be able to tie her up so her keel is just shy of the bottom. Meaning I should be able to touch the bottom as I do it.
Lucky I have an old steamer I can use when it gets colder.
I might have to look at making a big loofah so I can scrub most of the hull from on deck with a man on each side
The easiest way is to utilise a floating pontoon/boat ramp as in the photo. Full wetsuit with booties and a weight belt. Pull the boat in close so the keel is just clear of the bottom. Stand on the bottom to work, it's so much easier than using flippers. A hookah makes the job easy but a snorkel will work fine. Make a long handles scraper with plenty of weight in the handle. 6 feet of waterpipe is about ideal. An Endeavour 26 draws very little. Just keep tabs on the tide and adjust along the wharf as necessary. Stiff bristle garden broom with a bit of flotation lashed near the head will get the slime off.
In NSW it's illegal to scrape barnacles off in the water so keep an eye out for pain in the arse pensioners who will dob you in for fun!
Ive given my boat a scrape in the shallows once or twice. The boat draws 3ft 6" so i take her in to a sandy bottom, with the anchor plus one from the stern and walk around for a gentle scrape. I wear ear plugs if the job involves ducking my head under to clean the prop etc. A critter in the ear canal is not very pleasant. Critters crawl all over your wet suit when doing this job
I would ask that you don't scrape the boat in such a public place as the Croudace Bay boat ramp. Don't get me wrong, I scraped my boat's bum on Sunday, but I did it around the corner, with no jetty and no people walking by.
Go to Green point, find a spot out of the wind and away from a track and gently nose the boat in till she touches and holds in the mud. Put on shoes, for the razor shells, and scrape away. If you go public then the authorities may feel obliged to act. Be discreet and they can ignore you.
If you need to hold the boat off the bottom do all of the rest of the boat and then head back to the jetty to do the very bottom of the keel. Please remember, if we get a BSO aggravated and go strictly by the book, they can make life a hassle for the rest of us.
BTW - I didn't need a wetty on Sunday - it was very pleasant. I did find crawlies in my belly button afterwards though.
cheers
Phil
If one needs a complete set of diving gear with bottle and an additional 20 meter long hose with mouthpiece, with which l used to clean my boat for years, l got one for sale.