anti - foul

[DIW]

Received an interesting offer from Boatscrubber Ltd and as a relatively new Boat Owner would welcome more experienced owners views.
Is Boat scrubber considered an efficient and cost effective method of hull cleaning?
A 3 year contract is offered which includes lift out , application of EcoAntifouling with 3 year guarantee,re launch and limitless boat scrubs during the 3 year period.
Cost of the above approx. £2600.

 

[Barry777]

I don't have any personal experience of using it, but from those I know who have the comments have been favourable. However, Port Solent were offering a deal last season for around £60 a go, so you would need to have a lot of scrubs to get your money's worth over 3 years, leaving aside the anti fouling deal.

 

[VicMallows]

Interesting to hear the price .......... Radio Solent did a feature on it this morning but I missed the price details when someone came into the room. Clearly I will be scrubbing/antifouling for many years to come!!

Vic

 

[alienzdive]

How long is your boat. The cost of standard antifoul application is proportional to the length of the boat.

Racing boats would benefit from this as they could be scrubbed before every race. This giving them a slippery edge on the competition.

To offer a deal like this the antifoul would ahve to be a hard coating, hard coatings make it hard for marine life to bind into as it is like an impenatarable shell. Hard antifouls perforom better with regu;ar scrubs as you are not washing the coating away with every scrub.

Ablative coatings can be scrubbed occasionally but ever scrub, takes away small parts of the surface of the coating, effectively giving you a new clean slate each time. Each wash however taking away another lot of marine growth with it. After several washes the antifoul ends up getting littterally washed away back to patchy undercoat areas underneath. Under normal use and a few scrubs this antifoul in my view performs better and is less maintenance free, ie would not have the need to be scrubbed regularly as with a hard ocating.

Unless you are seriously into winning races at no sonsideration to cost. teh eco coating would be the way to go. Hard antifoul can only be applied over another hard antifoul or an undercoat. I am sure that some of the cost contingent would be allowing for the removeal of prior coatings. This would not be necesary with soft ablative coatings as it should be compatable unless there are signs of coating cracking (approx 10 years) where the hull will need to be scraped.

 

[Merman]

The eco-antifoul offered by Boatscrubber is like a teflon coating to your boat. The theory is that the bottom gets mucky but comes clean as soon as it goes through the Boatscrubber.

It is really good and my next door neighbour in the marina where I live has had it done and loves it. I on the other hand being a liveaboard would find no benefit from it as I don't get out enough in the boat. I think for someone who sails every weekend or particularly for racers it is a great deal. They scrub you and even send divers down to check on anodes, prop etc.

When Boatscrubber first started the equipment was pretty basic and scratched hulls and missed loads of the weed, but now it is totally up and running it works great. I would recommend it for a midseason scrub but only take up on the eco-antifouling if you use the boat LOTS!

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
The cost of standard antifoul application is proportional to the length of the boat.

[/ QUOTE ]Surely to the square of the length?

 

[DIW]

My boat is 34 feet long so is the quoted price value for money for approx 100 hrs motor cruising pa ?

 

[Barry777]

For standard cruising, including the amount of engine use you estimate i would be looking at winter lay-up every 2 years with cleaning down and anti-fouling in between if necessary using scrubbing piles. The piles in Chichester harbour have water and electricity available for pressure hosing so it makes it easy between tides - all for around £15. More work but significantly cheaper.

 

[VicMallows]

I did read your post first time as 'scrapped' . OK; scraped.... yes I know this only too well. Any offers of assistance? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif