Anyone tried not anti-fouling?

[Mudhook]

My boat's been afloat in the Orwell for just two months this year. I dried out last weekend and had a good scrub round. All below waterline was green slime and longer weed, with lots of barnacles in some areas like root and leading edge of rudder skeg. Now with a clean bottom, boat now sails a good knot faster. I'm using Blake's mid-range something-or-other (can't remember what). Some questions...

1. Is this normal?

2. Has anyone tried NOT using anti-fouling?

3. Is anything but top-dollar anti-fouling useless?

4. Is the east coast better or worse than other areas?

5. Does anti-fouling age in the tin?

6. Any suggestions to improve this state of affairs, or is twice-a-season scrub mandatory?

7. Can anyone point to good links with info on this?

Regards, Mudhook.

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[Evadne]

1. Yes
2. Yes, but the results were inconclusive. Trying again this year.
3. Pass
4. Depends. Are you in a brackish or fresh flow for part of the time?
5. Mfrs say it does but I'm dubious.


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[AndrewB]

I only antifoul every three or four years. This is because they are such bad value, rather than due to having found one of exceptional efficacy. In my marina, shoals of mullet graze the slime. But they don't like fresh antifouling so neglected yachts have less growth than do those that are annually antifouled!

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[charles_reed]

If you can

use your boat regularly on good fast sails (say 200m a fortnight) you'll find it stays reasonably free of fouling.
Leave on a mooring for a month without using it and you really need to give her a scrub down. Leave for 2 months and you'll have to scrub down.

I've found an inverse relationship between price and efficacy of antifouling - the cheapest is better...

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[Phoenix of Hamble]

I have to disagree slightly with Dave's answer to point 1....

2 months in the water will certainly result in some fouling, but to have long weed after two months is quite agressive fouling and suggests to me that you are probably using the wrong antifouling... I wouldn't expect much more than slime in that time frame... although the point about water flow is well made...

Ask around for what others close by are using..... experience counts for everything with antifoul.....

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[brianhumber]

Which Marina?

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[AndrewB]

Dover. I agree entirely with Charles_reed that keeping the yacht in regular use slows up the rate of fouling.

 

[Mudhook]

Re: More info

For what it's worth, the boat lives in the middle of the Orwell near Pin Mill, adjacent to the deep-water channel where the tide runs a good two knots at times. Trailing weed mentioned is perhaps only an inch or three, particularly around the water line, but longer than the slimey 'fur' elsewhere. Boat has been used every weekend but two since dropped in on May 9th, plus a week's cruise at the beginning of June.

Thanks for the interesting responses so far.

Regards, Mudhook.

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[Ocean Hound]

The addition of chilli powder, I believe, works well. Somewhere there was a thread relating to same. apparently it is an Indian/malayan practice and those who tried it found it worked!

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[Mudhook]

The chili-powder recipe seems to work less well in UK waters. I forgot to mention that we have a small patch of our hull painted with anti-foul plus chili powder. The apparent difference is negligible, perhaps very slightly in favour of the chili!

Regards, Mudhook

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[LadyInBed]

My boat is in all year on a river that is about 40/60 salt / fresh. I haven't A/F’ed for four years now, I beach about twice a year to get rid of a build up of slime and a few barnacles.

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[pvb]

Antifoul application...

Whatever brand of antifouling you're using, and whether you're using hard or eroding antifouling, it will only work properly if there's enough of it on the boat. For this reason, I reckon it's best not to apply by roller - only by brush. I apply 3 good thick coats. Plus a fourth coat round the waterline. But I only have to do this every 2 years, and the boat stays in the water all the time. Boat is marina-based, East coast, and I use Micron.

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[Ric]

Re: Antifoul application...

I last antifouled with hard Micron three years ago. Twice a year I scuba under the boat and scrub with pan-scourers. It removes the minor build up of slime, and seems to reactivate the antifoul by removing the top few microns. It is also a far more enjoyable way to clean the boat than standing under it with a jet wash.

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[BrendanS]

When I kept my boat on non tidal Thames, never antifouled, and most boats didn't bother, Quick jet wash and scrub removed any negligible growth when lifted out at end of season.

If you are in semi tidal, moving between fresh and sea water on a regular basis will kill many organisms that try to grow, but won't solve the problem entirely , and likely you'll need some sort of antifoul. Best answer to antifoul question is to look locally at which boats have least growth, then ask them what they are using, and see if there is a pattern.

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[Mollari]

We were in the water for nine months before lift out for refit. I had applied two coats of International Cruising(I think) and had a little slime and practically no growth. IMHO the reason is because I antifouled the boat about three weeks before going into the water, the antifoul had time to cure and harden and the only thing that stuck to it was the boat. Does anyone know of a good antifoul remover? I've tried several and nothing can shift the stuff.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://mysite.freeserve.com/leisure_marine_prep>http://mysite.freeserve.com/leisure_marine_prep</A>

 

[mhouse]

Im further up the Orwell at Woolverstone and can almost see the slime develop even though the boat is use every 3-4 days. I think the sewage treatment works under the bridge add so much nutrients to the water this halps the growth.

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