Boringly antifoul

[BarryH]

Does a boat really need antifouling if its moored on a river. I seen boats kept on the Frome that have no antifoul. They make trips into the salty stuff most weekends.

Watching them being lifted over the past couple of weekends nearly all of them just needed a blast with a jetwash and scrub with a stiff broom. I ask as next year we've decided to keep the boat afloat in the summer and back to trailing in the winter. I don't really want to antifoul as once started you've got to keep on doing it.

I've heard in the past that going from fresh to salt and vice versa kills the growth and keeps the bottom clean. My plan is to leave it on the mooring and maybe put it on the trailer every couple of months just to give it a wash and brush. I don't really relish the thought of slapping dodgy coloured paint all over the shiney gel coat of the boat. Plus the fact that pulling it onto the trailer will always scrape a bit off.

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[jon_bailey]

I've been wondering something similar, i.e. when keeping my boat in saltwater, how often and for how long would I have to moor in fresh water to kill off all the growth? Do barnacles simply fall off if they are subject to fresh water or do the little b******* just die and cling on, as they do when you simply remove the boat from the water.

Boring but intriguing.

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[miket]

Firstly, in my experience, in fresh water the antifoul does not do a lot, but it does seem to stop the limescale/ calcium build up on underwater sections.
I bought a boat on the Thames (non tidal) with no antifoul and it took me days to remove the calcium before I could then antifoul.

Secondly, it tends to be the slimey deposits that occur in fresh water that will disappear when you go to salt water, not the barnacles and other growth that occur in salt water that fall off when going into fresh water.

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[apollo]

I agree, I had a brief swap into Chatham for June and July where I picked up lots of barnacles.

I returned to the upper Thames in August and the boat has just been lifted out and the barnacles were still there.



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[BrendanS]

Kept my boat on the Thames for 2 years with no antifoul. Simple pressure wash and wipe was all that was needed when it was lifted end of season

Since moving to southcoast, on a dry berth, I've similarly not used antifoul.. If you are only doing weekend and day trips to the briny stuff, no reason for antifoul.

If you leave it on a saltwater mooring and go freshwater everyso often, you'll kill the vast majority of the stuff, but as mentioned, if barnacles take hold, they are going to stay there unless you scrape them

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[BarryH]

Boat will be moored in freshwater up in the river with the usual trips out in the briney. The mooring dries at low water springs as well. I'll be leaving the trailer down there as well. So hauling it out every now and then won't be a problem.

Think I'll try it for a year and see how it goes. Don't really want to antifoul if I can help it, it always makes a boat look shabby.

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