Cleaning underside when still in water

A friend with his boat near mine gets a professional to do it once per month for 20 squid a time.
Me i just get under there at least once per week and scrub with a rag. (or scotch brite or sand paper) This all depends on the time of the season and state of the fouling. In the beginning you don't want to damage the a/f so use a rag but near the end of the season you sand off as much as possible to reduce build up of a/f when recoated.

Fortunately where I am the boat is fairly close to the shore in about 3 metres of water. There is very little tide range so no horrible currents. or at least not much.

It is a lot easier with a smaller boat of course and even then with bad fouling it can take a long time to clean the hull. I reckon about 20 mins is my fitness limit so a bad hull will take 3 or 4 sessions of cleaning. But if I do mine once per week it is manageable.

Autumn is approaching and I actually wore a wet suit top on Saturday. If you wear a wet suit you need a weight belt to aid in getting down to clean the keel. But basically you grab the keel and pull/ hold yourself down to scrub it.

No though I have one I never use a scuba tank. For me it is just too much hassle. I find I can do a lot on one breath. The gunwhale is low enough so I can just reach it to allow me to hang by one hand to recover breath. I also have a habit of hanging on one arm (left) with snorkel on LHS so I can reach a fair way under form the water line while still breathing through snorkel. You can do this on bigger boats without holding onto the gunwhale.
I have recently helped a friend clean his boat. He is not a confident swimmer (from UK) we ran the boat in next to a jetty to where the keel hit the bottom. He could stand for the most part while cleaning.

So because I like to race each week. I consider bottom cleanliness a top priority. SWMBO and I like to swim most days in the summer so while she does laps I caress the bottom of my other love.

I realise it is not for everyone especially in cold water but a wet suit can make it bearable and it must be good exercise.

If the bottom is badly fouled take a wide paint scraper. If it is really bad with barnacles and similar growth you will need something very strong and heavy. I have used a bricklayers bolster. (wide heavy chisel) and also a diving knife with the point cut off to form a chisel blade. You need something with inertia when you smash those shells and of course wear gloves.

Give it a go good luck and don't drown olewill
 
Wetsuit, suction cup from £1 shop, goggles and a couple of ropes hanging just above waterline to hang on when getting breath back. Also select nice clear anchorage with little tidal flow.

Yoda
 
I use mask and snorkel and stainless steel scourer thing. I anchor just inside the harbour entrance in about 5ft of water where there's decent visibility, a firm bottom that doesn't stir up too much and just enough current to carry away all the rubbish. In that depth you can stand on the bottom (no flippers - lead boots would be handy!) and get a bit of pressure against the hull.

Luckily nothing much grows till the water warms up a bit at the end of July!
 
If you have two people you can use a piece of carpet. Best is a strip of the outdoor plasticky green stuff that is supposed to look like grass.

Get a strip about 10 feet long x 1 foot wide. At each end, wrap it around a piece of 1" x 1" wood, and screw it in place. Attach ropes to each end of the wood in a Y configuration, so you finally have a single line at each end of the carpet strip.

Drop the carpet under the bow, and work it up and down as you move back. Be careful of through hull fittings (take out the paddlewheel first!). Repeat from rear, being careful of rudder.
 
Hi Roly Voya yes I use antifouling paint which lasts about 3 months and deteriates rapidly with scrubbing. I put about 1 litre on and usually most of it has gone by winter pull out.
I think it must be some sort of tropical soup that grows anything. But currently very clear water in the river. I casn see the bottom clearly at 3 metres. Perhaps the clarity is the problem.
I scrubbed it on Saturday and by today there were a few tendrils of weed and patches of slime. Perhaps they are growing where the a/f has been rubbed off. But mostly I think it is the sunlight.
Anyway the boat will come home for the winter when I get tired of scrubbing and ht water gets colder. 31 degrees max today but water is noticeably colder. olewill
 
Is there not some considerable health and safety risk associated with swimming around in a soup of sewage and antifoul? Long handled brush from the pontoon or dinghy is all you'll get me doing. Have thought about the carpet trick before but have wondered whatever I'd do with the soggy toxic carpet afterwards.
 
I guess it depends on the size of your boat.

On my 20ft One Design I need to scrub before races - no point in starting otherwise /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I heel the boat over by in effect hanging the dinghy off the end of the boom.

I can then lean over on the up side and with a telescopic boat hook holding a white scouring pad on the end, gently scrub all the hull, I then attach a brush to scrub the keel, - the other device always capsizes when I try and get down to the keel /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

This has worked very well for many years, and usually only a few barnacles at the end of the season.

Whole process takes about an hour.
 
Years ago we tried this method:
Tie spinnaker halyard to mooring buoy and cast off. Haul in on halyard and the boat heels over exposing as much as the gunnels allow.
Jump in the water (it was warm there), and scrub with a brush.
 
That sounds an interesting idea, not sure I would like to risk it though as the wash of a passing freighter or mobo might just upset the equilibrium and sink my boat.

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
I've done it for years, trick is to have a bit of tide to carry away the clouds of muck. Have alqays found it easier to snorkel rather than use my scuba gear. My old 32 footer usually tokk me about 30 minutes to clean. Good exercise as well.
 
Hello James yes I appreciate your point but have done it this way for 23 odd years and don't believe I will put an7y more on this winter. The advantage is that there is no great build up of A/f that bedevils so many people.
Regarding the swimming in the sewerage and antifouling. Well it depends on your mooring location. We have been swiming here since I was young and more particularly the last 23 years. No problems.
Cleaning boats was the pocket money work of choice for my kids for someyears tho I confess I did a fair bit for them. olewill
 
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