Coral Worm

Dickie D

Dickie D

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Hello everyone. Does anyone have any practical ideas on best how to handle coral worm? I have twin outboards so it’s not an issue for the props which I lift when parked, but the trims and anything else metal below the water line is caked in the stuff, after only 3 months ownership at Chichester Marina, which I understand is brackish and so I assume encourages the critters. Ive come across Velox Plus but the only thread I can find on here was for Velox of 10 years ago which I think has now been banned. First thing though, if I put my snorkel on (!), do I use a stiff nylon brush or is a wire brush safe to clean it off, as I can’t be paying lifting charges 3-4x a year for spraying it off. Thanks for any feedback.
 
Assume the parts getting growth on them are aluminium, in which case a non copper antifoul such as Trilux will be fine, although Velox would be better if you can find some. It is excellent, but needs a lot of prep, and on aluminium you need to get back to thee original factory epoxy coating before you apply it. With Trilux spray you can just clean off the fouling then apply the primer and top coat. should last a season.
 
Dickie D said:
Hello everyone. Does anyone have any practical ideas on best how to handle coral worm? I have twin outboards so it’s not an issue for the props which I lift when parked, but the trims and anything else metal below the water line is caked in the stuff, after only 3 months ownership at Chichester Marina, which I understand is brackish and so I assume encourages the critters. Ive come across Velox Plus but the only thread I can find on here was for Velox of 10 years ago which I think has now been banned. First thing though, if I put my snorkel on (!), do I use a stiff nylon brush or is a wire brush safe to clean it off, as I can’t be paying lifting charges 3-4x a year for spraying it off. Thanks for any feedback.
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I feel your pain. I was in Chi Marina until the spring and I suffered badly from it over (3yo) antifoul. (None at all on fresh antifoul.)

Don't forget you can use a pressure washer under water. That worked for me on bits I could get to. (Well, you can't take the whole thing down with you but you get my point.)
 
Halo said:
Best way to handle worm is to move to another marina with proper sea or fresh water
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That's true in general, but it's worth knowing that there are many different organisms that produce similar tubes, and conditions that deter one kind might encourage another. It's not like barnacles, which are all the same species or closely related - tube forming critters might not even be the same taxonomic order.
 
Is Chichester Marina that brackish? When we used to moor on Z jetty we never had any worm. We are now right in the middle of the marina at the end of a pontoon and in the full flow of free flow. We shall see how things work out...
 
Similar problem in Whitehaven Marina, which is near enough salt water, but with rain water run off coming into the harbour.
problem started a couple of years back, prop and cooling intakes covered in what appeared to be coral worm. That much growth caused significant vibration when the prop was turning.

At haul out in late 2019, I applied Velox as per maker's instructions.
Boat hauled out May 2021, nothing on the prop or intakes, and Velox paint still intake,
Took opportunity to remove the old paint and apply new.

Velox seems expensive at first glance, but I reckon you get a few applications out of one can of primer and top coat.
 
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