Disposal of antifoul cleaning slurry (water and bits)

[sarabande]

The small (but perfectly formed) yard where my boat is at present have told us that they are no longer able to clean hulls for owners bcs of H&S requirements. Fair enough, but I asked about using a DIY pneumatic and water system to abrade the last seasons' AF, and suggested that contrary to local practice of letting the debris just run away into the ground, I would prefer to collect the slurry and dispose of it 'properly.

I have no problem collecting it in a builder's tarp and pumping it into a barrel,. but suspect it is specialised waste and needs a proper site.

How do big marinas and boat painting companies solve the problem please ?

 

[Graham376]

Boatyard where we are just lets the run-off drain into the Ria, a nature reserve

If you're just looking to abrade, why not do it dry with a good shop vac with HEPA filter? A decent vac and sander catches virtually all of the dust and much easier than trying to catch slurry.

 

[William_H]

Many clubs around here including mine have removed slipping facilities because of the environmental issues regarding run off. Other clubs have spent the money and fitted collection systems with filtration systems presumably to a suitable standard before releasing run off water to river. I don't know what your yard will allow. I imagine you could collect run off water and allow it to stand so sediment drops to bottom of container then filter the water from the top. Dispose of the residue in land fill etc. ol'will

 

[duncan99210]

Most marinas have a slurry trap on the drain from the hull washing area. That removes most of the antifoul abraded from hulls by allowing it to settle out of the wash water. Every so often, a contractor with a suction truck appears and removes the contents of the slurry trap for safe disposal. Lord alone knows how they dispose of it but they’re licensed to conduct the business so one would hope it’s being done properly....

 

[Neeves]

If a yard here had no power wash facilities - they would close down. To have power wash facilities they must contain the run-off. We have used a yard where the collecting facilities, an open drain across the slipway, was below high water - which meant they could not wash down at high tide. We have used another yard where we have to have drop sheets under the hull when we AF - to keep the concrete pad clean.

I think it would be difficult, here, to convince a yard that collecting the water in a tarp would contain all the run-off. They would be concerned that if you got it wrong they would incur hefty fines.

Jonathan