Diver hull scrub Falmouth?

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Travelling Westerly

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Evening all

I was trawling through youtube videos the other day and came across an electric underwater hull scrubber. I liked the thought of using one to scrub my hull saving on the marina lift out fees etc. Its not as abrasive as the blasting gear so would not cope with heavy fouling. I liked it alot untill I spotted the price! £2k which is a few lift outs. Then I got thinking about offering other boat owners a hull scrub to recoup the cost of the scrubber purchase.

Questions are;
1. Would other boat owners appreciate/go for an in water (much cheaper) hull scrub and anode replacement?
2. Would the scrubber head degrade eroding antifoul early (Im guessing yes it would so maybe a barrier to some)?
3. What would a sensible charge structure look like? Has to be costed cheap enough to attract people away from the lift costs but also get my money back from intial purchase of unit.

Ive plenty of experience of hull/prop scrubbing, anode work etc from when I was a diver in the RN so I know what it entails. More intrested in seeing if its an attractive enough offer. Not keen on buying the unit only to find out this has been offered before and did not get a good take up. Or am I wasting my time?

Cheers
 
You should know as a diver there are stringent conditions to doing paid work as a diver one of them being having a standby diver so your cost structure has just gone through the roof.
Anyway if you were prepared to go in the water why bother with a remote scrubber just take a hard bristle brush in with you.;)
 
I do know about RN diving rules and procedures but I dont know if they align with civilian rules? The chaps Ive seen diving on moorings had no sign of a standby diver nor standby divers attendant (if civies require one) being topsides? Not saying there was not one somewhere below but as you may know a standby diver should be "standing by".

I want to make the scrubbing easy hence the electric scrubber (not sure what you mean by remote as its still hand operated). I dont want to use a hard bristle brush ;). I dive twice a week as it is so love the excuse to take a dip.

But back to my original questions..

Other than the above are you saying its not worth it, other boats dont have the use for in water scrub, anodes etc (put aside the costs of a standby diver and attendant)?
 
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The question is just how much effort is this scrubber going to save when you dive under and scrub a hull. Some effort saved but not so much in the big picture of the effort for you to put on wet suit get in the water and clean yourself up after. Plus ypou would have to do tight corners etc with a brush or scotch brite. If you were doing a bit hull it might be an advantage certainly not for a little boat. So I would say it will be a gamble to buy it. Unless you could make up a remote control like on a long pole with camera to operate it from above.
Regarding being paid to clean hulls. If you set up a formal commercial operation then OH&S rules and workers compensation insurance impose requirements that would make it all very expensive. Standby diver and all that. If however you do it on an amateur basis taking cash under the table contributions not payment, and not advertising or competing with the commercial operators costs would be a lot less, but you take the risk. ol'will
 
William_H said:
........put on wet suit.........
Click to expand...

No sane person dives in UK waters in a wet suit ?

To the OP. I think that your proposed enterprise is a non-starter as it’s fraught with issues/difficulties.

Also, I don’t think that there are many boat owners that would avail the service.

I used to do a mid season scrub on my boat. The marina turned a blind eye as their T&Cs state “no diving without a permit”. It’s a lousy job and I’ve since moved location so I don’t do it any more.
 
davidjackson said:
No sane person dives in UK waters in a wet suit ?

To the OP. I think that your proposed enterprise is a non-starter as it’s fraught with issues/difficulties.

Also, I don’t think that there are many boat owners that would avail the service.

I used to do a mid season scrub on my boat. The marina turned a blind eye as their T&Cs state “no diving without a permit”. It’s a lousy job and I’ve since moved location so I don’t do it any more.
Click to expand...

Wetsuit - you're right, no thank you. I even use dry gloves these days :)

The marina scrub location was another issue as I've scrubbed mine a few times and they have turned a blind eye also but I cant see that happening if i made it a regular thing. I quite enjoy it and even the marina water down here is cleaner than Pompey dockyard :D

Thanks for your reply
 
Unless you want to do this commercially I can't see the point.
If you only want it for personal use surely there are scrubbing posts nearby, or even a quay with a hard bottom where ypou can dry out and clean the hull for no cost at all. Tidal range at Falmouth is more than enough to enable that, surely?
 
If it helps to know, we spotted a couple of young guys offering a similar service in Falmouth harbour last summer. At first we wondered if they were in difficulty as they clung to the side of 30 foot motorboat so we steamed over to see if they needed help.

We spoke for a few minutes about their service which comprised a full scrub of the underside and boot line. They were in wetsuits and snorkel masks but seemed quite happy with their progress.

I asked how much for a 40 footer and they gave an in water quote of £250. Cheaper than a haul out, but probably not as effective and I'd challenge anyone to change an anode whilst holding their breath...
 
alexincornwall said:
If it helps to know, we spotted a couple of young guys offering a similar service in Falmouth harbour last summer. At first we wondered if they were in difficulty as they clung to the side of 30 foot motorboat so we steamed over to see if they needed help.

We spoke for a few minutes about their service which comprised a full scrub of the underside and boot line. They were in wetsuits and snorkel masks but seemed quite happy with their progress.

I asked how much for a 40 footer and they gave an in water quote of £250. Cheaper than a haul out, but probably not as effective and I'd challenge anyone to change an anode whilst holding their breath...
Click to expand...
This was my line of thought but on SCUBA. As you say changing anodes very difficult holding your breath! Much easier to do a proper job with dive kit. £250 you say - thanks for your help Alex (y)
 
Cornishwesterly said:
I do know about RN diving rules and procedures but I dont know if they align with civilian rules? The chaps Ive seen diving on moorings had no sign of a standby diver nor standby divers attendant (if civies require one) being topsides? Not saying there was not one somewhere below but as you may know a standby diver should be "standing by".

I want to make the scrubbing easy hence the electric scrubber (not sure what you mean by remote as its still hand operated). I dont want to use a hard bristle brush ;). I dive twice a week as it is so love the excuse to take a dip.

But back to my original questions..

Other than the above are you saying its not worth it, other boats dont have the use for in water scrub, anodes etc (put aside the costs of a standby diver and attendant)?
Click to expand...

Here you go if you want to do it commercially:

Diving qualifications
 
jpghkKYfNtnwi.jpg


This guy changed our shaft anodes by breath-hold diving, using Allen keys and even Loctite while underwater. That, and scrubbing the hull and prop, cost about £40.

But the water was nearly 30 Celsius!
 
Well I don't use a wet suit either. A tee shirt is quite adequate. Prices around here for a in water scrub are about 25squid. Some of my friends have a monthly order for scrub. My kids when they were teenagers did scrubbing as a pocket money job for 5 squid or 7.5 for a bigger boat. But while the water is warm that makes the wed grow faster. Scrubbed mine yesterday and there was noticeable weed on the transom mounted rudder after 2 days. (temps today forecast 25 to 41) ol'will loving summer
 
William_H said:
Well I don't use a wet suit either. A tee shirt is quite adequate. Prices around here for a in water scrub are about 25squid. Some of my friends have a monthly order for scrub. My kids when they were teenagers did scrubbing as a pocket money job for 5 squid or 7.5 for a bigger boat. But while the water is warm that makes the wed grow faster. Scrubbed mine yesterday and there was noticeable weed on the transom mounted rudder after 2 days. (temps today forecast 25 to 41) ol'will loving summer
Click to expand...

Nice. Where is this?
 
Cornishwesterly said:
Evening all

I was trawling through youtube videos the other day and came across an electric underwater hull scrubber. I liked the thought of using one to scrub my hull saving on the marina lift out fees etc. Its not as abrasive as the blasting gear so would not cope with heavy fouling. I liked it alot untill I spotted the price! £2k which is a few lift outs. Then I got thinking about offering other boat owners a hull scrub to recoup the cost of the scrubber purchase.

Questions are;
1. Would other boat owners appreciate/go for an in water (much cheaper) hull scrub and anode replacement?
2. Would the scrubber head degrade eroding antifoul early (Im guessing yes it would so maybe a barrier to some)?
3. What would a sensible charge structure look like? Has to be costed cheap enough to attract people away from the lift costs but also get my money back from intial purchase of unit.

Ive plenty of experience of hull/prop scrubbing, anode work etc from when I was a diver in the RN so I know what it entails. More intrested in seeing if its an attractive enough offer. Not keen on buying the unit only to find out this has been offered before and did not get a good take up. Or am I wasting my time?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Hi Cornishwesterly,

Just came across this post of yours as I had exactly the same thought myself. Did you end up buying the electric scrubber? And if so did you manage to get any uptake with other boat owners by offering them a service?

Cheers
 
If you do get in the water you may as well just use elbow grease. Just need a mask and snorkel plus a rage or scouring pad and a scrapper for barnacles. ol'will
PS my Brit friends will love this. A diver cleaning a mobo in a large marina this last week was hit by a Bull shark. Didn't bite him just bruised his thy. Said on TV that he was not going back in the water at least until tomorrow to finish the job. This about a mile upstream from where I have scrubbed my little boat every week for 40 years.
 
If you start doing this, certainly in Falmouth, you'll most likely run afoul (geddit?) of the environmental regs, since it's a SSSI, or SAC, or something.

Cleaning the antifoul whilst drying isn't a goer, and all the water from pressure washing has to be collected and treated rather than letting it back into the sea.
 
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