Effect of hull growth over time?

[Stellina]

What would be the effect (not its sailing performance) on a GRP hull of letting the growth grow over a longer period, say 3-4 years? Does it just mean more work to remove it come the next lift or can it do some damage to the hull under the old antifoul?

 

[fireball]

I wish my hull grew over time !! It'd be quite handy to start the season with a 30'er and end with a 31'er ! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I would think it is just more work - but the critters have to grab onto something - as long as that is your sacrificial antifoul and not expensive gelcoat ....

the other issue might be the boat soaking up more water - really depends if you leave the boat in all year anyway ....

 

[26ft_bathtub]

On steel hulls it can speed up corrosion a little, but I've never heard of any damage from biofouling on glass boats.

I'm sure there's a place for marine gardening if you can cultivate edible varieties. It'd cut down on the need for stores.

 

[William_H]

I have seen shiny gel coated run about mobos left in the water too long without antifouling paint. (Thats about 3 weeks here in summer) The gel coat is definitely ruined in that you could never get a gloss on the bottom again. But for a boat that has had paint on the bottom it can do no harm. olewill

 

[Evadne]

My boat (1963) was left in the water for two winters, and when the yard used a pressure hose to wash the weed off in the second year, the gelcoat had softened so much that great chunks of it came off. I wouldn't have thought a modern boat with epoxy and/or isophthalic gel coat (I think that's right) would have a problem, though.

 

[ajt]

[ QUOTE ]
My boat (1963) was left in the water for two winters, and when the yard used a pressure hose to wash the weed off in the second year, the gelcoat had softened so much that great chunks of it came off.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this true?
if so I can't agree with your signature of " Elizabethans probably the best sailing boats in the world"
my boat has been left in for a similar amount of time with no problems and it's an AWB

 

[Blueboatman]

Leave it long enough in warm enough water and you will get coral-or oysters further north,,Either way they are tenacious,perhaps more so than the bond between a mab's gelcoat and the underlying fibreglass....where you have lost any bottom paint you will have a miserable and destructive time trying to scrape it all back.
Could be a case of Save a penny and spend a pound?

 

[Evadne]

Well, technically it was a layup problem, not a sailing problem. Fortunately the epoxy job I had done in 1989 still seems to be holding.
If the same sort of damage had happened to a modern boat there wouldn't have been enough sound grp in the hull layup to repair, and it would have been written off. I remember being shocked the first time I went to a London boatshow and saw the show lights shining through the hull on a modern AWB. I'll email you in 40 years time to see if your boat has lasted as well as mine. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[LeonF]

I remember a boat surveyor telling me that a transparent GRP hull was no problem..in fact it was to be preferred as it was the pigment that was often the cause of problems. Any opions from the experts ??

 

[Lakesailor]

Well groomed it can enhance any boat......

 

[Stellina]

Mobo goatee?

 

[Stellina]

We are off for a month down your way olewill so I'll miss the club lift-out for the winter. Doing the antifoul will have to wait until next season and she will have to winter in the water. I was concerned the old antifouling, which is 2 seasons old already, could lead to other problems next season for the epoxy under it or the new antifoul.