Following Hurricane's OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

[John100156]

Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Saga of Buster and anti-fouling in Sant Carles:

Late Sept-08 - Torquay lift ready to go by road to Sant Carles:

March-09 – After 4 months in SCM and following a 300Nm round trip to Majorca and back in Nov-08:

Condition of ring anodes fitted Feb-08, replaced March-09, with galvanic isolator fitted:

Stern drives/props after AF in March-09 – Velox-Plus below Seaguardian:

New Jotun Seaguardian AF installed March-09:

Quick polish to blue gelcoat to hull March-09 and ready to re-launch:

Re-launch in Apil-09 – thanks to Hurricane for images:

I must say all of the staff led by example by Neil Salter at this new MDL marina have been very helpful and the boatyard/facilities are excellent. I look forward to an extended stay from May-09!

 

[MapisM]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

[ QUOTE ]
Condition of ring anodes fitted Feb-08, replaced March-09, with galvanic isolator fitted:

[/ QUOTE ]Now that is worrying. Either something wrong onboard, or in the pontoon, methink.
The hull a/f is also nowhere near the effectiveness of the a/f in Hurricane boat, surely it wasn't the same stuff?

 

[Nick_H]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Blimey, that's some pretty serious fouling you get there in Sant Carles.

Did you check the ring anodes when it was lifted in the UK? If not, or if they were OK, then i'd be very concerned that the anodes have deteriorated that much in 4 months in Sant Carles. You need to keep a very close eye on them. Are you sure the isolator is correctly installed, as I understand it they can destroy anodes quickly if not.

 

[robyonfrome]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

This could sound absolutely stupid, but at the risk I was always told to leave at least an inch gap all around the leg housing shield with the antifouling.

 

[andy59]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

[ QUOTE ]
This could sound absolutely stupid, but at the risk I was always told to leave at least an inch gap all around the leg housing shield with the antifouling.

[/ QUOTE ] I thought that as well and that antifoul on aluminium legs was different to hull stuff , Boat looks great though , not envious at all /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[jfm]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Wow John. You got some serious fouling problems there. Are they putting irn bru or fertilizer into the water or something?

I can't work out why your fouling is so different from mne, 500nm East of you. Here is my old boat, photoed when lifted February 2009. She was a/fouled about May 2008, did some crusing summer 2008, then static on her berth October 2008 till this photo was taken in Feb 2009. All in the Med, but France, Antibes

She had m66 soft a/f on the hull, and nothing on the props. I thought the props were bad, till I saw yours and hurric's. It seems strange that yours is so much more fouled?

 

[ChrisKaye]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

"This could sound absolutely stupid, but at the risk I was always told to leave at least an inch gap all around the leg housing shield with the antifouling" ..........................yep I am sure that is the case ! and drives need a different antifoul that is OK for aluminium (something like trilux)

And those anodes are being eaten up far too quickly, something not right there

John, have you had a look at neighbouring boats hulls re the antifouling, what you have is very bad. I've had some serious weed and barnacle bills in my time but that is dreadfull, it looks like the a/f you put on last time is not working at all.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Sheesh, I've never seen anything like that in Majorca. This was mine after 6 months lying unattended in Palma albeit after a few hours run to Alcudia for a lift out

Correct me if I'm wrong but is San Carles in some kind of shallow lagoon? Could it be that the lack of water movement or the lack of pollutants from shipping and boating movements promote growth of this type of fouling. Does anything discharge into the lagoon? What do MDL think about this?

 

[jfm]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Yours is similar to mine mike, which suggests this is a local SC thing, not a Med thing?

 

[Hurricane]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

John

There is another factor which I think may affect the anodes.
Both boats had part of the season in Torquay.
I believe that Buster was there for most of the time whilst JW was there for about 2/3 months.
JW's trim tab anodes were almost gone and we replaced them a couple of days before we left Torquay. Since then, JW's anodes deterioated only a little and could have been put back on.

As to the harsh fouling, a number of people at Sant Carles believe that it was mainly due to a number of things that wont happen again.
Firstly, the dredging of the new harbour - origionally the marina was only a few feet deep and the dredge was carried out using a pumping process that "stirred up" the sediment making it a feeding ground for the little [--word removed--].
Also whilst they were building the yard, they had to close off one of the streams that feed into the marina which made the water stagnant. A bridge was formed to the boat yard and the stream has now been routed back into the marina.

Also we have to remember that this is a very fertile delta with absolutely fabulous fres fish which may contribute to the fouling in the area.

Finally, both Buster and JW have the normal build up of actual barnacles. The little buggers that have been causing the problesm are called "potatoes" by the locals and now that our underwater metalwork has been treated and the marina is up and running with the water flow restored, we are not expecting them to return.

These are the "potatoes" that the locals refer to.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

Yes that's what I'm suggesting. I've also have had a season in Denia on the Spanish mainland and never seen anything like this so it would seem to be a SC thing. If Hurricane's Velox sterngear treatment works in SC, it'll work anywhere

 

[John100156]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

The anodes were fitted in Feb-08 so they are 14m old - the boat was berthed in Brighton and then Torquay, sadly I did not take a photo of the anodes in Sept/Oct-08 but expect much of the wear occured when Buster was in the UK.

I fitted the GI in Apr-08, checked and all working well - no electrical problems whatsoever on the boat.

The original AF was International, I did not have the time to re-apply when it was lifted in TQ, I thought it would be OK to leave it for a few months in SCM - I too was shocked at the amount of fouling but as Mike has said, there could be reasons which have now been resolved, we are all monitoring the situation and I will be interested to see the build-up after say 3-4 months!

I expect the gap mentioned to be left around the sterndrives is to avoid reaction between copper oxide in AF and the Aluminium? I shall take a look soon and in 3m will lift/wash and if necessary re-AF the stern drives!

 

[timbad]

Re: Following Hurricane\'s OP - Fouling in Sant Carles

In any location I would be very surprised to see any behind the prop anode last 14 months. To help I would also on next life be adding button anodes onto the cavitation plate an easy modification, also put double bar anodes on the bottom of the housing and make sure you have the small triangle anodes on the chassis of the leg

Regards
timbad