Hull Scrub in Portsmouth

[sirius]

I have a 35foot fin keel Beneteau which has a fairly dense lawn growing on the hull, and I need to scrub or blast it off. Does anyone know where in Portsmouth Harbour I could let her dry out against something reasoably secure so that I can clean her bottom.

She draws 1.9metres and I would like to do the deed tomorrow.

Simon

 

[bedouin]

Hardway marine have a set of scrubbing grids - and they can also hire you a pressure washer. Just next door to them is the Hardway Sailing club which also have scrubbing facilities, but I don't know id they are available for hire to non members.

Alternatively there is that scrubbing machine in Haslar, if it's still there and operating at this time of year

 

[CraigBradley]

Simon, Wicormarine up the western leg towards Fareham in Portsmouth harbour, has a scrubbing grid alongside their long walkway with power, water etc - and quite reasonable I recall. Be careful with easterly winds though as the walkway forms a 'lee shore' as it were, with a bit of chop.

 

[milltech]

The best value on the South Coast used to be Campers grid for a tide and rent of a pressure washers, £27 but it's no longer available. Apart from the suggestions already made I was told there was a grid across the harbour in the little basin just seawards of the ferries, can't remember it's name, but I never got round to visiting.

Hardway were relucant to take my 65 ton MFV, they didn't think the piles were strong enough.

I used to berth at Haslar, (the marina that is), and nobody ever told me of a grid there, it would have been useful.

John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[bedouin]

The machine at Haslar is not a scrubbing grid, it's rather like an underwater car wash the does the scrubbing for you in about 30 minutes. It's rumoured to be effective, but a bit too vicious for eroding anti-fouling

 

[Reap]

Campers grid has gone? A tragedy Ive used it many a time.
Does it have to be Portsmouth Harbour? There are lots of alternatives in the Solent!
Theres one of those scrubbing machines at Yarmouth too I believe.

 

[jonjo]

> like an underwater car wash

This sounds like an eco nightmare.

 

[BrendanS]

Surely a few revolving brushes can't be accused of ecogical damage.

Look at the positive. For the price of a lift out and antifouling, you get the hull scrubbed several times a season. No nasty ecologically unfriendly antifouling required or used.

 

[ccscott49]

I think he means the concentration of scrubbed off marine life and antifoul in one place, well thats how I read it anyway. IMHO

 

[BrendanS]

Compared with all the boats in a marina, sitting there continually leaching biocides into the water, the levels of biocide area already going to be so high, and people all scrapping down every winter, and draining into the water, it's not going to make that much difference.People with eroding antifould are unlikely to use it ,as it will just take it off (unless they are planning on ceasing using it?). Converting a significant number of vessels from antifouling to scrubbing would more than make up for a short term local hotspot.

 

[ccscott49]

I agree, but how many are going to just have the scrub and not have antifouling?

I didn't realise it was still legal in the uk, to scrape your boat and let the antifoul run into the water, even pressure washing.

It's been illegal in Holland for a few years now, for any antifouling which is blown or scrapoed oiff, to go into the water. It has to be a special area with drains, which is then taken away and disposed off as hazardous waste. We are a little behind the times in UK.

 

[BrendanS]

I'm not sure what the legal position is here, and if it isn't illegal, it should be....but it doesn't stop people doing it, especially in the more out of the way places, where maybe no facilities exist, or where people object to paying for the use of such facilities

....had a quick hunt with Google. Not illegal. The estuary guide for Salcombe was interesting. Suggested putting down tarps to catch flakes, but also requested that......"Whenever scrubbing down an anti fouling painted hull, always do so at a designated slipway. The present thinking is to keep all potentially damaging operations to designated areas and away from more sensitive sites"

So it seems that the Haslar scrubber is in fact in line with present good practise, of keeping the nasty stuff in one spot<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by BrendanS on 02/02/2003 18:03 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[bedouin]

I thought the scrubber was removed from Yarmouth because of environmental concerns - but that could be wrong.

However they seemed to have banned putting anything in antifoulling that might possibly harm any form of marine life - so I can't imagine it's a serious problem.

 

[BrendanS]

Hadn't heard of it being removed, and is still listed as a facility on the Yarmouth Harbour web site:

"BoatScrubber has been designed with the environment in mind and the end product is so 'eco-friendly', it can be used in freshwater rivers and lakes and in marine sensitive areas.

The worlds first 'eco-friendly' automated boat cleaner is situated here in Yarmouth Harbour, (near the Harbour office).... <snip> .....'BoatScrubber' is also 'eco-friendly' and uses no oils or chemicals, it effectively brushes instead of scrubs, therefore minimising paint removal and the subsequent pollution."

 

[milltech]

I'm not sure if it disappeared or if there's simply no access to it, anyway it went the way of all the other traditional waterside virtues when they redeveloped the marina. It was a bit of squeak getting in there round the back of all the pontoons at high tide, and the turn to starboard at the end required some warping assist but it was worth it.

My old girl was so slow that it was more or less the essential prerequisite for a cross channel, but she and I are parted now.


John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[jonjo]

I have seen how meticulous the Dutch are about the removal of anti fouling e.g. vacuum bag attached to powered scraper. Continentals are generally dismayed at environmental standards in the UK and the French love to run TV documentaries depicting life in the 2nd world appendage to Europe across La Manche.

I doubt the scrubbing service will change the annual antifouling paint regime of owners, what concerns me is that people will pop in for an extra scrub just before departing on a summer voyage. Without the machine most people would just carry around some slime and barnacles during the second half of the season.

Does the sea turn to the colour of anti fouling paint when this scrubbing machine is in use?

 

[BrendanS]

Maybe we should start lobbying for the Dutch standards?

I've no idea what the sea looks like after a scrubbing session, as I've never hung around to watch either the Haslar nor Yarmouth machines..

It would be nice to think that the operators would impose some self constraints on use of the scrubber, and refuse to repeatedly treat vessels that have eroding anti foul? Maybe someone knows the operators, and can ask the question?

 

[vyv_cox]

Dutch restrictions are fairly stringent, but you do need to bear in mind that well over 90% of Dutch boating is inland. There is very little flow on some waterways and the majority of it is fresh water. Releasing antifouling wash-off into this environment could have quite significant effects on wildlife. The justification for the more relaxed procedures in UK is that tidal flow will remove and dilute any run-off more quickly.

Seeing the levels of fouling that deposit themselves on antifouling, it seems that the stuff is now so benign that it's hardly worth applying it any more. It seems to me that using hard scrubbable A/F and removal by mechanical means, whether by hand or by machine, is the future. Surely the amounts we are talking about from the one or two "boatwash" sites will have negligible environmental effect.

 

[BrendanS]

If we're going down that route, there will have to be a lot more than two of them. Can you imagine the queues in the Solent?

I still think there might be mileage in not using antifouling at all if the scrubbers were easily available and cost the marine equivalent of taking the car through the car wash.

 

[jonjo]

> the stuff is now so benign that it's hardly worth applying it any more

Maybe the dyes are the most toxic element these days? Personally I am thinking about one of these copper based preparations post the osmosis job, not sure where they rank in the eco league.