Ultrasonic antifouling for under £300 ?

[Metalicmike]

One advantage of mooring in Tenerife is the number of yatchsmen you meet from all over the world. Many come to join the Arc which now departs late November and January. Some people come to buy boats and most of them stay for several months. I met Glen last year an American Solo Sailor who came to view a Junk rigged 30 footer moored in thee next berth to me. Following the purchase he spent the following 6 weeks preparing it for a transit to the Azores. He was a retired navel electrician and had sailed Junk Riggs for many years and an absolute pleasure to spend time with. Part of his preparations was to install his ultrasonic antifouling system that he had used on another boat and cost him 10,000 dollars. He sent me information on how to build my own system and where to acquire the circuit board and circuit diagram. I do not expect it to stop algae but is should stop crustaceous growth. These systems are used commercially on ship ballast tanks. There are probably Installations that are ineffective but it definitely works for Glen.

silicon_chip-2017_05 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
silicon_chip-2017_06 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

 

[fredrussell]

There is a VERY long thread on here somewhere where a guy goes through the entire build, installation and subsequent results of one of these systems. I’ll see if I can find it and post a link.

Edit: here you go: Building the Ultrasonic Antifouling Kit from Jaycar

I would, however, ask myself why 99.9989 per cent of recreational craft don’t have this type of anti-fouling systems in place.

 

[Metalicmike]

There is a VERY long thread on here somewhere where a guy goes through the entire build, installation and subsequent results of one of these systems. I’ll see if I can find it and post a link.

Edit: here you go: Building the Ultrasonic Antifouling Kit from Jaycar

I would, however, ask myself why 99.9989 per cent of recreational craft don’t have this type of anti-fouling systems in place.

Thanks for the reply, I think the main issue is cost. The kit from Jaycar is not available on line and they have very limited stock. I was sent the link to the articles in Silicon Chip. Most of the components are available from RS, I have ordered the board and pre programmed pic 16F88 from Jaycar in Australia. This is another parcel stuck in Madrid Customs. I was told to position the transducer directly above propeller and I will also place one near the bow. For me a major part of boat ownership is to make improvements to keep me occupied and mind busy. I enjoy turning off that engine being carried by the breeze and pondering over upcoming projects and how I'm going to pay for them.

 

[ylop]

Thanks for the reply, I think the main issue is cost.

If you can build it for 300 from RS parts, why isn't someone commercial building it for half that and selling it for £3000... which new yacht owner would not pay 1% extra on their yacht for a system that solved most of the AF problems?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

It would be interesting to have comments from those that built and installed the Jaycar system. It was Norman E that started the article and built one. He's retired from sailing now for a few years as am I, I built and fitted two Jaycar units which were in operation for 4 years perhaps 5 on the Southwest coast and East coasts. My findings were that it seemed to deter most growth and what was left was a slime which was easily washed off and probably came off with a vigorous sail. My intention was to remove the layers of depleted ablative antifouling and replace it with a hard racing antifouling that would probably improve the boats ability to shed the slime but I never got around to it before selling the boat.

 

[Metalicmike]

If you can build it for 300 from RS parts, why isn't someone commercial building it for half that and selling it for £3000... which new yacht owner would not pay 1% extra on their yacht for a system that solved most of the AF problems?

If you can reduce haul out to five years, that would have a big impact on sales of Antifouling ect, so it follows that there will be a lot of pressure to negate it's viability. I can't answer that question but I can say it is intruiging enough for me to invest the time (which I have plenty of) to build this system following Glens recommendation.

 

[ylop]

If you can reduce haul out to five years, that would have a big impact on sales of Antifouling ect, so it follows that there will be a lot of pressure to negate it's viability.

Ah, the big paint company conspiracy argument... I wonder how many people would leave boats in for 5 yrs at a time even if fouling was non-existent. Venture capitalists love market disruption - if you could prove it works they'd happily monetise it; the reality is people have been trying to commercialise such things for about 20 years and it never gained traction because the benefits are minimal.

I've done a small amount of work with industrial ultrasonics, it is theoretically feasible but a GRP is not an ideal substrate and a yacht hull is not a great shape, making its benefits quite localised. At powers high enough to work you will likely get audible resonance in your boat or on neighbours in marinas, and it will be power hungry (by boat standards).

 

[wonkywinch]

When colour TV first came out and my parents bought/rented one to watch the moon landing, I remember an uncle telling me quite insistently that any B&W TV could easily display colour but the makers kept it a secret to avoid flooding the market and preventing sales of new TVs

And NASA footage was mostly monochrome anyhow.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Ah, the big paint company conspiracy argument... I wonder how many people would leave boats in for 5 yrs at a time even if fouling was non-existent. Venture capitalists love market disruption - if you could prove it works they'd happily monetise it; the reality is people have been trying to commercialise such things for about 20 years and it never gained traction because the benefits are minimal.

I've done a small amount of work with industrial ultrasonics, it is theoretically feasible but a GRP is not an ideal substrate and a yacht hull is not a great shape, making its benefits quite localised. At powers high enough to work you will likely get audible resonance in your boat or on neighbours in marinas, and it will be power hungry (by boat standards).

I seem to remember current draw was between 1 and 2 amps per unit, I had two on an 11M boat and a solar panel ensured that I never had a problem depleting the yachts battery bank.

 

[Neeves]

We have been sceptical, for reasons. Here is a member who has a different take which is positive from a fellow sailor. FrJ Hackett also has a slightly more optimistic conclusion. They are the first supportive comments I have seen. The Jaycar kits were not expensive in terms of replacing antifouling annually (I'm amazed they have any in stock - the frenzy over the concept was years ago..

MetalicMike, or just Mike, is willing to invest some cash and he has time to spare, though he might have been sufficiently discouraged to spend his time and money on another project. If he is successful - we would, should, all be very grateful.

Mike - go for it, what else are you going to do (apart from instal the mast steps)

Jonathan

 

[rogerthebodger]

We had a number of yacht racers who tried the ultrasonic antifouling, and the conclusion was it was not very effective and still needed to be lifted and cleaned for racing.

I considered as I have the ability to manufacture electronics but got turned off by the fellow sailors comment as being ineffective

My boat is a steel hull so should be ideal for ultrasonics

 

[Metalicmike]

We have been sceptical, for reasons. Here is a member who has a different take which is positive from a fellow sailor. FrJ Hackett also has a slightly more optimistic conclusion. They are the first supportive comments I have seen. The Jaycar kits were not expensive in terms of replacing antifouling annually (I'm amazed they have any in stock - the frenzy over the concept was years ago..

MetalicMike, or just Mike, is willing to invest some cash and he has time to spare, though he might have been sufficiently discouraged to spend his time and money on another project. If he is successful - we would, should, all be very grateful.

Mike - go for it, what else are you going to do (apart from instal the mast steps)

Ah, the big paint company conspiracy argument... I wonder how many people would leave boats in for 5 yrs at a time even if fouling was non-existent. Venture capitalists love market disruption - if you could prove it works they'd happily monetise it; the reality is people have been trying to commercialise such things for about 20 years and it never gained traction because the benefits are minimal.

I've done a small amount of work with industrial ultrasonics, it is theoretically feasible but a GRP is not an ideal substrate and a yacht hull is not a great shape, making its benefits quite localised. At powers high enough to work you will likely get audible resonance in your boat or on neighbours in marinas, and it will be power hungry (by boat standards).

That is a good point, I can see it failing on a bolsa sandwich hull and like any ultrasonics the quality of the coupling is critical.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

As is the expectation, if you expect a pristine hull ( racing boats ) then you will be disappointed.

 

[Sandy]

Ultrasonic antifouling for under £300 ?​

Can we have a parts explosion with costs?

 

[Metalicmike]

As is the expectation, if you expect a pristine hull ( racing boats ) then you will be disappointed.

It will not stop algae or seaweed

 

[Fr J Hackett]

It will not stop algae or seaweed

I knew / know that but others may not.

 

[Sandy]

It will not stop algae or seaweed

Are you saying it does not work?

I thought at was the whole point of the stuff. The ultrasound stopped the plankton and algae from settling on the hull, then the stuff higher up the food chain did not tuck in for the maritime equivalent of McDonalds 24/7.

 

[Metalicmike]

Can we have a parts explosion with costs?

silicon_chip-2017_05 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

 

[Metalicmike]

I may get this board copied if anyone is interested.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Are you saying it does not work?

I thought at was the whole point of the stuff. The ultrasound stopped the plankton and algae from settling on the hull, then the stuff higher up the food chain did not tuck in for the maritime equivalent of McDonalds 24/7.

From my experience and at leas 2 or 3 years in Plymouth it deterred the crustaceans but not the slime and waterline weed growth.