Ultrasonic Antifouling

[Deleted User YDKXO]

In my never ending quest for something to stop those pesky barnacles setting up home on my sterngear, I've been talking to http://www.ultrasonic-antifouling.com/ as featured in last month's MBY. They are confident that their kit will work even in aggressive Med fouling conditions and claim to have sold over 500 units in 1 year. Trouble is that it's expensive kit and it's going to cost £2k+ to find out whether it works
Anyone had experience of this equipment or got any opinions on it's efficacy?

 

[EME]

Mike .. JFM is going to ... not sure where he is the process as he seems to be 'boating' at the moment

 

[Solitaire]

Anyone had experience of this equipment or got any opinions on it's efficacy?

It has been fitted to our school boat. It's a bit early to say at the moment, but just from surface observation it's looking pretty good.

 

[Renegade_Master]

Did they lay it on you Dave as a tes boat, or did you have to cough up so to speak?

 

[Solitaire]

Did they lay it on you Dave as a tes boat,

Put it on for a year to test.

 

[Scarron]

Any idea how much current it draws? - I am on a mid river mooring and could only power it from the batteries.

 

[Hurricane]

I dont think it worked for the Phantom here in Sant Carles, Mike.
I heard from the grape vine that he wasnt very happy with the results over the winter period - its summer now and the marina water temp is in the 30s so I'm sure it will be worse now.

I have the same aim as you but I'm still holding my hope on coatings rather that electronic gizmos.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I dont think it worked for the Phantom here in Sant Carles, Mike.
I heard from the grape vine that he wasnt very happy with the results over the winter period - its summer now and the marina water temp is in the 30s so I'm sure it will be worse now.

I have the same aim as you but I'm still holding my hope on coatings rather that electronic gizmos.

Mmm, thats not what I wanted to hear. The company was a bit evasive about where their systems were fitted, claiming that they didn't always know where customers who bought the system kept their boats. They claim to have sold 500units+ but couldn't seem to tell me what proportion were fitted to boats in the Med and they didn't seem to appreciate the difference between Med fouling and UK fouling conditions. Also I think that the cost of the system is very excessive for what it is; it's just a little box sending out ultrasonic signals through a resonator. Seems like they're desperate to recoup r & d costs. Overall, I think I'll wait until some proper user feedback is available and, hopefully, the cost comes down

 

[wakeup]

Ultra sonic clicking

I've also wondered whether you would be able to hear the ultrasonic 'clicking' through the hull at night. It could make sleeping unbearable if you can hear background clicking.

 

[Wiggo]

I doubt it. That's rather the point of ultrasonic - the frequency is too high for the human ear. It might bother your dog, if you keep one under the hull, but I expect the lack of breathing would bother him more.

 

[wakeup]

Welll

if you've ever put your ear close to any sort of ultra sound emitter (depending obviously on freq) you can hear some clicks, e.g. bumper detectors on a car or you can often hear bats clicking as they fly past your head at night, the click is only part of the the ultra sonic sound emitted (the part we can hear) so I wouldn't rule out being able to hear it.

These clicks could propagate through your hull and be heard or make something else in the boat vibrate or rattle.

 

[asm marine sonic uk]

New ultra sonic system to uk

Hi, coming to the uk very soon will be asm marine sonic - a proven ultrasonic antifouing system - no paint application is needed. This is a comes with a money back Guarantee! the system has been tested worldwide for many years and has proven to work the world over. website details to follow soon.