Medskipper
Well-Known Member
Don't bring your boats to the Med chaps! 6-8 weeks in Sant Carles brings the boat to a stand still! Needs a lift a power wash almost every time you visit!
Wow, Rafiki has lost 10 kn in 6 weeks due to fouling!
- Thread starter rafiki_
- Start date
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
I found International Micron CSC Extra II kept OB very clean compared to anything else I tried on the upper Hamble in brackish water - no fur anywhere, not even the edges of the tabs.
The problem for me was barnacle growth on the props. The destroyed fuel efficiency first then max speed. With a late February launch she would be down to 14 knots and would barely plane by August.
The only paint I found that would adhere, and boy did it adhere, was Hammerite Special Metals (and barnacle !) primer.
The problem was after the AF top coat had gone the growth formed what looked like gorse bushes happily thoroughly bound to the Hammerite.
Next time (and next boat) I am going to try a mix of the stuff with around 20 - 30% copper powder, with 5 coats to be applied.
The problem for me was barnacle growth on the props. The destroyed fuel efficiency first then max speed. With a late February launch she would be down to 14 knots and would barely plane by August.
The only paint I found that would adhere, and boy did it adhere, was Hammerite Special Metals (and barnacle !) primer.
The problem was after the AF top coat had gone the growth formed what looked like gorse bushes happily thoroughly bound to the Hammerite.
Next time (and next boat) I am going to try a mix of the stuff with around 20 - 30% copper powder, with 5 coats to be applied.
tico
Well-Known Member
Hull OK.... Really? Looks more like the hanging gardens of Portishead!
After many trials i've settled on Seajet Shogun..... just get a film of slime after 12 months. Trilux on the stern drive.
After many trials i've settled on Seajet Shogun..... just get a film of slime after 12 months. Trilux on the stern drive.
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Definitely worth doing. When I was berthed in Palma, a few months sterngear fouling was enough to stop the boat getting on the plane despite the fact that the hull itself stayed relatively clean. Whoever can invent a treatment that lasts a whole season and which stops sterngear getting fouled on boats with high speed props is going to make a fortune
How are your various technical ailments now JtB? All fixed?
Robert Wilson
Well-Known Member
I haven't read all the posts on here, so please forgive me if I repeat others'.
I hardly ever experience fouling up here - a few wire-worms and wee muscles at most.
But from Land's End to the Pentland Firth (anti-clockwise) I noticed a huge build-up of green weed and slime. Eight inch fronds of weed from the waterline downwards.
Before I blasted it all off (four hours with pressure washer) Khamsin struggled to make 4kts under motor coming to the harbour. On the way back to the mooring she zoomed straight up to 6+kts on hardly any revs at all.
So there must be something in the southern and eastern waters which we don't have on the northern and north-western.
Good news for the a/f and pressure-washer manufacturers and operatives!!
I hardly ever experience fouling up here - a few wire-worms and wee muscles at most.
But from Land's End to the Pentland Firth (anti-clockwise) I noticed a huge build-up of green weed and slime. Eight inch fronds of weed from the waterline downwards.
Before I blasted it all off (four hours with pressure washer) Khamsin struggled to make 4kts under motor coming to the harbour. On the way back to the mooring she zoomed straight up to 6+kts on hardly any revs at all.
So there must be something in the southern and eastern waters which we don't have on the northern and north-western.
Good news for the a/f and pressure-washer manufacturers and operatives!!
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Yes, warmth
MapisM
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure, M.
Water temperature surely matters, but there must be also something else, I reckon.
My guess is that the cleanliness/exchange of water in the marina is a key element.
Leaving aside my own boat, whose u/w gear is antifouled (and the a/f sticks reasonably well also to the props, but as you know they always spin pretty slowly), just look at the pic below.
It's one of Hurricane's boat props, taken just a few days ago.
My understanding is that by now he would have expected a much worse fouling in Spain, and I don't think the water temp is much different...
Water temperature surely matters, but there must be also something else, I reckon.
My guess is that the cleanliness/exchange of water in the marina is a key element.
Leaving aside my own boat, whose u/w gear is antifouled (and the a/f sticks reasonably well also to the props, but as you know they always spin pretty slowly), just look at the pic below.
It's one of Hurricane's boat props, taken just a few days ago.
My understanding is that by now he would have expected a much worse fouling in Spain, and I don't think the water temp is much different...
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Yes for sure, I was joking really. FWIW the worst sterngear fouling we have experienced in the Med has been in SoF and Palma. Again entirely FWIW and IMHO, I think that fouling depends on 4 factors. First as you say, the rate at which the water is exchanged in the marina is a factor. Then there is run off from adjacent agricultural land which may contain fertilisers and other nutrients. I think it is no coincidence that fouling seems to me to be lighter in Croatia and Sardinia where there seems to be less intensive agriculture compared to SoF and Majorca. Then there is the concentration of sewage and other human waste which is really a product of how much development there is on the adjacent land and lastly, of course, there is the temperature of the water
So if we want to avoid fouling of our boats we need to park them where the water is cold and there are large currents and where there is no intensive agriculture or major onshore development. That sounds like Scotland to me
Yes I was pleased to see the lack of sterngear fouling on my boat when I visited it in CF recently despite having been unused for the best part of 3 months. For sure, the fouling would have been much worse after such a period in Palma or SoF. In Palma I used to pay a diver 3-4 times a year to clean my sterngear
julians
Well-Known Member
Compared to the images in this thread I get virtually zero fouling on my boat based in port Adriano about 10 miles round the coast from Palma.
I'm amazed at some of these photos and the short length of time this stuff takes to appea.
I'm amazed at some of these photos and the short length of time this stuff takes to appea.
Robert Wilson
Well-Known Member
rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Sunlight appears to have been the most important ingredient for the worse than normal fouling at Portishead last year. We had a sunny July, unfortunately I was away most of the month on business, so could not enjoy it, so Rafiki had a quiet month in the marina. The white worm casts on the props and sterngear were the worst aspects.