Barnacle removal

SAIL1 · Post by **SAIL1** » Apr 25th, '11, 09:52

I am planning to haul the boat in the next few months and expect a lot of barnacles on the bottom.
Any advice on an easy way to remove them?
Hoping against hope that they have discovered some miracle formula that one could apply and have the barnacles drop-off.
Absence of that, I guess I will have to hack them off.
I plan to leave the remaining glue rings on the hull.
The reason for this is that attached to this glue ring is a layer of the barnacle shell itself and if I use sanding to remove it completely I would just be grinding parts of this shell into the gelcoat and creating significant damage to to the gelcoat.
So I plan to paint right over it.
Any advice on the "hacking -off part" and painting over the glue rings would be appreciated.....thanks

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Apr 25th, '11, 10:00

A power washer should take them right off, bottom rings included. Most boat yards offer a power wash as part of a haul out which is well worth it.

But if you do scrape them off, you can certainly remove the rings with On Off, it disolves them but will not harm the gel coat.

CD_Sailor · Post by **CD_Sailor** » Apr 25th, '11, 10:06

DELETED

John Vigor · Post by **John Vigor** » Apr 25th, '11, 11:04

Before they can dry out and seal themselves, squirt those little buggers with lemon juice or vinegar and they will throw their little hands up and surrender. They will hurl themselves off and fall in neat rows, ready to be swept up and returned to the water, there to seek refuge on some other poor sucker's hull. Or so I'm told.

John V.

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Apr 25th, '11, 11:13

John, I was always told you got more barnacles with honey, Steve.

Boyd · Post by **Boyd** » Apr 25th, '11, 12:40

I assume all the above were ment as jokes.

Having just done my time in the boat yard, I can say that none of the above have any real effect.

I resorted to a really strong scraper and RA sander with 40 grit to remove the rings. Scraping removes just the surface stuff. A REALLY strong power washer just gives nice clean barnicles and oysters.

Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII

SAIL1 · Post by **SAIL1** » Apr 26th, '11, 07:57

Thanks for the replies and info.
Ran a quick check check on On Off and it seems like a a solution of various acids which i would be hesitant to use.
Boyd, what you indicated is what I suspected in the back of my mind ...it looks like the barnacle is still King.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Apr 26th, '11, 08:44

Yeah on off is nasty stuff, wear gloves, eye and lung protection when using it. But it works wonders, its also great for getting stains out of gel coat (rust, waterline scum, etc). And for cleaning the prop and seacocks. I use a fair amount of it each haul out.

ckreitlein · Post by **ckreitlein** » Apr 27th, '11, 01:11

I just hauled my boat out, pwr washed, scraped, sanded and re-painted the hull. It had been over three years since my last haul-out. I had some barnacle growth along the water line (bow), some at spots where the stands had been on my previous haul-out, along the keel, and a few misc spots here and there. I had a huge chunk of oysters stuck on the condenser for my frigo-boat fridge unit that sits along the hull (I don't think I painted over it during my haul-out). I believe the removal of marine growth depends in part on the type of bottom paint you have. I use a hard ablative paint called Super Ship Bottom only available over the internet. I cannot guarantee my experience will be the same as anyone else.

Here is what I did: As soon as the boat came out, sitting wet in the slings, I donned a cheap plastic full-face shield, grabbed my spray bottle of Clorox Bleach and proceeded to spray all the barnacles. Then I fired up my pressure washer and blew off all the slime, but that did not remove the barnacles. I took my putty knife and ran it along the water line. All the barnacles popped off as easy as you please. I continued around the boat and popped off all the barnacles I could see. They left no significant residue or rings.

I was told by others that Bleach would cause them to release from the hull. However, I also believe their easy removal was facilitated by the superb quality of my ablative bottom paint - they simple could get a firm grip on the hull.

I cleaned my dirty hull above the water line with "On and Off" which worked great, but I did not use it below the water line. It is strong, works extremely well, but certainly stained the paint of my boot stripe - which I was going to repaint anyway.

Getting the oysters off the condenser was not difficult.... pried them off with a screw driver. This time I painted the condenser with my ablative bottom paint. I even slapped some bottom paint on the prop blades.
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Ron M. · Post by **Ron M.** » Apr 27th, '11, 07:51

CKreitlein,
I've been pleased with supershipbottom. After initial 2 coats I put on a maintenance coat every other year. Nothing adheres to it that can't be hosed off.
________
Teen Webcams

CD-Sailor · Post by **CD-Sailor** » Apr 27th, '11, 08:33

DELETED

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