TuckerIdaho
Contributor
Most pros are using surface supplied air (brownies or the like).
minimum equipment required to clean boat below waterline
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Most pros are using surface supplied air (brownies or the like).
nolatom
Contributor
I've done it once, plus I'm an English major. So I'm perfectly qualified as you can see.
In my one time, on a 34-foot keel sailboat at a marina in Lake Pontchartrain, I found the most helpful piece of equipment was a small "toy" toilet plunger, which was a Carnival throw from the irreverent Krewe of Tucks (I live in New Orleans).
It gave just enough suction to hold me in with one hand while I was scrubbing, which necessarily means pushing against the boat with the scrub brush in my other hand. And, the suction was "weak"enough that I could slide it around as I moved along the hull and keel, rather than having to un-stick and re-stick it just to change its position.
I've seen the "right" tool on previous page, like the window glass installers use. But hardware store didn't have one. And then I thought of that little plunger. I had saved it for reasons I can't recall, but glad I did. It was worth its weight in diamonds.
Doing this work is not a walk in the park--you get tired arms and hands, and the viz in the marina I dived in went from about 2 feet to almost zero as I stirred up the mucky bottom, plus the billows of red clouds from the ablative bottom paint.
Respect to those who do this as a job.
In my one time, on a 34-foot keel sailboat at a marina in Lake Pontchartrain, I found the most helpful piece of equipment was a small "toy" toilet plunger, which was a Carnival throw from the irreverent Krewe of Tucks (I live in New Orleans).
It gave just enough suction to hold me in with one hand while I was scrubbing, which necessarily means pushing against the boat with the scrub brush in my other hand. And, the suction was "weak"enough that I could slide it around as I moved along the hull and keel, rather than having to un-stick and re-stick it just to change its position.
I've seen the "right" tool on previous page, like the window glass installers use. But hardware store didn't have one. And then I thought of that little plunger. I had saved it for reasons I can't recall, but glad I did. It was worth its weight in diamonds.
Doing this work is not a walk in the park--you get tired arms and hands, and the viz in the marina I dived in went from about 2 feet to almost zero as I stirred up the mucky bottom, plus the billows of red clouds from the ablative bottom paint.
Respect to those who do this as a job.
Julius SCHMIDT
Contributor
Yeah the minimum equipment required to clean boat below waterline is "someone else'
fstbttms
Contributor
broncobowsher
Contributor
I recall some places will have issues with the stuff you are scraping off your hull and the pile of scrapings left on the bottom after you are done.
There are two important issues:
Make sure that you understand how to prevent AGE (Arterial Gas Embolism)!!! You can easily die in 2 meters of water on Scuba or surface supplied.
- A small compressor is a better option for you because you will have problems getting a tank filled at a dive shop without being certified. It will also be easier in remote sites where the dive shop may be quite a hike from your mooring.
fstbttms
Contributor
In the U.S. there are no regulations or restrictions anywhere about the fouling growth that is removed from pleasure craft hulls while in the water. There are however, some states and local areas that regulate the type of anti fouling paint that can be cleaned in-water. In fact, the Port of San Diego is implementing a 2-month ban on all in-water hull cleaning in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin and that begins on Sunday.
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