Hull Cleaning 101

How often should the boat be cleaned?

How often should I paint my boat?

Should I put anything on my running gear when I haul and paint my boat?

Does the growth vary from marina to marina?

How do you clean the boat?

How soon after getting my hull painted should I schedule my first cleaning?

What is the growth like in this area?

How do you avoid run-ins with sharks?

Q: How often should the boat be cleaned?

A: In general the monthly roll is what I recommend. That would be four weeks between cleanings. That time frame works well for this area of South Florida, and is easy to plan trips around. It’s what most of our customers are on. But if your trips are more spontaneous you should be on the 2-week roll. That time frame always keeps your vessel “trip ready”. I also recommend the 2-week roll if you dock in a heavy growth area, or have bottom paint in poor condition.

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Q: How often should I paint my boat?

A: That time is different with every vessel. There are many factors that go into aging your bottom paint. Quality and type of paint on the boat, where your boat is docked, how often you use the boat, and how often the boat is cleaned are all major factors. Here at The Proper Way we keep the owner and/or Captain fully informed of the paint condition, and make suggestions on when to plan another bottom job.

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Q: Should I put anything on my running gear when I haul and paint my boat?

A: I do recommend some type of coating be put on the running gear when the boat is being painted. You will have a lot less problems with growth if the running gear is not just bare metal in our South Florida waters. Even if you put the best paint on the market on the hull, if there is nothing on the gear, you are going to have some type of performance loss between cleanings. If you run aground we can always have your coating reapplied when the props are being serviced.

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Q: Does the growth vary from marina to marina?

A: Yes! The marinas closer to the inlets (example: The Buccaneer or Jupiter Seasport) tend to get barnacles and a lot of soft corals. But since the water there is a little clearer you don’t get a lot of scale on the metal. When you dock at a marina farther in (example: Soverel Harbour or Admiral's Cove) you tend to get both barnacles and scale, but no soft corals. Scale comes from the turbidity in the water, the more turbid the water the heaver scale you get. The particles fall through the water column, land on your running gear, and solidify into scale.  Is one area better than the other? No, it all has to get cleaned off anyway.

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Q:  How do you clean the boat?

A: Well it’s pretty straight forward. I have several different hand tools I take with me: scrappers, a 5-in-1 tool, a suction cup, various sized screwdrivers, and a brush. I use those to get whatever marine growth that is there off. But the amount of growth determines how hard I scrape. If the yacht is covered with growth I’ll have to scrape pretty aggressively. If the paint is good, and the growth is light I could just wipe the vessel down with a glove!

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Q: How soon after getting my hull painted should I schedule my first cleaning?

A: 4 weeks. I know, I know it sounds like I’m working you.  You spend all this money on a nice paint job, and I want to come out 4 weeks later when there is only a little growth on the boat. Trust me! The easier I can be on your new paint the longer it’s going to last. That means longer times between bottom jobs. You can go easier on the paint if the first cleaning is at 4 weeks, then the next is 4 weeks later, and so on. If the first cleaning after the haul-out is two months or longer, that means there is larger and more abundant growth. The more growth, the more aggressively I have clean on your nice new paint. There is nobody that wants to see you paint stay in better shape longer than your diver!

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Q: What is the growth like in this area?

A: Prolific. We get marine growth here all year long. The colder times of the year are a little lighter, but growth does still occur. Our heaviest growth is during the summer. I tell my clients that heavy growth parallels hurricane season. It ramps up in June, peaks out from the end of July thru September. Then in October slowly starts tapering off.  Some other factors that contribute to elevated growth rates are if you dock in a high current area, or dock in an area with a lot of runoff.

Q: How do you avoid run-ins with sharks?

A: I try not to act like bait!

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