10yr Barnacle removal

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OBXSkipper

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2012
Messages
58
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Adagio
Vessel Make
Island Gypsy 32
My friends boat hasn't been hualed in probably 10+ yrs, I've never seen a boat so encrusted so to speak. Aside from needing a permit from the EPA to destroy an underwater eco-system what special steps should be taken when he hauls at our local yard ? I've heard spraying with muriatic acid helps in removal but I highly doubt a yard will let him do that as it hangs in the travel lift slings...Thanks
 
Scraper on ta long handle for the paint areas...powe washer should get most...if it is a good one with the right tip.


Scraper on the underwater metals then acid if necessary...put a tarp under if marina balks.
 
Muratic Shouldn't be a problem since we dump it in our pools and go swimming in it. Acid Magic is a better choice, no fumes. There are several boats in my marina that have not left the dock or had the bottom scraped in easily a decade and every one of them does not seem to get any worse than mine gets in 4 months. On theirs it is clear that the growth has reached a certain point and stopped. Often wonder about that every time I walk by.
 
You could have a diver scrape it before you haul it. Less mess to deal with once you're on the hard.
 
Like Bill said, scrape it in the water. The fish will have a feast and the yard will appreciate it.
 
A diver can't use the long, heavy scraper that a yard can. It is no problem for the yard to handle the removed barnacles. They do it every day.

It took almost an hour with a heavy scraper like is used for roofing removal to get most of the accumulated barnacles after 4-5 years off of my buddy's boat. He then scraped the remaining by hand and used muriatic acid to try and get the barnacle base off. He was partially successful.

David
 
djmarchand said:
A diver can't use the long, heavy scraper that a yard can. It is no problem for the yard to handle the removed barnacles. They do it every day.

It took almost an hour with a heavy scraper like is used for roofing removal to get most of the accumulated barnacles after 4-5 years off of my buddy's boat. He then scraped the remaining by hand and used muriatic acid to try and get the barnacle base off. He was partially successful.

David
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I have been told that it is crucial to get the barnacle base off. I used a sharp wood chisel to do it. Just pushing by hand, no hammers used! It worked quite well, but it is slow. Next time I think I'll use the chisel for a first pass (well, after pressure wash and scraper) and then try acid for the remaining bits of barnacle base. It might need another chisel or something afterwards, but I'm thinking the acid would loosen them a bit.
 
Insequent said:
I have been told that it is crucial to get the barnacle base off. I used a sharp wood chisel to do it. Just pushing by hand, no hammers used! It worked quite well, but it is slow. Next time I think I'll use the chisel for a first pass (well, after pressure wash and scraper) and then try acid for the remaining bits of barnacle base. It might need another chisel or something afterwards, but I'm thinking the acid would loosen them a bit.
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Acid doesn't loosen them at all. But it will eat away the shell base left after you scrap away the main body.
 
After 10 years, the least you can do is sing the barnacles "Happy Birthday" before turning them into fish food.
 
OBXSkipper said:
My friends boat hasn't been hauled in probably 10+ yrs, I've never seen a boat so encrusted so to speak.
Click to expand...

I'm still trying to figure this one out. Why? The boat must not have been abandoned, so it kind of boggles the mind as to why anyone would not have a bottom job, or at least a diver anyway, over a decade. Strange. Oh well. Not my business, I guess.
 
I had just the opposite experience. 8+ years sitting at the dock and pretty much just the prop the rudder the chines and the bottom edge of the keel had barnacles. The rest of the hull was completely clear.

old man next to me hasnt had his defever cleaned in over 5 years he said.
 
Needle scaler to the rescue. They work great on barnacles. Parks might let you use his... ;)


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's
✌️
 
Flat bladed hoe (looks like a big chisel on a long wood handle) works very well. Get the angle right and just slide it down the hull. I'm sure this won't be the first encrusted hull the travel lift has hauled.

Ted
 
djmarchand said:
A diver can't use the long, heavy scraper that a yard can.
Click to expand...

Sure they can.

djmarchand said:
It is no problem for the yard to handle the removed barnacles. They do it every day.
Click to expand...

I don't know about where the boat in question lives; but here in the Bay Area ( and maybe in all of California), excessively fouled boats will get a hefty surcharge from the yard as the yard must have the fouling growth barreled-up and shipped off as hazardous waste, which costs them a bundle. 'Course, it's OK to scrape it off in the water before the boat is hauled- that's no problem. Go figure.
 
I had to deal with huge barnacle growth this spring, due to shifting to much healthier waters. I found that scraping while still immersed worked lots better than waiting for the power wash to be finished and then scraping. That even though I was swimming to do the former and standing to do the latter. Maybe the open, live barnacles don't hold on as tight?
 
Spray with chlorine bleach mixed 10% in water from a pump-up sprayer, then pressure wash and scrape. Apply on-and-off acid or muratic acid (vinegar also works) to dissolve any remaining barnacle shell bases while scraping them off. The longer you keep it wet after haul-out, the easier it is to remove. Let it dry just once and bio is much harder to get off the hull.

The bleach and acid applications just reduce the amount of elbow grease needed...good luck.
 
koliver said:
I had to deal with huge barnacle growth this spring, due to shifting to much healthier waters. I found that scraping while still immersed worked lots better than waiting for the power wash to be finished and then scraping. That even though I was swimming to do the former and standing to do the latter. Maybe the open, live barnacles don't hold on as tight?
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Barnacle settlement in BC is greatest March-May. If you can, best to hold off on your bottom work until June.

Glad my home port is Steveston. "Zero" barnacles this past May haulout after 2 years.


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum
 
So, healthier water or more sun? Open moor vs boathouse?

exactly!
 
What the heck is a needle scaler?
 
hmason said:
What the heck is a needle scaler?
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A pneumatic tool used:

1. To cure sailors of hangovers (so I was told once), although it seemed worsen mine.
2. To cause nerve damage to hands of the user
3. As an effective alarm clock on the sides of a steel hull.
4. To shoot thirty 1/8" diameter, 8" long pieces of steel into the water simultaneously.
5. To occasionally remove postage stamp sized areas of paint if held in one place for an indeterminate period of time.
 
Oh, That needle scaler. Of course.
 
Northern Spy said:
A pneumatic tool used:

1. To cure sailors of hangovers (so I was told once), although it seemed worsen mine.
2. To cause nerve damage to hands of the user
3. As an effective alarm clock on the sides of a steel hull.
4. To shoot thirty 1/8" diameter, 8" long pieces of steel into the water simultaneously.
5. To occasionally remove postage stamp sized areas of paint if held in one place for an indeterminate period of time.
Click to expand...
I know it best as an alarm clock...the Bosun of the watch would direct the seaman to use one on the deck just above the helo pilots quarters first thing every AM to make sure we were awake. :facepalm:

Night flying never seem to alter the Bosun's priorities either...:eek:
 
That's funny, as a shipyard guy since 79, when anyone says needle gun I cringe, we still use them religiously for some things, guess it's one of those maritime traditions, along with Chief Bosuns :)
 
Divers who do bottoms for a living use the flat blade garden tool to start the scrape and the weight of the growth takes it from there, it usually comes off in a controlled "rug" that needs little scraping.
 
Forklift is teasing me about the needle scaler because he knows I bought one to chip rust off my engine. It did not work well so I bought a fifty dollar sand blaster to do the job.
 
HopCar said:
Forklift is teasing me about the needle scaler because he knows I bought one to chip rust off my engine. It did not work well so I bought a fifty dollar sand blaster to do the job.
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That's because you are using it as designed instead of just making someone else miserable.

Keep it for when someone anchors too close to you...then take it topsides and let loose on an old piece of plate steel...they will move quicker than playing The Capt and Tennille Muskrat Love on your Bose stereo system too loud in the anchorage.
 
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