Ultrasonic Antifouling?

[Jmarsh203]

Has anyone tried it yet? So far all I’ve seen is reviews from people doing the review that seem to have a vested interest in the product. It looks promising and possibly cost saving in the long run and was considering installing aboard my boat since aluminum bottom paints all seem to be so disappointing. Any info, good points or bad or first hand experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FF]

"Has anyone tried it yet?"


No doubt , its been on sale for decades and decades.From mid 60's or so.

 

[mvweebles]

This came up a a thread a couple months ago. I too was intrigued but until I see a "twin study" where it's installed on one hull of a catamaran, I'll assume it's in the same category as Algae-X fuel conditioning magnets. May work a little, but probably not enough to justify expense and effort.

 

[CaptTom]

It's a great idea. I'd love to see it work. But...

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."

Given that these devices have been marketed for decades, and no meaningful proof has emerged, I'm still in "wait and see" mode.

 

[syjos]

Has anyone tried it yet? So far all I’ve seen is reviews from people doing the review that seem to have a vested interest in the product. It looks promising and possibly cost saving in the long run and was considering installing aboard my boat since aluminum bottom paints all seem to be so disappointing. Any info, good points or bad or first hand experience would be greatly appreciated.

I installed Sonihull Ultrasonic Antifouling on my boat last November. Two clients also installed them on their boats.

I too am skeptical about the performance claims by the manufacturers. PYI, the distributor gave me a guarantee that if the ultrasonic Sonihull did not work as advertised, they would take the units back and give me a refund.

So far, my bottom looks slime free. I never get barnacles but lots of slime.

My two clients report clean bottoms.

The test will be this summer when we cruise for two months and usually get a big accumulation of slims.

Look up the thread I started; "Sonihull Ultrasonic Antifouling Install" for details. I will post updates there when I have something to report.

 

[mvweebles]

I too am skeptical about the performance claims by the manufacturers. PYI, the distributor gave me a guarantee that if the ultrasonic Sonihull did not work as advertised, they would take the units back and give me a refund.

Same PYI that makes dripless shaft seals? They've been around for a while.

Good friend of mine has a Horizon 52 Power Cat sitting behind his house in N Redington Beach (near St Pete FL). He has to have a diver clean the bottom every 3-4 weeks. If you know the folks at PYI and they'd like to do a test and install on one hull and compare over time, I'm sure he'd be super-eager to give it a try. And it would be a great test for the product.

Peter

 

[Waterford]

I installed the Australian version, Clean-A-Hull, on my 32' trawler several years ago and it worked so well I installed another when I sold it and bought a 37' boat. My marina has issues with mussels growing in thru-hulls. Since installing, I have not had any and the bottom stays very clean. I still get some growth on the rudder but not as much as I used to. So, for my boats in my location (Olympia WA), it has worked very well. You should know that they don't clean the hull -- it must be clean to start and then they keep it clean. But, they must be powered 24/7, even while cruising.

 

[Jmarsh203]

Waterford Do you still run anti fouling paint with the system or just a hard two part epoxy? I’m about to pull my boat and do a bottom job on it and was wondering what paint I should run other than a self etching primer since my boat is aluminum, pretty much all the aluminum bottom paints look pretty innefective so I’d like to not have an ablative paint at all if possible so I can stretch out having to haul it out as well as have a more heavy duity paint on the bottom.

 

[syjos]

Ultrasonic antifouling still require bottom paint.

Not as often.

 

[Waterford]

Jmarsh, Yes, still using ablative bottom paint, but as syjos says, it last longer.