Removing Barnacles

[c130king]

Fellow Mac Sailors,

Looking for some advice. My time in Norfolk is nearly up. My final sail down here was single-handed for about 3.5 hours. Excellent winds...12-15 mph.

Then a friend showed up and we pulled the boat out of the water to prep it for the trip back to Georgia. After about 8 weeks in the water I had a pretty good coverage of small barnacles.





We scraped about 85% of them off using plastic putty knives. But we still have a lot of green slime/barnacle residue on the hull. My hands still stink of barnacles.

Here is how it looked after the scraping.



A couple of powerboaters at the ramp recommended "On & Off Hull Cleaner"



I was told it should be brushed on with real bristle brush. It will "melt" plastic bristles. And then it can be rinsed off.

I was thinking of getting some of this tomorrow and then taking the boat to a truck wash facility and using the high pressure washer (but carefully).

Anyone used this product before? Any other ideas. The question will be moot after about 2 p.m. tomorrow as that is when I will wash the boat.

Thanks
Jim

[David Mellon]

While I have never used that product I do have a safety note. Barnacles give off some kind of poison that you can inhale, wear a mask when working on your hull. Sorry, I don't know what poison it is or anything else, I just remember it being a big deal when I was a Sea Explorer.

[kmclemore]

While I have never used that product I do have a safety note. Barnacles give off some kind of poison that you can inhale, wear a mask when working on your hull. Sorry, I don't know what poison it is or anything else, I just remember it being a big deal when I was a Sea Explorer.

There's no poison that I know of in barnacles, however they do carry an allergen - tropomyosin - similar to that found in decapods like shrimp, lobster and crabs and also found in dust mites. IMHO, folks who are allergic to shellfish or dust mites should probably just pay someone else to clear their barnacales, since the allergen has the potential to irritate both their airway and skin.

[Theo]

Koenig,

I know this does not help you now. Next time pay some guy to scrape your hull while it is still in the water. About two years ago we got a temporary slip for about six weeks. Our boat looked a bit better than yours but not much! And that was after we paid a guy to scrape it after about a month. Last year we only put the boat in for about two weeks, but I paid a buddy of mine to scrape it the day we pulled her. Dude, it was amazing, she came out pristeen. It seems the stuff is alot softer while still in the water! Next Time.

All kinds of stuff has been discussed here. We used muriatic acid. It works, but just like all the other stuff it can be seriously nasty. There is just no way to keep it off your clothes and yourself while squirming around under there with a scub brush. Good Luck.

Theo

[Hardcrab]

It looks like you were in Chesapeake Bay, my old stomping grounds were further north in Maryland. The barnacles there are different than what I've seen here in SoCal. When I grew up there, no one I knew ever totally removed the barnacles from the bottom. The "grass" would scrape off sorta ok, but not the hard shelled barnacles. You could scrape off 99% of each little bugger, but the shell "bottom" was always still attached. Everyone just scraped the best they could, then copper painted over what was still stuck on. I've read somewhere that the "glue" these creatures make was the model for the first super glues. I don't know for sure if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe in the last 20 years, something is marketed that's really strong to literally disolve what's left of the stuck shell remains, I don't know. It would have to be quite nasty to disolve the calcium shell. Sadly, I think you are sorta screwed. I don't think she will ever again be as slick bottomed as she was.
But good luck and slosh on the anti-fouling paint next time. Eight weeks is a long time in that water.

[Timm Miller]

Muriatic acid will get the glue pads off just fine. Work a small area at a time, brush it on and it will to begin to bubble up.......keep scraping the area with the plastic scrapper....a hard plastic ice scrapper works well too. Your hull will be better than new and super clean.

[c130king]

Fellas,

Thanks. Next time I keep the boat in the water I will go with the in-water hull cleaning service. I knew about that here but I didn't think I would need it. Live and learn.

I do have a bottom paint. The PO kept the boat in the water...but it was fresh water. All he had on it when we pulled it out after I bought it was a medium coat of algae that cleaned pretty easily.

I will go look for Muriatic Acid today and see how that works. Definitely don't want to drive the 670 miles back to Georgia with an ugly hull. That would be embarrassing .

Thanks again,
Jim

[Catigale]

Jim - be careful where that acid is ending up, it will kill lawns and green stuff of course...

[Mikebe]

I'd say you don't have any anti-fouling bottom paint at all from the looks of your hull. If you do, something is seriously wrong with it. I had mine bottom painted early this year and it's been sitting in the chesapeake since the beginning of March. I pulled it out this weekend and the bottom was clean as a whistle. The short plastic tube of the ballast valve however (which wasn't painted) looked a lot like your hull, carpeted with baby barnacles.

[kmclemore]

Muriatic acid should indeed work well on barnacles, as well as any other calcium-based junk on the hull. You'll easily find it at any pool supply place as it's used for cleaning swimming pools.

Muriatic acid is a weak form of hydrochloric acid, so handle it with care. When using it, please use safety precautions - it can badly burn eyes, skin and airways, and it splashes *really* easily. Use gloves, skin protection (a raincoat works well), eye protection and *plenty* of ventilation. It will definitely give off fumes as it's working and breathing them can be very nasty, so best bet is to have a fan nearby to blow them away from you.

Also, keep that stuff away from any metal bits, as it will stain, etch and otherwise permanently mark & discolor of the item.

And Steve's right, it will kill anything it hits, so watch where it drips. Oh, and it will also burn your driveway, particularly if it's concrete!

[Catigale]

Ps - if you wear contact lenses, take them off before you play with HCl - if you get something in your eyes it is really hard to get lenses out while your eyes are burning..

[johnnyonspot]

I highly recommend installing a completely OSHA compliant fresh water wash down system, complete with eye flush, before handling muriatic acid. No, just kidding there. I have used it on my Mac 25 hull and it did the job very well, but to echo what Kevin and Catigale said, it is very noxious. One good breath of the fumes is enough to knock you down. Keep a garden hose handy for rinsing your trailer immediately as the acid hits it in order to avoid corrosion, etching problems, and in case you come into contact with it. I used a plain old paint roller on the end of a manhelper, dumped some acid into a roller painting tray and went to town. With the manhelper there is never any need to get real close to the tray or the hull as you are cleaning it. Just roll then rinse, and repeat.

[Mikebe]

Here's what my hull looked like after three months in the Chesapeake...

With tow vehicle...


Closer...just a hint of green slim


In the Water (everybody likes to see that (couldn't resist).


Edit:
Guess you can tell I just replaced my camera
(Cannon S3 IS)

[Terry]

For those without bottom paint:
On the recomendation of someone else I started using Aurora VS721 bottom wax. Now this stuff does not necessarily prevent growth but I did notice it takes longer for the growth to get a decent start and after 5-6 weeks when I haul it out, 90% comes off with a 1600psi simonize pressure wash quite readily. Of course the bigger barnacles hold tighter but they let go when you put the stream right on them. It seems they can't get the same grip through this wax as they do other stuff. As for that residule film they leave I just use an arbourite sample for a scraper when I am under there doing a fresh coat of wax and it come right off. I still have a nice slick hull to start out again with once I am done. OTOH the day is not to far off when I switch to bottom paint as I really hate that job.

[kziadie]

The on/off hull cleaner is an excellent product and either that or muriatic acid will take care of your needs nicely. It is pretty aggressive stuff though, and you will want to take care using it (wear gloves, quick and thorough rinsing etc.).

In the offchance that you have a galvanized trailer take extreme care, the acid in on/off will take the galvanizing off as easy as barnacles.

Kelly