[Rhodes22-list] Biological Centerboard Fouling/Jamming - A Serious Issue?

[Bill Effros]

Jim,

Practical Sailor has written about it.  Their corporate headquarters are 
here in Greenwich, and they tested bottom paint on a raft in one of the 
local harbors.  The raft broke loose a few years ago so now they test in 
a notorious site in Florida (I think) as well.

Their best advice is that different paints work in different places.  
Since they test where I live, I use what they top rate. 

I don't know enough about barnacles to tell you what I have, and I don't 
find them until the end of the season, so I can't say how long they've 
been there.  The centerboard will jam pretty early if I don't use it all 
the time.  That is invariably barnacles.  Also they will clog the head 
intake--part of the reason I am switching to fresh water flushing.

The barnacles usually attach to spots that don't have paint on them--the 
plastic parts, although somehow they sometimes stick right onto the 
bottom paint.

That just about exhausts my knowledge on this topic.

Bill Effros



Jim White wrote:

> That must be some pretty rich water to get such instantaneous growth. 
> I've never encountered anything like that before. Might result from 
> high levels of nitrogen / phosphorus based nutrients in the water 
> column or some other factor. Is that local, or consistent with the 
> whole geographic area (i.e. coast), you sail near NYC right?. I'll 
> check our data bases here and see if anyone has published anything 
> about that....sounds interesting.
>
> Of course most of my work has been in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico, 
> although I did a short stint at Woods Hole a few years back, and as I 
> recall, even their boats didn't have that kind of problem. In Alaskan 
> waters, we left unpainted skiffs in the drink for pretty long periods 
> too without much fouling.
>
> A day sounds pretty severe. Must be growing some pretty nasty stuff 
> there. A month is enough time to get some critters going.
>
> The barnacles that you have to grind off, how long were they growing 
> on the hull? Any idea the species? I would venture that they probably 
> are acorn barnacles (Balanus nubilis), but I'm sure you have gooseneck 
> barnacles there too, they are ubiquitous.
>
>  I've had Menagerie in the water since May (with new bottom paint), 
> and only have a few very small barnacles below the waterline. I 
> detached a few in July when I lowered the CB with a gloved hand. That 
> was 3 months time.
>
> Gosh, there could be a paper or two here. I should try and collect 
> some fouling data from different areas and compare the rate and 
> speciation.....
>
> BTW I just queried the Biological abstracts for a comparative study of 
> benthic and sessile marine organism growth rates in US Waters and 
> didn't turn up a single paper........
>
> jw
> Jim White
> Le Menagerie
>
>
> At 05:56 PM 12/3/2004, you wrote:
>
>> Around here you shouldn't even dream about it.  It varies from 
>> location to location, but if some of these things latch onto your 
>> hull you don't want to know what it takes to get them off.
>>
>> I had a waxed, no bottom paint hull on a previous boat that I would 
>> put into the salt water for a day.  But that was it.
>>
>> If my mooring goes into the water a month before I get around to 
>> launching my boat, the mooring line is coated with growth by the time 
>> I pull it out of the water, notwithstanding the fact that the line is 
>> coated with anitfouling paint.  It takes a week of chlorine 
>> treatments to kill it all.  I still get an occasional barnacle, even 
>> with my top rated bottom paint.  I have to grind them off.
>>
>> Bill Effros
>>
>> William E. Wickman wrote:
>>
>>> What happens if you don't have any bottom paint at all?  My boat is 
>>> kept in
>>> fresh water and does not have any bottom paint.  All that is 
>>> necessary is a
>>> good pressure washing to clean the "pond scum" and alge from the hull
>>> whenever the boat is hauled.  It comes off easily as long as you get 
>>> it off
>>> before it dries.  So, while the bottom looks pretty when cleaned 
>>> (ie. waxed
>>> like the topsides), I wonder.....what is going to happen when I take 
>>> the
>>> boat to the coast and subject it to salt water for a week or two?  I 
>>> guess
>>> the real question is, how long does it take for marine growth to start
>>> forming on your hull?  If I only have the boat in the water for one 
>>> week
>>> will I have a barnacle problem when I take it out?  How many of you 
>>> folks
>>> out there do not have any bottom paint?  How has it worked out when 
>>> you put
>>> your boat in salt water for short periods?
>>>
>>> Bill W.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>> |         |           "Roger Pihlaja"        |
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>>>  |       Subject:  [Rhodes22-list] Biological Centerboard 
>>> Fouling/Jamming - A Serious      Issue?                               |
>>>
>>>  >------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Richard Smith has brought up the issue of fouling on the centerboard &
>>> inside the centerboard trunk as being a potentially serious maintenance
>>> issue on Rhodes 22's.  It is apparently only a serious issue for 
>>> those of
>>> us that sail in severly fouling waters, like down south.
>>>
>>> I've been a member of the Rhodes List about as long as anyone.  In 
>>> all that
>>> time, I can't recall anyone except Richard ever mentioning biological
>>> fouling as being a prime cause of jamming the centerboard up inside 
>>> in the
>>> trunk.  According to Richard, it's a fairly significant maintenance 
>>> issue
>>> for folks in his area that sail centerboard boats. (Rockaway Inlet?)
>>>
>>> If there really is an issue here, it should be more widely known.  How
>>> widespread is the problem?  How are other folks managing to deal 
>>> with the
>>> problem?  It may even rate its own FAQ topic.
>>>
>>> So, I'm asking all Rhodes 22 sailors, what has been your experience 
>>> with
>>> biological fouling & subsequent jamming of your centerboards?  
>>> Please don't
>>> be shy about responding.  This is the sort of discussion the Rhodes 
>>> List
>>> was created to encourage.  If you sail in warm water & haven't 
>>> experienced
>>> the problem; then, tell us where you sail.  Perhaps the problem is very
>>> localized.
>>>
>>> Roger Pihlaja
>>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
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>>>
>>>
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