HULL CLEANING
Cleaning involves the removal of scum and barnacles from the hull and running gear. The benefits of hull cleaning is: lowered fuel consumption, easier to maintain boat speed, and cost-savings from costly haul-out fees. Once we know the age of your paint and the daily operation of your boat, we can recommend a suitable hull maintenance program for you.
Dive hull cleaning is the fastest and most economical way to return your vessel to peak performance throughout the life cycle of your anti-foul paint.
Fouling, or more accurately ‘bio-fouling’, is the build-up of plant and animal life that occurs on all submerged structures, from rocks to oil rigs – and, of course, boat hulls.
These are generally split up into two subdivisions: micro fouling and macro fouling.
– Microfouling is made up of microscopic bio-organisms, such as slime, bacteria and other small algal life forms.
– Macro fouling is the bigger stuff that we boaters tend to get worked up about, such as barnacles, muscles, tube worms, sea squirts and seaweed.
The bottom growth of your vessel will depend on the location in the harbour where it is being kept. The closer to the open ocean the more marine growth will occur. The build-up is also dependent on the last time the vessel’s hull was anti-fouled or bottom-cleaned. Marine growth in excess creates dragging, and clogging in outlets and intakes and affects performance in all parts of the running gear.
Our divers will inspect and clean the waterline, hull (including keels and rudders), through-hull fittings (including intakes and outlets), running gear (including propellers, shafts and thrusters) and all anodes. Also, they can change any type of anode if needed or requested.
- Hull clean on: Sailboats – Leisure Cruisers – Racing Yachts
- Photos Before & After.
- Boat “FOR SALE” – Getting your hull professionally cleaned before you sell your boat will mean that it’s more likely you will sell it for a higher price. Your boat will look better and perform better!
- Pre-Purchase Inspections – With pre-purchase inspections, we will jump in the water to have a full detailed check. Photos are also provided to show you what it looks like underneath.
RMP (REGULAR MAINTENANCE PLAN):
We offer regular cleans and maintenance called: RMP (Regular Maintenance Plan) This RMP is recommended to keep the best performance of the vessel and is suited for the type of vessel according to the model, type of hull structure, usage, whether has or not antifoul protection, type of antifoul and location (upriver or close to the open ocean).
- Racing Yachts – For racing yachts in weekdays/weekend club competitions, we recommend an RMP every 1 to 2 weeks throughout the racing season. Some of the vessels during full-time competition need twice or more during the week. Off-season and winter we recommend a maximum every 4 weeks.
- Sailing Vessels and Fast Power Boats – For fast powerboats and runaround sailboats, we recommend a RMP every 4 to 6 weeks to avoid barnacles developing on propellers, intakes & stern drives. In winter we recommend a maximum of every 8 weeks.
- Motor Yachts and Cruising Yachts – For motor yachts and cruising yachts, we recommend a RMP every 4 to 6 weeks to keep down fuel costs and maintain lower growth on the running gear plus waterline topside appearance. In winter we recommend maximum every 8 weeks.
CLEANING PROCESS:
Once we receive the job by email with the location and details of the vessel including yours (for contact and payments), we attend and commence the cleaning after the assessment is completed.
Depending on the fouling present (hard growth/soft growth), we use different types of brushers, scrappers and colour coded scouring pads (from non-abrasive to heavy duty) to remove the growth. On some vessels recently antifoul or racing ones, we just hand rub with bath sponges.
– For all sailing vessels, we conduct a special soft hand rub clean and inspection of the prop, shaft, sail-drive, anodes, outlets, seacocks, waterline, hull, rudder and keel (bottom of the keel included).
– For all motor boats including large luxury yachts, we also include clean of all depending on the type running gear: shafts, stabilizers, thrusters, intakes, outlets, trim tabs, propellers, rudders, as well as the hull, keel, anodes, swim platform brackets, lights, fittings and waterline.
If the hard growth is hard to remove, especially from the running gear, we use special underwater machines called cavitation/pressure blasters.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We DO NOT clean inside areas such as: outlets, bearings, bellows, seals, exhausts or any other area that could compromise the safety of the vessel. Those procedures require to be done out of the water on the stand by qualified personnel.
ON EVERY JOB, as part of visual inspection, we provide:
1. Report with the level of anti-foul, state of anodes and any anomaly in the structure if found. On the report, we also, recommend the most suitable RMP (regular Maintenance Plan) suited for the vessel according to the usage, antifoul and location.
2. Photos Before & After.
AMP – Antifoul Monitoring Photos – Even though the boat has been recently antifouled, we offer you to continue on the RMP, but instead of cleaning the vessel, we will only take photos underneath (hull, intakes, anodes, running gear) so you can monitor the progressive marine growth and the response level of the antifoul paint protection done. This way, you will have more accurate and visual information to make future decisions and when to resume the underwater cleaning.
BOAT MAINTENANCE
We can assist for the most common issues that may appear during the course life of your vessel and avoid the need to take the boat out of the water.
- Underwater prop removal and installation.
- Replace sacrificial anodes.
- Emergency stop leaking
For small holes and cracks on the hull structure we can attend and perform a temporary seal to buy you some time to organize a proper inspection and repair.
