Bottom Cleaning

[Shark Bait]

And no I don't mean Jettywolfs!

Soon it will be time to pull the Dream Catcher and put her away for the winter. Even though she has bottom paint, which is in good shape, I still get some algae/slime build up that is hard to remove even with a pressure washer. Last year I tried using a diluted Clorox mixture applied with a long handled fender well brush prior to the pressure washing with pretty good results.

The question I have is have any of you found a good homemade mixture or commercial product that does a good job of algae/slime removal with out damaging/removing the bottom paint or affecting any non painted aluminum? This would be used prior to pressure washing.

[Chaps]

A product called On-Off is pretty good, sold in marine stores and catalogs. Its acidic so any unpainted aluminum it lands on just get brightened a bit. It can be tough on galvanized steel though so protect your trailer.

[jrogers]

SB,


The trick I got from several people was just to use straight bleach in a weed sprayer. They say that the pressure washer does not get it all off, and that with straight bleach it just falls right off. I don't have bottom paint, so I don't know for sure that it won't hurt your bottom paint, but it seems to work great on straight aluminum.

[SJD]

I use simple green diluted in water. Non-toxic but effective household cleaner works well to clean up the the whole boat including the bottom. I don't have bottom paint but leave the boat in the water for two weeks at a time..

[Shark Bait]

Bottom Cleaning Update: I appreciate the comments but had hoped for more - it appears Bottom Cleaning is not a popular subject. Here is what I found out and did - plus a little more info on bottom paint.

When my boat was built in Canada the bottom was painted with Interlux Trilux 2. Trilux 2 is for aluminum hulls and is approved by Environment Canada (the Canadian EPA) for use in Canada. When I added my Bow Thruster last year I could not find any Trilux 2 (I found out it is not available in the US) so I contacted Interlux to find out what was compatible with Trilux 2 and was told the US approved equivalent was Trilux 33 which was fully compatible so used it in the area of the new Bow Thruster.

Fast forward to last week when I pulled the boat for the winter. The bottom was covered with a gooey slime (but no other growth) in all areas except where the Trilux 33 had been applied - that area was almost growth free. Not fully understanding what was going on and wanting to know if using bleach as had been recommend by several folks would hurt the bottom paint I contacted Interlux Tech Support.

I was told that the difference in effectiveness between the Trilux 2 and 33 did not surprise them because 33 has a much more effective slime biocide then 2 and while Interlux had not tested using bleach on the Trilux products they did not think it would hurt it as long as it was not left on long enough to soften the paint.

So here is what I did and it worked very well (the boat was on the trailer) . Since I was going to be using undiluted Clorox on the bottom I wore safety glasses, a respirator, rubber gloves, rubber bib pants, rubber boots and a hat and still managed to get a little Clorox in an eye.

I put the undiluted Clorox in a garden sprayer and sprayed an area about 5' X 5'.

I then took a long handled fender well brush and scrubbed the area I had just sprayed.

Next I sprayed the area with a 3000 PSI pressure washer using the 25 degree nozzle keeping it very close to the bottom. To facilitate getting to the very bottom and around the bunks I built 45 degree and 90 degree nozzle holders. Even with the Clorox applied it takes a little effort to get all of the slime off of the bottom.

To be honest this is a very S****Y , messy job. (Have you ever laid on your back on a creeper under a boat and trailer spraying Clorox and using a pressure washer? Believe me it ain't fun!!!!) Can you do it without using Clorox - yes, but it was take a lot more work and it will not be as clean. After cleaning the bottom looks almost new.

If anyone can find a better way to clean a bottom please let me know - in the mean time this is a method that will work.

[Shark Bait]

Additional Info: Mojomizer and the other folks in CA are out of luck as it is illegal to sell Trilux 33 in CA. You will just have to live with Slime on your bottom!

SB

[welder]

Shark Bait, most excellent post, Thank you.

Mark , sorry about your Slimy bottom .

[DwayneJ]

I use a bottom liner and my hull is completely free of growth and slime. The boat is out of the water this week getting the engines serviced. Of course the bottom liner is covered in growth.

[mojomizer]

I have been accused of alot of things but never a slimy bottom

Sharkbait think of looking into TSP Trisodium Phosphate. I have not experienced a slimy bottom but am sure this would take the skin off anyones butt. Actually alot of bottom prep places use TSP??????

Dwayne are you coming to the Southern Cal Meet and Greet?????

Don't care what they say about Texans

Mark
2325 Wa Pacificskiff

[jrogers]

Sharkbait,

Did you get this buildup while using the boat much? I did not scrub mine at all, I just sprayed the bleach twice in the summer and than ran the boat. I figure moving a boat that size at 30kts is way more force than I can put on it with a brush. The only place it was anything less than shiny for me was the sides, which was just 6 inches that I hit with a power washer. Of course I don't have bottom paint so my situation is a bit different, but it seems like the point of the bottom paint was so that you didn't have to go through all of this. After a pretty full summer of being in the water in Alaska, I am happy without bottom paint. I think the longest that I went without using the boat was two weeks in the water, and I totaled 133 hours on the motor this summer.

[Shark Bait]

Jim: " Did you get this buildup while using the boat much?"

Sorry to say but yes. But also remember that I had the boat in our slip in Seward for about 5 months (May - Sep) continuously, whereas I think you have yours on a trailer most of the time. I do think if you keep a boat on a trailer most of the time that bottom paint would be a waste of time and money. TooLoose had his boat in a slip next to ours and he does not have bottom paint so maybe he will chime in as to what his bottom looked like when he pulled it.

I am disappointed in the effectiveness of the Trilux 2 bottom paint and will most likely repaint ours with Trilux 33 next spring. The Trilux 33 I used when I added the Bow Thruster worked very well. From what I have read and discussed with some folks with boats in Washington it is better to repaint the bottom before it gets too bad.

We had the boat out 25+ times and put a little over 90 hours on the engines - but that is not a totally accurate number of hours for running the boat as we routinely troll using only one engine at idle (.5 Gal/Hr).


SB

[jrogers]

I was in the water most of this summer as well. I think I started in Whittier on May 15th. I moved to Seward in mid June where I was in a slip as well for about a month and a half, and then back to Whittier where I just pulled a week or so ago. I saw more growth in Seward. I am not sure if that was because I was there during the peak sun time, or because Seward harbor gets more direct sunlight than Whittier. I did notice that in Whittier where the boat faces east/west that the north side of the boat had nothing on it when I pulled it this last time. I was debating adding bottom paint since I am in the water so much, but looking at the boat now I am thinking I am going to press on without it for the time being.

I remember Brad (Chainlink) commenting that his last boat without bottom paint got almost all of his growth in a three week period in the middle of summer, which is consistent with what I saw.