[C320-list] Hull cleaning

[Scott Thompson]

I keep my boat on a mooring and scrape the running gear and rudder using 
snorkel gear perhaps twice a season here on the Chesapeake. I also pay 
for a short haul bottom cleaning in late August by which time the bottom 
is pretty foul. I could pay for three of those for $1,000 at the nearest 
yard. Scraping the running gear and scrubbing the rudder is what I focus 
on, but sometimes I try to do more of the bottom. I never get to the 
keel. Too hard to work that deep just holding my breath. It's still a 
lot of work and I've found it helps to dangle some lines over the side 
to grab onto for resting between dives. Also, do not try to do too much 
on any one dive. I've found that slow and steady with lots of shorter 
dives helps me get the job done without getting thoroughly exhausted. 
and leaving some reserve breath helps a lot if you get disoriented under 
water, which can happen pretty easily if the water is murky.

To answer your question, I bought a small underwater light from a dive 
shop a few years ago. It worked well. I think the one I bought was under 
$50 and used regular batteries. I no longer have it because it got 
ruined by leaky batteries sitting on a shelf. My fault. The light itself 
never leaked and was plenty bright.

So why didn't I replace it? Because I've found I really need two hands 
when working under the boat. One hand is for grabbing on to something so 
I can get leverage with the other hand while scraping or scrubbing. I 
needed a third hand to hold the light if I'm going to focus it on the 
work area. These days I try to only dive when the water is fairly clear 
and when the sun is not directly overhead so that some is going under 
the boat. When going to the dive shop you might ask if they have some 
kind of head mounted underwater light. Think about what all those 
underwater GoPro videographers use.

I use hard paint precisely so it can be scrubbed. I think it's crazy to 
scrub ablative. (Can you even get a diver to do that?)

A last thought. Wear protective gear. I nicked a finger on a barnacle 
once doing this and months later found myself in surgery to remove 
bacterial infections growing in my finger, wrist, and elbow. I would 
have paid thousands to avoid that.

Scott Thompson

On 11/4/2021 2:54 PM, Joe M wrote:
> Looking to cut costs and prepare for trying to keep our boat into
> retirement years, I want to do my own hull cleaning on the mooring.
>
> Bottom paint is $1,000, planning on having it painted with ablative every
> other year here in the northeast. The monthly diver is another $1,000 per
> season, so I want to drop that expense.
>
> I have snorkel gear. My present issue is seeing down there. I read some
> amazon reviews and tried a flashlight but couldn’t see adequately at all. I
> need something that would actually be useful down there. Any
> recommendations?
>
> Joe 2002 C320 # 902

-- 
Scott Thompson
Surprise, #653