Sea Mooring-Anti fouling

[phil richards]

Hi guys, how long can you keep a rib ( if at all) on a mooring without using anti foul paint?, if it has been on a mooring for a few weeks can you just clean the hull or does it make it difficult to clean? ie it eats in to the surface. Still new to the ribbibg world but learning fast....and sometimes the hard way!! cheers.
Ps when a rib is on a mooring do you leave the bungs in on the for and aft locker/engine well area on a Destroyer and why are they there? apart from condensation etc.
Phil

[HUMBER P4VWL]

We leave our ocean pro on from may to september, but with antifoul. If not, the barnacles and green weed end up all over it, but it will depend on your area, some are worse than others. covered in weed, your speed can fall by up to 30%.

If you cleaned it off every 3 weeks or so, you would be ok, but it means diving in, or pulling it out. You'll find the green slime to start with, then weed, then barnacles. It's the barnacles and thick weed once attached that will do damage to the tubes especially at the rear if the boat sits low. The hull should be ok, but it may damage the gel coat when you try and get it off.

Persoanlly, put some antifout on.

Re the bungs, we leave our front anchor locker bung out and the rear bung in to the well out too. Water will get in to the front locker from rain and in to the void as the rear bung in the well is not perfect. So you may as well leave them out, or the front locker well fills and soaks your ropes etc.

Perhaps leaving them in is beneficial if in severe weather when moving, so if you stuff, the water wont go in the void and take longer to get out, but personally, i doubt it makes much difference as the tubes lift the boat anyway.

Hope this helps.

[GJ0KYZ]

There's no way around antifouling unless you can clean the bottom of the hull at low tide. I have Coppercoat on my boat; it's good for 15 years although it's not cheap. I don't know anything about ultrasonic devices but they don't sound cheap either.

[behavin]

i keep mine in for 11 months a year only really pulling it up if i go off on hols's or if extreme bad weather is forecast in the winter

i thought long and hard about antifoulling the 6.8 ribcraft i have....but after pricing it up and because i have the use of a crane i fitted lifting eyes for it and lift it out every 5-6 weeks and bleach it.
cost of eyes were £65 cost of the antifoulling and primer over £120 and then the elbow grease to sand off the hull ,loosing the shine to get the paint to stick...

i loose about 11-12 knots of top end after a month of growth..

another con' re antifouling is if you sell the rib at a later date...some people are suspicious of the covering of the hull...however on the plus side you can fair up the hull with isopon and then paint rather than using gelcoat filler and lots of wet and dry..

if you were to antifoul ,once the hull is sanded back ..make sure you degrease the hull as apparently wax from the moulding can still be present which throws the primer off....

[willk]

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

There's no way around antifouling unless you can clean the bottom of the hull at low tide.

A friend of mine does his on SCUBA.

A quick trailering is probably the answer - keep yer hand in at recoveries over the summer. Once every three weeks is about average. A rub down with a brush or pressure washer followed by a scrub with a 3M light abrasive pad seems to be standard. I reckon if the pressure washer was strong enough, it would be enough. Some recommend waxing the tubes to inhibit growth gripping the fabric.

Looking at the cost of annual antifouling and periodic stripping - a petrol pressure washer would be the cheap option. It would also make your RIB easier to resell. Antifouling a boat is a PITA and takes several goes over several days (if you do it right). Four or five recoveries over the season is a small price to pay - you will probably need to do other work on the boat anyway, some of the times.

Antifoul slows a boat down, costs money, looks crappy. A dirty hull does too mind...

[gotchiguy]

Into the Red lived on her mooring from Early July 'til September. The tabs were covered in weed but the rest of it was fine. We did clean it every so often but only really one side as when it dries it is impossible to tip the other way. Thanks to GT Marine, a little bleach soon got it all off

[willk]

What type of bleach are you guys using?

[behavin]

i use red label hyperchloride...brilliant stuff

[walruz]

Originally Posted by behavin

i use red label hyperchloride...brilliant stuff

+1 for hyperchlorite

[willk]

Originally Posted by behavin

i use red label hyperchloride...brilliant stuff

That'll be Sodium Hypochloride (chlorine) then? Typically sold 10-15% for sterlising things. Swimming pools for example. It's very caustic (a strong Base)

Originally Posted by walruz

+1 for hyperchlorite

That's a change from the Hydrochloric Acid you were using last year

You lot, what are yiz like?