safety scraping antifouling bottom using mask/snorkel?

[shamblin]

how dangerous is taking the plastic scraper to a still floating boat with antifouling paint ,using mask/snorkel.
does the badbad poison get scraped off into the water and does it go into us by skin or mouth?
it is said to be safer using a long handle and a real good bath after. dare i try it?
thanks.

[MacGyver]

This is the first time I have ever heard doing this........

What type of bottom paint is it?

I am a fiberglass tech at West Access Marina, Carlyle Illinois, We use Fein Sanders to sand the boat, If done properly something like 99 percent of the dust goes into the sander. We rent the sanders for 5 bucks a hour to our boaters.

This contains the paints in a bag that we then close off and can throw away.

The worst paints for toxicity that I know of are Trinidad by Petit..... HIGH couperous Oxide level......I hate that stuff.... and VC 17 just due to its copper level

Because the paint is in essence hard on the bottom, If you jump in and get to scraping, you probably arent really hurting anything, but I wouldnt do it, but then again I do it for a living while the boat is on the hard.

If you do it on the hard, take a scraper to it, just have a tarp down, and then throw that crap away. you will have to sand the rest anyway.....
and you can use a metal scraper to sheet that stuff off, plastic is going to dull quickly..

Just my advice, and with our Federal Regulations being a Core of Engineers operated lake, we stick to the rules.

Mac

Tell me what paint you have, and how long it has been on the boat, I can tell you the best methods (and safest to you) to get it off.

[brackish]

what exactly are you trying to do remove the paint or just the slime/marine growth?

[skip1930]

That ablative anti fouling paint is designed to fall off in the water, so why scrap it? He asks not knowing a darn thing about salt water critters.

skipster, or is that skid steer?

[shamblin]

i dont have antifouling paint on my boat and use it in fresh water or trailering at this time.   however, i used to do longer sails in salt water and im thinking of longer periods in salt water again, and having antifouling paint.  i have heard of and emailed with people who do scrape their own bottoms in the water between haulout/repaint,  so i was just wondering if anyone had first hand experience.   i do some writing and was thinking about using the idea in a fiction piece,   but didnt want to be too unrealistic. 

[brackish]

I've done it for forty years, cleaned in water between haulouts, in both salt and fresh water.  In fact I did it this past Saturday.  In fresh water I don't scrape anything, just use a big sponge to clean off the slime and marine grass.  It comes of easily and I gently rub it so as not to rub off a lot of the ablative and shorten the life of the coating.  In salt water it is usually necessary to scrape the barnacles off at the waterline and maybe a few below the waterline, then gently rub the balance to remove the slime.  A sample of one, but I've had no ill effects from doing this.

When I sailed on the Gulf, it was a way to get an extra year out of a bottom job.   When I raced down there it was not uncommon for the PHRF race boats to clean the bottom in water for every race.  Slicker the bottom, the faster the boat.

It has been my experience that if you have an antifouling coating on, the concentration of marine growth is within a foot of the waterline, much less further below.

[HideAway]

Brackish is right most of the marine growth, in salt water , is near the water line.   The older the paint the more it grows further.  We never used a scraper - just a stiff plastic headed deck brush on a pole.   We anchored in shallow water on a rising tide - the keel about a foot off the bottom or less.   that way there is no swimming involved and you have your feet on the bottom to get leverage.  We used the plastic head of the brush to scrape the big stuff leaving the rest to the stiff bristles.   Afterwards we washed off with a solar shower and changed clothes.    I have to admit the bottom in Boca Ciega Bay is hard sand.

Since we have been on a trailer we seldom clean the bottom - I have noticed though that just a few days in the 85 degree water brings all kinds of visitors.  M

[SMITH]

Seen Several mentions of applying anti-fouling to Com Pac yachts.  How are you insulating the copper anti-fouling from the SST centerboard and trunk?  Is there an easier way to paint the trunk without removing the centerboard?  New owner of a 2001 Sun Cat.
John Smith
Sheldon, SC

[skip1930]

Since the anti-fouling is a self-sacrificing paint ... it continually 'drops and falls-off'
So as usual the solution to pollution is dilution ...
And what is happening when this paint is scrapped off? Hummmm isn't this just concentrating the 'drop'?
Why would you do this?
I'd guess, after swimming through the water, come home and take a cool [to close the skin's pores] shower followed up with a warm shower.


skip.

[relamb]

My CP 27 had some older ablative bottom paint but it was flaking off in spots.  It had been in fresh water it's whole life.  In SW florida over the winter, barnacles would definitely grow on the bare spots (actually the epoxy barrier coat) within a couple of weeks.  I hired a diver monthly to scrape the barnacles and scrub the hull.  $35-$50 depending on the person doing it.  All of them used metal paint scrapers on the barnacles.  I'm in the process of putting on new bottom paint, and for the coming winter I will most likely check and scrape it myself, if needed.