Hull Cleaning

Zinc Replacement

Propeller Removal / Installation

Search and Recovery

Underwater Inspections / Photography / Video Recording

Hull Cleaning

Cleaning the hull of a vessel is essential if it is left in-water. Marine life will begin to grow on the vessels hull and underwater components. This will result in increased fuel consumption, a reduction in overall power and performance, a reduction in heating and cooling system efficiency, and faulty or erratic instrumentation readings. Anti-fouling paint is used to inhibit marine growth on the hull and running gear but is limited by the amount of vessel movement, the speed at which the vessel travels through the water, the amount of biocides in the anti-fouling paint, and the location at which the vessel resides.

Marine growth usually begins as soft slime and algae-type grass on the vessels hull, followed by hard calcareous barnacles on the running gear. Non-commercial vessels which reside in Hampton Roads, Virginia begin to typically form a one-half inch layer of slime on the hull and barnacles approximately three-quarter inches in diameter in two to four weeks in the summer months. We recommend for most operators to have their vessels cleaned on a routine monthly maintenance schedule from March through November with a mid-winter service in January. Growth slows significantly during the winter months but it doesn’t stop. We do not recommend discontinued service throughout the entire winter. The amount of growth which would accumulate over a four to five month period would have to be scrubbed aggressively by a diver to clean the surfaces effectively.

Our practice is to utilize the least aggressive means necessary to effectively remove the marine fouling from the vessel. The more aggressive a diver is while servicing a vessel, the more anti-fouling paint is scrubbed off in the process. This will result in a higher concentration of marine growth to remove during the next service and shorten the life of the current bottom paint system.

We utilize a wide variety of cleaning tools ranging from a simple sponge to hydraulically-powered hull scrubbers.