I’ve had the sailboat in it’s new Florida home now for 10 months. I happened to be on the docks on a weekday and there were two divers cleaning the boat’s hull next to me. I struck a conversation with them of course much of it was related to growth on the hull. Apparently the Daytona Beach water quality is fairly good at our marina and the constant flow of the tides adds to the health of the creatures that love to attach themselves to the bottom of our boats. They told me that within 10 days their will be growth. I started thinking ” I really need to get under the boat and have a look.”

Fast forward a few weeks. We were motoring against a 2-3 knot tide and I notice that we were making headway but not as much as the kayakers that just passed us. Maybe it is time to get under the sailboat and take a look. I started thinking back to the conversation and what would 10 months of buildup look like. If I don’t get to this quick it will probably be designated some sort of natural habitat.

The next weekend with mask, snorkel and other assorted cleaning utensils I went under to take a look. I was surprised! The hull looked amazingly clean. Apparently the new paint I put on before launching the boat paid off. The propellor was unrecognizable. I hadn’t put any anti-fouling paint on the prop after reading mixed reviews on the value of this.

I cleaned the hull first with a stiff brush and a plastic scraper. There were about a dozen barnacles to be found which easily came off when a little pressure was applied. Next I attacked the fouled propellor. i used a 1″ wood chisel for this. It was slow and tedious but eventually it started to look like a propellor. I had a little help from the channel catfish that were inches away each time I scraped off a few morsels. After an hour of repeated surfacing and diving the prop was clean.

The local Daytona Beach divers charge about a dollar a foot. Was it worth cleaning myself? Probably not but I did gain some satisfaction from it. When the water gets colder I will look into subcontracting this chore out.

In atlanta cheap flights is an easy way to make your travel expenses less. In denver cheap flights arent available readily and same is the case with the apartments here. The only thing found in abundance is rental cars.