Ultrasonic antifoul for Sea Ray 268 on mooring

[NZ268]

My 1988 268 has been on a swing mooring here now for 18 months and has been under attack from all quarters, seals on the swim platform, seagulls on the canvas and barnacles/weed on the hull and outdrive. The most labour intensive has been the barnacles, requiring the hull to be trailered every three months and the barnacles removed from the outdrives, trim tabs etc. The few lines of barnacles on the main hull are easily removed with a plastic scraper but the small barnacles and small mussels got into every crevice, shelf or opening (ie water intakes) on the alpha drives and were a real pain to remove. So in Aug I fitted a low cost Jaycar ultrasonic kit and 60w of solar panels to keep it running and now my outdrives look great. Its been in the tide three months and after a quick waterblast of the weed off the drive, the residual barnacles are virtually non existent on the drives, maybe 20 in total compared to say 500 to 1000 typically before. There are still some thin trails of barnacles on the front edges of the hull and the props, but these are easy to remove. Back in the water after a couple of days, cleaning was a non event. The ultra sonic antifoul is proving a great cheap solution down here and I no longer have any concerns re restricted water intakes on the alpha drives impacting on the cooling for my motors. Hope this may assist others with antifoul issues. Cheers Darrell

 

[The Magic Bus]

Very Kool....I may have to investigate this technology.

Thank you

 

[sporters78]

Does not work

 

[NZ268]

Yes, I was also quite skeptical at first. So I went and purchased the cheapest ultrasonic kitset I could find here for approx US $ 200 and installed it. I figured if it didn't work - I hadn't lost much. But it does work. My trim tabs are now barnacle free after three months instead of being covered in the little suckers. And this is summer here - water is 19 deg C so marine life is quite active. My fuel economy remains like a newly cleaned hull, months after being moored in the bay. I am not promoting any brand - so Steve if it doesn't work, get your money back. But mine works fine - a very good investment both in saved time and reduced need for antifoul coatings. Cheers Darrell

 

[sporters78]

Well,it might work in the waters of New Zealand but it's been tested a number of times in the warm waters of south Florida and it has never worked properly up here