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Post by Alex Scott on Apr 21, 2018 18:23:56 GMT -5
I guess Wes being from the midwest he didn't have any experience with the fouling a boat can get in warm salt water. I live in Belize and unfortunately do have some war stories about fouling. The first thing you notice is that the boat has no power! A propeller works somewhat like an airplane wing and when it is covered with barnacles it hardly works at all. A 100' freighter that was laid up for over a year was only able to make 3 knots instead of her regular 8! This is with a huge prop of 4 or 6 foot diameter and the barnacles were proportionately much smaller than they would be on a 28' auxiliary. Not as dramatic but also noticeable is she does not answer the helm as well with a foul rudder. All Amanda noticed is that she pulled to starboard a little.
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Post by Large Al on Apr 22, 2018 21:02:29 GMT -5
Boat bottoms also get badly fouled in the Midwest, except we pull them out for the winter and clean the bottoms. On Lake Erie we end up with a carpet on the bottom and before big races most sailors either pull their boats for a power wash or dive in to clean the bottom. We also have zebra mussels which can be a real pain in the ass if you don't keep a good coating of anti-fouling paint on the bottom. I've seen some poorly maintained boats which are beyond my desire to tackle.
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