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How to Clean your hull and re-apply antifoul after a haul out

3
  • Moderate
  • One Day
  • Deck & Hull - General
  • Powerboats
How to clean the hull after a haul out from barnacles & growth and re-apply anti-foul on your Zodiak Open 5.5

Tools needed

Parts needed

Haul out the vessel

Haul out vessel with professionals with a crane, reduce tube/pontoon pressure, or, on your trailer.

If hauling out, make sure to reduce pressure in the tubes/pontoons.
Clean any barnacles to avoid puncturing the tube/pontoon & make sure the vessel is safe and stable to work underneath the hull.
Cleaning the hull with pressure washer

Use protective gloves and glasses before cleaning, make sure the immediate area is clear of people & tools.

Connect pressure hose to electricity and water.

Spray the hull from 2cm distance to clean barnacles and marine growth from the hull.

Spray entire hull to remove muck & grime.

If the pressure hose is extremely high beware of recoil and puncturing pontoons/tubes
Check hull is clean

Check that all muck, grime and growth are removed.

The only thing left on the hull at this stage should be barnacles with shells.

Scrape barnacles with shells with hull scraper & sand hull

Sharp, Angled Edge: This is the primary working edge designed to get under tough marine growth (like barnacles) or thick layers of old anti-fouling paint. Use slow, controlled motions with firm pressure, keeping the entry angle shallow to avoid digging into the underlying gelcoat.

  • Make sure to scrape areas you couldn’t reach with the pressure hose too.
  • Sand the hull to remove imperfections.
Drying phase

Let the hull dry in order to apply anti-foul paint.

Mark the waterline with painters tape to create borders for painting.

Apply anti-foul paint

Use protective gear.

Apply anti-foul paint along the length of the hull from stern to bow and vice versa.

Apply paint generously, unlike a wall you’re creating a protective barrier for marine growth.

Let the paint dry and apply a second layer.

 

Launching

Make sure anti-foul paint is completely dry.

Launch vessel and pump tubes/pontoons if you hauled out with a crane to full pressure.

Guide summary:

Be prepared for some physical labour but in one day you can save a substantial amount of money.

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