Fouling and Lightening

[Ron Burgundy]

Fouling
I am planning to take the 'toon to a sandbar this weekend. I want to scrape off some of the marine crud that is starting to accumulate on my logs. I'm going to use a ice scraper as suggested by Greg. Any other tips or suggestions?

Lightening
Does lightening strike pontoon boats?

[Bamby]

I also have to scrape the crude from my pontoons a few times each season. Fortunately since I'm a "fresh water" pontooner I don't haft to deal with barnacles, but it does seem everything else seems to stick just fine to them. For my use the plastic/nylon putty knifes seem to work out the best for this purpose. If you apply your fingers to the blade edges as you scrape they will take the contour of the pontoons and do a real decent job of freeing most of the crud. I follow up the putty knife with a still bristle hand/floor brush and I often call it good enough until I pull the boat and then put the pressure washer to it.

[lakerunner696]

NO

YES

[jrolin1]

I scrape it the same way as bamby. Plastic putty followed by a stiff brush. My boat lives in the water so I don't get the chance to pressure wash it. Lightning can strike any boat or anything. It is not more likely to hit a pontoon than any other boat and less likely than some. Just be careful and pay attention to the weather.

[robster]

I also have to scrape the crude from my pontoons a few times each season. Fortunately since I'm a "fresh water" pontooner I don't haft to deal with barnacles, but it does seem everything else seems to stick just fine to them. For my use the plastic/nylon putty knifes seem to work out the best for this purpose. If you apply your fingers to the blade edges as you scrape they will take the contour of the pontoons and do a real decent job of freeing most of the crud. I follow up the putty knife with a still bristle hand/floor brush and I often call it good enough until I pull the boat and then put the pressure washer to it.

Howdy Bamby- I just bought a plastic putty knife at Lowes,in the paint dept. they have stiff steel wire bristle brushes like this one,is it safe on pontoons?
http://www.lowes.com:80/pd_324806-995-3 ... re%2Bbrush


Thanks,
Robert

[jrolin1]

No wire brush! Stiff nylon type of brush works well to finish it up.

[oldmn19]

What he said!

[robster]

O'Tay Spanky.. many thanks

[badmoonrising]

Yes lightening strikes pontoon boats..or any other boat. Sailboats are often hit...

[Ron Burgundy]

Sailboats are often hit...

Only the one's with libs on them.

[lakerunner696]

Sailboats are often hit...

Only the one's with libs on them.

Remember the guy from Tx that had a toon and a little sail boat and got mad when I think Petey said he would come along side and fill it with his beer cans.

[Buccaneer]

Re: the crud on the bottom. I used to get the worst off with the putty knife and/or green scrubby. And handful of wet sand helps keep em clean. =)

[Ron Burgundy]

LOL

Ok, I have a question/concern now. The good news is that I was just scraping off some of the fouling from my 'toons and it came off pretty easy. It washed away with just my hands rubbing it. I think a good power washing will remove all the gunk pretty easilly.

BMR, the bad news is that what I thought was barnacles may be early stages of electrolosis(sp?). The stuff that I scrapped off is that white flaky stuff that you can break off. It looks like when I pull it off that it takes the anti-fouling paint with it. My boat is still in the water so I can't get a great look at it, but it feels like bare aluminium underneath what I previously though were barnacles. The hull is smooth, and not pitted underneath so I am hoping that no damage has occured. My boat has been in the water since September. I was hoping to get another season out of my paint, but it looks like I may need to do it asap. I would appreciate any of your insights/ideas. Thanks.

[badmoonrising]

Sailboats are often hit...

Only the one's with libs on them.

Remember the guy from Tx that had a toon and a little sail boat and got mad when I think Petey said he would come along side and fill it with his beer cans.

[badmoonrising]

Ron, if you are getting electrolysis damage and there's no chips in the paint down to the metal, two things may have happened:

Someone used the wrong type of paint (the damage would be SEVERE, especially in saltwater) in a single season, so I doubt that's the problem. We had a poster a few month back who's pontoon was painted with copper paint. Damn thing looked like Swiss Cheese. He had just bought the boat. I advised him to return it to the dealer and get his $$ back. The logs were too far gone to be saved.

Whoever painted it didn't prime it first. Interlux says to use 3-4 coat of primer for aluminum hulls, even with their aluminum safe paints. Using Interlux Trilux 33 on bare aluminum would cause minor pitting and electrolysis damage. After priming they recommend 3-4 coats of Trilux 33.

Most marinas do one coat because it looks great and a single gallon can do other customer's boats. At $250 a gallon, they save money by skimping on paint.

If no have rub spots and you can't see the primer (gray) then who ever painted it did not prime it. The primer is much harder than the paint is, it's epoxy based. I have scrapes and rub marks and the primer never gets scraped off.

If there's no primer, you'll want to blast it down to the bare metal and do it right.