andy
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by andy on Apr 25, 2011 16:46:58 GMT
I've been trying to find out as much about living on a boat as possible so as I have as few surprises as possible when I eventually make the move and something that has surprised me is that it appears that a steel hulled boat has to be lifted out of the water annually for about a week to have the hull blacked..........apparently it has to be out of the water for 4 days before being blacked and then the process of blacking (including cleaning the hull first) takes a further 3 days. Can this be right?.......I can't believe that you all have to find alternative accommodation for a week every year. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by billy on Apr 25, 2011 18:59:20 GMT
Hi Andy, Blacking is old technology. Canals are often shallow and the coating on the bottom and sides gets peeled and scraped off anyway with shopping trolleys and lock sides. So you haul out and black. When corrosion eats too much of the metal away then you re-bottom but that often means a refit inside too. The better the hull was put together and looked after the longer it will last. I built mine to last thirty years without significant maintenance but time costs money and most builders can't afford to make too good a job. I have a glass flake epoxy system which is hard, they use it on sluice gates and oil rig legs and the like. It will last me at least fifteen years with a check now and again. If there are any chips or scrapes they I locally touch up. More expensive in the first place but less in the long run. There have been fantastic advances in coating technology recently. You can paint on wet surfaces, even under water. Cleaning is done by ultra high pressure water jet rather than sand. So if you really batter you hull it will need more looking after. If you only move in deep water or not much at all then you could go for a newer coating that will last a lot longer between haul outs. Blacking is a yard's bread and butter and maybe won't want to offer a better solution, maybe they don't know about the new stuff. Blacking also is not very strong and is designed to smear rather than chip which can be good in a bumpy lock or a sunken tree stump on the bottom. Some yards will let you stay on board. Bit messy but entirely possible. I was aboard when the blasting and spraying was done, and dusty it was, dark too as we had to blank the windows up. New technologies will need a very clean bottom (Sa2.5) which means blasting of some description. On average a 50 foot wide beam would take two days to blast and another two days to paint. Done and dusted well inside a week if the weather is ok. I have to use clever paint as blacking is not so good with salt water. hope that helps and ask away if you want more info. billy.
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andy
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by andy on Apr 25, 2011 21:05:12 GMT
Thanks for the info Billy, much appreciated. Will have to avoid blacking then if it is not so good in salt water as I intend spending some time in Loch Linnhe, which is a salt water loch. Actually if I can't get a mooring on the canal straight away I was toying with the idea of a swing mooring on Loch Linnhe until such time as a mooring became available on the canal. I know a lad that works at the local boatyard so will maybe have a wee chat with him about it.
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Post by billy on Apr 26, 2011 10:33:23 GMT
Plenty deep enough to look after your bottom. I would be tempted to go for a more exotic coating and do a good job to last a decade or two, specially with the salt issue. If you do go from one to the other you will have to decide which anodes to use as fresh will disappear rather quickly in salt and salt won't work in fresh. The Dutch have a similar problem and use aluminium as a compromise. You won't want to change them unnecessarily as my last 45kGs worth cost nearly £300. billy
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andy
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by andy on Apr 26, 2011 14:55:21 GMT
If you do go from one to the other you will have to decide which anodes to use as fresh will disappear rather quickly in salt and salt won't work in fresh. Y'know that hadn't even crossed my mind Billy....will need to look into the aluminium ones and see how successful they are.
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