Ultrsonic Antifoul

[Mistral]

Well, I have decided to go the ultrasonic way. My boat has been 3 weeks in the water and I can see the growth already. I am in discussion with the supplier at the moment to get a longer warranty, as I feel 3 months is not enough.
In regards to all questions I do supply ultrasonic flow meters and they do not have any affect on the pipe materials, etc., so I am quite confident it will work.
It will pay for itself within 2 years, not having to antifoul and not having to drag the boat out every couple of weeks for a scrub down.

[WestonW]

Hi Mistral, are you going to buy from the Australian supplier or the UK manufacturer.
This is the reply from the UK.
Hello Sir, thanks for your enquiry.. there is a standard Two Year Warranty
on the Ultra System.
Kind regards
David Sothcott
Ultrasonic Antifouling Ltd

Ultrasonic Antifouling Ltd.
Arena Business Centre
Holyrood Close
Poole
BH17 7FJ
Tel +44 (0) 1202 606185
Mobile +44 (0) 7796 161210

[Mistral]

Hi Weston,

I have just sent you an e-mail reply.
I have now placed an enquiry on the UK distributor too. I can easily get it shipped from the UK.
Also copied you in on reply to UK mfr. (They replied within 10 min of my enquiry)
Mistral

[AJ]

Further update - so far the thing does seem to work. I hadn't been out for several weeks and a bit of browned off fuzz had built up around the bow. A couple of hours sailing and it had all washed off. Still haven't been in the water to have a look, water still too cold for me.

Positive feedback regarding the distributor - he had been at the Marina (Williamstown) checking some other boats and noticed mine and tested signal strength in the surrounding water. He then rang me to tell me that signal strength was quite good particularly towards the stern (I've mounted the transducer behind the battery). My impression is that he is very keen to ensure correct installation to avoid disgruntled customers. He has been quite prepared to come to the boat and advise if necesary with no extra charge.

Another point - you will need something to keep the battery charged as the unit draws around 0.5 amp. Shore power is the easiest but I also have a little 30 watt solar panel which seems to keep up OK.

Cheers,

AJ

[Mistral]

I have had quite long discussion with the reseller here in Australia and quizzed him about the large price differential of the UK unit and their imported unit. He indicated to me that his unit is a digital device, whilst the UK unit is an analogue device, making his a lot more accurate. It is also suitable for future software updates. The units have a 2 year warranty and a 3 month hand-back guarantee in case they don't work.

[Kelly Hanson East]

Does anyone know the theory of this device?? I would like to sound it out..(pun intended)

Regarding hull damage - any device drawing only 0.5A at 12 V means 6W output power - you dont have enough physical power to structurally damage the hull imho.

[Mistral]

After a fair bit of humming and hahahing I have today decided to install the ultrasonic cleaning system, 40W solar panel and associated panels and wiring.(It needs constant power). I had a look at and under the boat on the weekend and found growth on the hull and all kinds of other crap. Weighing up the cost of antifouling against the ultrasonic system there is a monetary payback of less than 2 years.That is not taking into account having to take the boat out every 5 or 6 weeks for a wash and scrape. Overall cost should be around $5-$5.5K

I will keep you all posted on the progress.

Dirk

[Mistral]

I had the ultrasonic antifoul system installed since the beginning of December and sofar I am not very impressed with it. After a month I could not see any noticable difference and contacted the installer. They then informed me that the the sensor should be mounted directly onto the hull, rather than through the supplied ring filled with silicone or ultrasonic paste. The installer changed it about a week ago and can see a slight difference now. Still not overly impressed. The supplier will now come out tomorrow and do some further tests to see if there is a proper signal around the boat.

Will keep all posted.

[Mistral]

Spent about two hours on the boat in 40deg C heat to check out the system. To be fair there was no signal coming from the transducer to the hull as the mounting was incorrect, so I'll take my previous comments back. The installer was not supplied with the correct calibration equipment and hence installed in the incorrect spot. It is very particular where the unit is mounted on a Mac, due to the water ballast. To find the best spot we spent about an hour moving the transducer from one spot to another, where finally we had a 100% signal all around the boat.
Now I'll have to wait some 2 weeks to see if we get some result, but it looks promising now.

The local supplier will now not let anybody install it themselves. It will need to be installed by their certified installer and now I can see why.

[puggsy]

I may be old fashioned, but a good anti fouling paint is the way to go. As Oskar said it annoys him and it is not the best of jobs...jacking the off the trailer...but you at least get 6 months respite and even then a good pressure wash gets her clean again. But whatever you do, do not leave her in thewater with no protection. I left a f/glass dinghy on my mooring for 6 weeks...with no anti fouling...I scraped a wheelbarrow full of gunk [ soft and hard] off the bottom after only that short time. Puggsy

[bastonjock]

It actually works by attracting whales and dolphins who lick the bottom of your boat clean..

Ya almost got it right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its mermaids that do it,i was talking to the pixies and they told me

[bastonjock]

the cheapest method of auto matic anti fouling is my mooring,i have a drying out mooring when the sea level drops the mac gently moves back and fro over the soft sand,the hull is kept clean,i get the odd barnicle on the transducer but other than that a clean hull.

[AJ]

Donned the snorkel and fins and took a dip in the warm but murky waters of the Yarra mouth (even murkier with the current dredging) to check out my bottom today. Despite poor vis it was evident that there is zero algal growth. Couple of small bits of weed that easily brushed off. There is an accumulation of brown Yarra sludge that brushes off with a light touch (boat hasn't been out for a couple of weeks). Dagger board is pristine. Last antifoul Nov 2007, boat has been in the water since. My previous experience was that difficult to budge (ie: needed a pot scrubber) algal and weed growth developed after a year or so after anti fouling. Maybe the thing is doing something?

In all honesty I didn't expect the ultrasound to completely replace the need to antifoul. At around A$1500 per coating (I can't face doing it myself) I'd be happy if it at least doubled the interval, which it seems to be doing. I'll need to haul out in a few weeks to replace the outboard anode (seems to be a lot of stray current where I am) and a pressure wash will suffice to spruce up the bottom.

The followup from the distributor has been excellent with several unsolicited phone calls. During our last chat I mentioned that the aqueous gel is drying out in the hotter weather. He suggested switching to petrolium jelly, which I have done.

Mistral, would be interested to hear where you ended up placing the transducer?

AJ

[Mistral]

AJ,

The transducer is mounted under the aft berth on the port side. It is only about 200mm from the first position, which did not work (it was mounted in the ring) and 100mm from the second position, where the transducer was Araldited directly to the floor. I will take some pictures over the weekend. It shows how important the mounting position with regards to the water ballast.