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 Post subject: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:48 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 7:06 am
Posts: 17
We leave our TI in the water all summer in the Tahoe Keys. This area is an ecological disaster area from development in the 60's. The water does not circulate with the lake and is warm and dirty as a result. I creates a bath tub ring on boat bottoms. I am looking for a recommendation for removing the stain caused by this scum. Thanks for your help!


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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:50 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
I wouldn't recommend leaving your TI in the water for extended periods. I believe it also voids your warranty. Can you make a PVC/foam floating dock ( like they make for jetski's). Basically you drive up on it, then when you get out of the boat it raises the boat itself out of the water slightly. Wouldn't cost more than $50 bucks to make with pool noodles and PVC pipe. Also I highly recommend the mast be removed and the AMA's remain folded in, and the boat shielded from direct sunlight (an awning over the boat). I don't recommend using a form fit boat cover be put on with the boat in the water. First a form fit cover would be difficult to install while on the water, secondly the cover would act like a sauna where your hull could get to 140 deg in the sun and trap the moisture inside ( would rot the boat), where an awning blocks the sun but still allow air circulation, and can stay up all summer. If you make it from PVC as part of the floating dock it won't cost much. You will likely need to replace the tarp cover each summer.
If you have a water hose at you dock just rinse the boat off once it's up on your floating dock.
That's what I would do. Actually search for previous posts on this, it's been covered before.
Bob

Ps you also don't want to leave any if your bungy cords (ie... AMA and front hatch bungys) under tension for any long period, as they become useless in about two weeks in my experience.


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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:12 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 7:06 am
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Thanks for the lecture. What kind of a dumb (censored) do you think I am. You have no idea the what and why I leave my boat in the Lake all summer. It happens that I suffer from several physical handicaps that make it incredibly difficult to transport my TI. I am fortunate to have friends that allow me to keep it in the water behind their house.
All I asked was if someone had some knowledge/experience cleaning off fresh water lake scum.


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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:23 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
majorkahuna:
Your welcome, I was just trying to make suggestions based on my experience helping others on this forum. If you look at page 18 of your manual ( http://static.hobiecat.com/digital_asse ... _rev-b.pdf) it states clearly that storing your TI in the water voids the warranty. I was only attempting to help you come up with a workaround and possible tips, where you might still be able to still keep your TI on the water, that all.
I have a friend here in Florida (Dudley) who stored his AI in the water at the marina mooring where he kept his powerboat, his AI sank twice, and was pretty much trashed after one summer.
We live in south Florida and in the keys I often leave my TI moored offshore for sometimes a week or two at a time.
Image
I'm just saying from my own experience one week moored out on the water and in the sun is equal to 3 yrs wear on the boat. (all my mesh pockets had to be replaced after 1 week in the sun, plus the smell emanating from inside the hull after a week made my wife puke, we ended up throwing the life jackets away that we had stored in the front hatch. Of course you can do what you like.
My suggested solution would help you with your handicap, allowing you to still store your boat on the water, save the boat from excessive sun and water damage, and preserve your warranty, you don't have to take my advice, you do have a delete key, or simply don't read.
bob


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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:06 pm 
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Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:40 pm
Posts: 1365
Hobie sells a cleaner that works fairly well...some guys use a power washer to clean the hull.....and there are products like simple green that can work too.
I like a product called "Krud Cutter" (bought on Amazon.com).
After you clean the hull, just be sure to apply Aerospace Protectant 303 (Ace Hardware) to bring back the hull color and protect the plastic from UV rays...I think Hobie's UV protectant and restore is basically the same stuff.
A little TLC makes a big difference in protecting your investment :wink:

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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:26 am 
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Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:39 pm
Posts: 19
Hmm... totally curious...

What happens if you went on a week long expedition? Does it start to stink then? Again, pure curiosity question...

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 Post subject: Re: Bottom Cleaning
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:30 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
dboyd101:
Good question, it all depends on the sun and temperatures I would guess (in the keys it is very hot and sunny all year round). We have done similar trips and it isn't typically as bad as it was that trip. We moored the boat at the beginning of the week, then took it out into the gulf diving and sailing once or twice daily. A couple times we had 6 people on the boat (4 adults and 2 kids) so it was really loaded down, but most of the time it was just 3-4 adults. Whenever we stopped to go snorkeling we would use the masks, snorkels and fins, then when done just throw them back in the hull each time, so it was very wet inside the hull, when the water got more than an inch or more deep in the hull I would pump it out (I had to do that two times during the week). Of course when out we would have some of the life vests out ( I keep 6 on board), but when we came back in we would just stow them back in the hatch (wet) so all week nothing really had a chance to air or dry out.
I'm sure if I had been more careful about removing some of the stuff and taking the wet stuff back to the hotel room to let it all dry and air out each night we wouldn't have had the issues we did.
Since the TI is sealed shut there is no air circulation at all inside the hull, and if it's all wet in there with wet towels, masks, fins, life jackets, etc and 120 deg plus inside the hull when in the sun, I'm sure it's a haven for bacteria inside there, and the green and black slime and bacteria just took over after a couple days.
I'm pretty sure it was algae or phytoplankton (red tide) or something similar that we probably got into the first day (not knowing) then put all the wet stuff in the hull, and it just grew like wildfire all over inside the hull and kept growing inside the TI incubator out in the sun.
It was very sunny and hot every day and I was really surprised at the toll the sun took on the boat itself, by the end of the week all the mesh pockets had lost most of their color ( I ended up replacing them), and some of the bungy cords had stretched out ( I replaced them also), I ended up throwing all the life jackets away because nobody wanted to wear them anymore because of the horrible smell. The boat was fairly new at the time but after that week out in the sun it looked two to three yrs old, I was really surprised by that. We normally take the boat out each time, then when done bring it home, rinse it all off and clean it out completely, pump all the water out, leaving the hatches open, then store it in our garage with fans blowing on it (we do that when we are up north in Sarasota). When at the Key West place we don't have a garage so I typically just pull the boat into our fenced in compound between the houses and let it air out, I go out every day down there when I can.
I suspect it was just a fluke occurrence, where we got into some red tide or something and it got away from us. Bottom line I don't think the boat was ever designed to be just left out on the water and in the sun (not in the Keys anyway).
Don't get me wrong, we love our TI's and are on our 3rd one now, we use the heck out of the things all year round, and do probably way more than you should with them, boy do we have a blast with ours, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm just a little more careful now about leaving it out in the sun on the water and all wet inside for long periods of time anymore.
Hope this helps
Bob


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