Ultrasonic antifouling for boats - test start

Look forward to hearing what you find. I reckon ultrasonic anti fouling is about as effective as using reiki to treat a broken leg.

How are you going to measure the effectiveness - A control area?

Poods

I'm one for saying that it aint gonna work. I know there are lots of reasons as to why it should work but so far that aint happened yet. If it had happened and the device works as touted by the snake charmers then why hasn't every damn boat in the world got one of these on it and not need to pollute the waters with highly toxic paints. Plus given the fact that these things cost anywhere from $250 to $4000 upwards, that's an awful lot of loot to drop on a prayer and a hunch.

Harry

Thanks for doing the test and informing us of your findings, Warwick. I for one look forward to hearing your results.

Progress report

I expect the system to arrive this week.

My boat is a 33 ' 6" x 12' 6" beam Riviera 3350 Flybridge with twin shaft engines.

The boat is on a swing mooring which will require the installation of a solar panel so the test will be based on possibly the most difficult situation for a successful result.

My next report will advise on ease of installation.

Which system did you buy?

UPDATE

System now installed - all was very straight forward with the normal issues of running cabling so I now have a few sore body parts.

When I left the boat the system seemed to be working already as no new growth could be seen - joke of course.

So lets see if this is the case at 6, 9 and 12 months + to make this a good investment.

I will post photos of the installation soon.

On a positive note the supplier has been very helpful being on call throughtout the installation process.

I will be genuine in my reporting so if it is a dud I will report this, if it is somewhere in between or good value I will advise on this as well so that the reality of bothsides can be validated at least based on my experience on a swing mooring which is possibly the most testing.

The system I have provides reporting on; power available in volts, average power consumption, faults and can provide a report on any issues eg should power fail it will advise the period power was inadequate, the supplier is then available to advise corrective action.

To me it seems everything that is possible to give this technology the best chance of success has been done - again time will tell.

Thanks Warwick for posting every issue. I am sure there are a number following your posts and it can help everyone who has or does attempt the same thing to know all the issues that can arise and how to fix or avoid them.

Up date

I have fitted a capacitor to the boat security alarm system and now all is operating correctly.

Reply to Cisco

I fitted new sacrificial anodes 6 months ago and it is easy for me to keep a check on them.

The timing to take my boat out of the water will depend on the success or otherwise of the ultrasonic antifouling system.

I will still take my boat out of the water for checking and anode replacement plus I will also dive under the boat from time to time.

I now have some photos that I will post shortly

An annual haul out can serve many purposes and yet I wouldn't want to wait until the boat is slipped to find out whether or not the anodes have eroded away. I have a diver who checks & reports on the state of the anodes when he cleans the hull and inside the saildrive leg every two months. Which brings us back to whether the ultrasound gizzmos actually do anything to stop marine build up and, if they do, whether they cause unintended side effect problems. The benefit could be in a cleaner hull and more efficient performance and reduced cost because the diver won't have to work as hard or as long.

Sorry, but I can't resist to as some questions?
I know the test is underway and the result is coming but!

I didn't pay much attention, just seeing the schematic, it was enough for me.

You have specification of your unit, can you please enlighten perhaps correct me.

The ultrasonic antifouling system power consumption is 2.5 - 3 Amps continuously.

/it is obvious that maintain that for 24 hours / 365 day is nearly impractical/

Unit was designed to switch OFF - ON than average consumption is 250mA.

That's great and manageable from power perspective.
/12.5 Volts * 250mA = 3.125 Watts /
considering, transducer is very inefficient, guess 60%

===Your boat is protected using 1.875 Watts energy===

What a genius design in marine electronic, is it??????

Thanks for nice description.
Yes we all wait for your progress update.

Only, simply because I stared, I wont summarized your particular system.
which would be good starting point for those who wants to try and need
to sort out an energy plan.

You have all together 140 watts traducers connected to main unit.
Peak current to cover transducers specification would be between 12 - 15 Amps.

/not really sure if the main unit is design to draw that sort of current /

Good new is of course 700mA average current draw.

What get me worried is - all your traducers getting 12.6*0.7= 8.8 Watts only.
That's input, how much gets through to the water and what that
/ few lazy watts / do for you - YOU tell us.
Thanks U not winching that I am to picky.

At this point, after a week with all installed successfully, all is still going well as no problems with other systems on my boat.

From now on results will take a bit of time so I will not be posting further unless probems arise.

However I will try to post at say 6 months, 12 months and more.

Remember my boat was last antifouled last November 2011 so this may help to put to rest various claims of success by many like products. Some even state no antifouling paint required but they still recommend to do it in addition if the boat is in a penn the boats either side will benefit...mmmm - time will tell

Should anyone want to know anything further let me know.

My aim is to prove if this techonolgy works or not.

Agree see

Minor UPdate

All is going to plan however looks like I will need to replace my 6 year old battery I decicated to this project.

The current battery (no pun intended due to poor current) is a N200M ie a hybrid type so I will replace it with a dedicated deepcycle N200D battery giving up to 10 days with no sun on my solar panel however I am out on my boat more often than that.

Another interesting thing which could be just a coincidence (remember my boat was antifouled November 2011 and this system was installed less than a month ago) , today I decided to scrape a bit of growth and barnacles off the transom and boarding platfrom struts - this growth just fell off without much resistance - maybe the system has help with this - not sure but I hope so.