What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

[bowman316]

I can't imagine they had bottom paint in the 1700's.
So what did they do about barnacles?

Do you really need bottom paint?
Or could you scrape all the barnicales off every so often?
Could you just scuba dive, and clean you hull my hand?

Is that what they did in the old days? (I guess they just held their breath, or used straws).

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

once you scrap barnicales once, you will bottom paint.

we use to run the sail boat soft aground, so we could stand up. everyone in the water with a brush.

 

[DBreskin]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

If you know the background of the expression "keel-hauled" you'll appreciate scraping off barnacles. As punishment in days of yore, a ship captain would run a line from one gunwale, under the ship, and up to the opposite gunwale. The offending crewman would be tied to the rope and pulled down under the ship and up the other side; as he passed under the ship he would scrape against all the barnacles and come up bloodied with salt water in his wounds.

The captain did have a ready supply of cheap (probably unwilling) labor to scrape off the barnacles periodically. Since speed was important in trade and barnacles slowed the ship, it was in the captain's interest to clean the bottom frequently.

Toward the end of the age of sail, ships had copper-plated bottoms to discourage bottom growth.

 

[bowman316]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

So if you scraped all the barnacles off once a year or so, then you would not mess up your hull?
Or, after a few years, would new barnacles start appearing a month after you scraped them off?

 

[pmillar]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

I believe copper plating on the bottom was also used on occasion as the copper is toxic to many organisms. The copper in brass fittings effectively served the same purpose (anti-bacterial)

 

[Shamus O'toole]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

In the old days of wooden sailing ships, antifouling methods include use of arsenic, lime and mercurial compounds to prevent shipworms and barnacles from destroying the hull.
You can also coat the bottom of your boat in lanolin instead of paint.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

......

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

There's almost always been some form of bottom paint even if it was just tar (taring the longest seam- the devil to pay)

As to your question about if scraping every year will cause no damage- every time a barnacle digs into and grabs on it cuts your nice shiny hull, every time you scrape you cut our nice hull, push that scraper in a angle to get the hard one and you have a gouge.

Keeping things off the hull is the way to go.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

in the right conditions, especially in the south, barnacle can attach to a boat in less than a week, then grow. bottom paint, and frequent use is the best.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: What did we do before bottom paint was invented?

In the old days they'd also move a boat from salt water up a fresh water river to kill off some of the growth. My great uncle did that with his racing yacht even though it was painted. They'd also beach large boats at high tide; scrape at low.

The old paint was highly toxic; nothing would grow on the river bottom or the pilings near a treated bottom. A lot of our river's pollution is from the bottom paint sandblasted off the ships and blown or washed overboard. New paints are more environmentally friendly--and not as effective. So it goes.

Lots of scuba divers around here scrape (or just clean) bottoms and make good money for it--even with bottom paint you can get growth, especially on large, slow, and infrequently used boats.

The best tool for removing barnacles is a checkbook.