So I went out and bought one of those "copper ion generators"
Over $1000.... !!!
To magically deter those pesky mollusc lavae. Port Hacking does have a bad problem.
Unit is 2 copper slugs one fore one aft. Or if your boat is over 35ft you need 4 with 2 extra being set on port and stbrd beams.
A electronic gizmo box drawing about 1A set at full power connects them all.
The theory is an electric current flows between the slugs around your hull which moves on the lavae to someone else's hull.
Being an electrical engineer has taught me an electric current will flow in the least resistance path. Which probably bypasses most of your hull anyway. Salt water is fairly consistent and I could not imagine there being too much bending of current path around you hull profile.
At high power settings you can almost see the solid copper slugs dissolving away into old briny. And at $176 a pop that ain't cheap.
Can't see quantities of copper being set in motion into the water ways as CuS04 being that responsible either.
Any way to my surprise barnacles were actually growing ON the plastic caps that hold the slugs to the drop wires. Hmmmm me thinks.
The system was installed on a completely cleaned and antifouled hull.
Is anyone surprised that it did not work ?
The slugs or electrodes were even moved closer together with absolutely no difference in growth patterns.
A real shame.
Contact with the manufacturer indicated that I had obviously installed it all wrong. May be I need to re visit my Electrical engineering quals along with corresponding trades craft certificate.
The retail site posts were all positive and too good to believe.
They were however fairly old and I could see no posts in 2020.
When I discussed the system with my local shipwright he said if such things really worked the antifoul coating industry would be out of business. This was my epiphany and proverbial lightbulb moment.
My research has indicated that ultrasonic techniques work but at very high powers in the order of 100w peak per transducer.
Such systems require large power supplies and lots of transducers. Probably about 5 to 10 amps to do a 50 footer. Not practical for a boat on a swing moving unless one has a surplus Russian sub reactor on board.
Keen to know is anyone else has given the old barnacle electric chair a go?
I've cleaned a lot of hulls in the water with a lot of different contraptions and none have made a lot of difference. One has slightly reduced barnacle but huge increase in white limestone type fuzz. Port Hacking.
Select to expand quotesaltiest1 said..
I've cleaned a lot of hulls in the water with a lot of different contraptions and none have made a lot of difference. One has slightly reduced barnacle but huge increase in white limestone type fuzz. Port Hacking.
The only system I know that works is Sonihull out of the UK but available in AUS. Its not cheap but it does work very well.
Shipping giant Maersk has been trialing it for some time and has decided to use it on all their ships now, so a huge deal for Soni.
It works especially well on Volvo IPS drives, all hull types and Kamewa Jets are using it as standard now on all their jet units.
The jet units have been a haven for growth drastically reducing performance, prior to fitting Sonihull.
It was recently trialed in the Yarra River on a Riv with IPS and apparently results were amazing. It works best on a clean hull.
There are plenty of imitations and pretenders giving the tech a bad name.
With commercial antifoul content laws changing in 2026, there will be big changes to make antifoul more environmentally friendly and I think Soni will be at the forefront. They have developed their own silicone free antifoul to use with their systems , cheers.
There's a large cat in Gunnamatta Bay using sonic tech that is audible below water and is a horrible sound to work around. It's definitely slowed growth but again with a huge increase in white fuzz. Still a healthy lot of barnacle partying on.
Select to expand quotesaltiest1 said..
There's a large cat in Gunnamatta Bay using sonic tech that is audible below water and is a horrible sound to work around. It's definitely slowed growth but again with a huge increase in white fuzz. Still a healthy lot of barnacle partying on.
Okay, the growth in Port Hacking is out of control with the worm growth there, while Georges River, just brown slime.
There are plenty of motor vessels slipping every 6-8 months in PH.
If it's not Sonihull , it will not be as effective also
It sure is. I'm finding that if a boat isn't cleaned monthly there's a large amount of 2mm barnacle by the 4 to 6 week mark.
One thing I have noticed is that barnacle does not seem to grow directly on barnacle.
They only seen to grow on vacant patches then merge somewhat.
I wonder what is on barnacle shell that stops the lavae from attaching directly onto that established shell.
Could you imagine putting ground up barnacle shell in antifoul paint to exploit this?. And no I have had only one beer this arvo...
Call me strange but people have put other stuff in there from chilli powder to round up.
Does anyone know what species predominates in Port Hacking...it is an evil import i think.
I have sent challenges out to all the mainstream ultrasonic mobs throwing the guantlet at their feet taunting them to try their product on , shall we call it , the "Concretus Rabbitus" found in the Hacking.
Select to expand quotesaltiest1 said..
It sure is. I'm finding that if a boat isn't cleaned monthly there's a large amount of 2mm barnacle by the 4 to 6 week mark.
There is an AUS company called Soni....blah blah also. The system is audible out of the vessel.
Sonihull is not audible out of the vessel. The two have been trialed together on a sea chest in a large commercial vessel in NQ
After 6 months Sonihull was clean, other full of growth. This data is available from Sonihull AUS., cheers
Hmm have problem with believing data from a distributor / developer. As per the OP does anyone have real world experience ?
