Hull cleaning with your boat still in the water

Pricing is per foot, so a 40ft boat sits in the middle of what we do, and a recurring schedule works out cheaper per visit than calling us out job by job. Tell us the length and the marina and you’ll have a real number back the same day. Heavy growth on a hull left through a season takes longer and we’ll tell you that before we get in the water.

In the water, at your slip. This is worth being clear about because a lot of what you’ll read online says a hull has to come out to be cleaned, and that hasn’t been true for recreational boats for a long time. Our divers work on the boat where she sits. No haul out, no yard booking, and no time out of the water.

Regular in-water cleaning by a diver, on a cycle short enough that the growth never gets established. Pressure washing at a haul out will get a hull clean once a year and cost you the use of the boat while it happens. For a boat that lives in the water here, a diver every four to six weeks in the warm months keeps the bottom in better condition for less money over a season.

Every four to six weeks from May through October, and every eight to twelve weeks over winter. The Chesapeake fouls quickly once the water warms, and barnacle set on a neglected hull will take paint with it when it eventually comes off.

A diver removes marine growth from the underwater part of the boat. Our cleans cover the hull from the waterline to the keel, the propeller and shaft, the struts, the rudder, the keel and the bow thruster tunnel where it can be reached. Anodes are checked and reported on, and the whole thing is filmed before and after.

It shouldn’t, and the technique is what decides it. Ablative paint is designed to release growth with the top layer, so it needs a soft touch and the right pads. A diver working too aggressively will take paint off and shorten the life of an expensive coat. Our crew works to the paint on your boat rather than to one method, and the footage means you can see what came off.

Fourteen marinas across Hampton Roads, including Norfolk Yacht Club, Bay Point Marina, Morningstar Marina, Little Creek Marina, Willoughby Marina, Portsmouth Yacht Club, Tidewater Yacht Marina, Marina Shores Marina, Long Bay Pointe, Rudee Inlet Station, Hampton Yacht Club, Southall Landing Marina, Old Point Comfort Marina and Salt Pond Resort Marina. We also work in Chesapeake, Cape Charles and Deltaville.

Because you watch it. Every clean is filmed from start to finish and the footage comes to you afterwards. You see what the hull looked like before the diver started and what it looked like when they finished, including the propeller, shaft and anodes. It’s the question every boat owner has about underwater work and it’s the reason we started filming.