Scuba and boat hull cleaning tools

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Stryker

Guest
Messages
354
Reaction score
0
Location
Indiana
# of dives
50 - 99
Does anyone know of a good resource I could use to find out what tools would be needed/required to start hull cleaning at local docks/marinas part time? a friend suggested the idea to me, but I cant seem to find any resources online... thanks
 
Stryker:
Does anyone know of a good resource I could use to find out what tools would be needed/required to start hull cleaning at local docks/marinas part time? a friend suggested the idea to me, but I cant seem to find any resources online... thanks
Don't worry about tools yet. Learn about bottom coatings, hull materials, insurance and EPA regulations first. You may invest in tools that could get you in a world of trouble down the road.

Another thing to consider is a lot of boat owners are a very fussy lot. You may do a yard style cleaning but they will b***h up a storm and stiff you for the bill. Or worse yet take you to court over the hull damage you may or may not have caused.

It is a lot of work and it's not the easy fast buck people think it is.

Gary D.
 
Thanks for bringing that up.... a friend of mine (who went to commercial diver school) sparked the idea, and made it sound like something you could easily do (told me about a friend who made $3-500 for 3 hours of work) and it sounded like alot of fun diving and cleaning.... I know alot about boats and all that, but I guess I dont want to get into anything that could legally come back on me... guess ill just stick to Rec/tech(hopefully soon) diving... :wink:
 
It is a major catch 22.
It IS commercial diving and is subject to all the rules and regulations that entails.
Almost no one (I have never seen anyone) follows the commercial standards and if you do you will have to charge so much that no one will hire you.
You usually work in a marina and they will require you to prove insurance and in many cases add them as a named insured.

Do you really want to dive in your area marinas in a wet suit and mask? Most of the marinas I see really call for dry suit, dry helmet, contaminated water procedures if you want to have a long healthy life.

That said, depending on where you are, there are some things you can do. If you are in an area with a transient cruiser population and have a boat you can do bottom service in the anchorage. The jobs are often more involved due to the time between cleanings but working conditions are usually much better.

My two main tools were a flap of carpet and a wood block that had one end blunt and the other tapered and had a handle.
 
Invest in one of those pencil looking AC detectors. Mount it on a stick and check around the boat for AC current. It is amazing how many boat owners cut off the ground pin "to prevent galvanic corrosion". If there is an AC problem it ends up looking for a path to ground. This creates a problem if you are between boat and ground. Unpluuging the boat you are working on is not a solution as it may be the next one over with a problem.

http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/SV-HTML/HTML/Hot-Marina-Lethal-AC-Ground-Faults~20031117.htm
 
Look at the other threads and you can read what happen to me because of a short in the floating dock system!!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom