Keep It Clean
A couple weeks ago, while taking a leisurely cruise around some of the local islands, I noticed the boat was a bit sluggish. Powered by a 350 Chevy engine, coupled to a Volvo outdrive, the boat usually moves along smartly, even at ½ throttle. However, even after acknowledging the full tank of gas, that day the boat was moving more slowly than normal.
After considering a variety of culprits, I landed on the concept of bottom contamination and steered to the nearest launch ramp to take a look. Sure enough, fouling was strongly evident, not so much on the bottom, or main body of the drive, but rather the propeller which was populated with a large number of barnacles. And, as any experienced boater will tell you, the hydrodynamics in that area are critical to performance.
Fortunately, the water was warm and I was able to handle standing in it while I scraped the unwelcome visitors from the formerly shiny stainless propeller blades, and the moss from the outdrive body and bottom. Once the job was completed, I went for a test drive and experienced the true impact of smooth hydrodynamics as performance improved back to its spring launch levels.
The lesson learned is that oftentimes underwater surfaces can accumulate growth as the season deepens, and there will be a performance impact, if not worse. So, while there’s a few warm, sunny days left, and the water is still warm, consider cleaning your boat’s wet surfaces – you’ll surely notice the difference.
