Clean Boat Hulls with Dry Ice Blasting

Dry ice blasting saves labor to clean boat hulls by quickly removing surface blisters and hull fouling, disinfecting the hull surface, and removing failed hull paint. Repainting boat hulls, renewing the finish, and repairing blisters all require that the hull be cleaned. Dry ice blasting eliminates laborious, time-consuming hand scraping and sanding. Dry ice blasting advantages help sailors keep their boats ready for sea by speeding hull maintenance, reducing labor and saving cleanup costs.

Boat hulls require frequent cleaning to remove algae and other marine growths and to recoat the finish to protect the hull and keep the appearance attractive. Choosing cleaning methods is especially challenging for fiberglass hulls. To make a boat hull, layers of fiberglass are laminated together and then coated with a gel coat for a smooth exterior finish. This finish looks nice, helps the boat glide through the water, and resists “fouling” by marine organisms. The fiberglass itself is vulnerable to blistering when a tiny pinhole develops in the gel coat, allowing water to reach the fiberglass laminations. Compounds in the laminate binder react with the water to cause the laminate to swell and form a blister in the gel coat. The blisters must be repaired to preserve the hull. Dry ice blasting can be a labor-saving choice for this purpose.

Dry ice blasting quickly removes slime and barnacles. One Continental Carbonic Products customer estimated that a 40-foot sailboat could be blasted in just 6 hours, and then would be ready for anti-foul painting. Cleaning with dry ice is most effective if there is no epoxy layer of paint over the gel coat. The air pressure supplied to the blasting machine, and the dry ice pellet application rate, should be adjusted by the blast operator for best results. The same blasting machine also cleans propellers and running gear, saving even more time and labor. There is no messy cleanup of blasting media with dry ice blasting, as the dry ice pellets just sublimate into carbon dioxide gas.

Be sure to test the suitability of dry ice blasting on a small portion of the hull before proceeding, because of variability in blast operator technique and blast machine settings, "lay-up" techniques (the adding of fiberglass cloth layers during hull building), and the variability of different hull paints. Ensure the process is compatible with the hull construction. Observe the dry ice safety precautions.

Please contact Continental Carbonic Products for more information about Continental Carbonic Dry Ice Blasting.

For more information about dry ice blasting, contact Continental Carbonic.

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