For the non-trailering crowd, most boats go in the water at the beginning of the season and come out at the end.
That’s lots of time for growth to occur, adding weight and drag to your boat.
Just because there’s anti-fouling paint on the bottom doesn’t mean a good cleaning every once in a while is needed.
I recently went about 3 months between hull scrubbings (there’s a local diver I hire), and the boat lost almost 2.5 knots (~3 mph) of its wide-open throttle (WOT) speed.
In fact, after a 4-minute WOT run on a “dirty” hull, both engines shot off a temperature warning (but didn’t overheat).
After the cleaning, I ran WOT, and the engine temperatures were within range while achieving the usual maximum speed. At optimal cruise, the fuel economy bumped from 1.06 mpg to 1.17 mpg.
I don’t advocate running WOT all the time, but it’s good to do it occasionally to make sure everything is in alignment. It reduces stress on the engines and fuel burn.
For what it’s worth, the diver and cleaning cost $100 on a 40′ boat.
No Responses