The ultra sonic anti fouling package we fitted uses 1.1amps of power, therefore 26 amps per day. The solar panels we currently have fitted are 2 x 30w (therefore max 60watt/12v = 5amps) requiring about 6/7 hours of sunshine to maintain the batteries and cover this level of power draw. Therefore when we left the boat we didn’t leave her connected to shore power as we thought the solar panels would provide sufficient charge. This turned out not to be the case as Barcelona had not been getting sunny weather, therefore the batteries were low when we arrived back at the boat – so in future she will be left connected to shore power and the “smart” battery charger will do the rest. To be fair it would probably have been fine if we had been using the boat regularly.

At the club we managed to get a slot to have the boat lifted out the water and pressure cleaned the underside to remove all growth and slime. There is no doubt that the underside of the hull was a whole lot cleaner than it would have been prior to fitting the ultrasonic kit. This will now afford us the opportunity of fully and finally assessing the effectiveness of this piece of equipment and remove any doubt/ambiguity as we are re-starting the evaluation with a clean underside. However I think its fair to say that this system, without doubt, offers boat owners a major contribution to maintaining a clean hull.

When the boat was painted at the beginning of 2012; Peter from Paradocks Painting used a French product called Velox on the propeller, and I have to say that when the boat was lifted I was blown away by how clean the prop was – the Velox coating was intact and still doing it’s job. Pete stated that as long as the instructions are followed to the letter the results are always the same – top product.

So that’s it until the next time the boat is lifted out the water – very encouraging.