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Anybody have any ideas how to get barnacles off of a PVC inflatable?

That is without (of course) damaging it.

My friend has an inflatable that I might get (almost free) which is covered with small "remnants" of barnacles. It's very tedious manually scraping them off with a delicate touch.

Anybody out there go through this pain? Chemicals/solvents that won't hurt the PVC??

So far I've just tried soaking them in water and it's a little easier but still time consuming. The price to pay for a cheap (and otherwise very good) dinghy. It's about a year old but it sat in the water just long enough to get them started. They are all small but many, many, of them covering the bottom.

C25 Wing is about 3 ft.  Some are suggesting moving to a 27ft but that's too much to go through for 2 ft.  If we do this we're "doing" this and moving to one that we may take to the islands. 

I know.... I know.... You can take a 27ft to the islands too but we want (don't need) more room if we do that.

For us, this next boat doesn't have to be our final boat but we want one similar to our "perfect" boat. (If there is such a thing).

Part of the fun is deciding on a boat. Catalina or not.  We are looking at everything from Pacific Seacraft, Island Packet, Sabre (Also comes in a swing), Morgan, etc....  Our main criteria is "well made" to handle a blow. There are some shallow boats out there.

When it happens it happens.  We still lean (heel) towards Catalina.

[C]

Thought of that one too.  Here it's about $22 sqft or (if your dock is 5 ft wide) $110 for each foot you add.  We could get them to only place the pilings an we do the work ourselves to save money????  They offered that as an option when we got quotes.

Main issue is CAMA as controlled by the DCM. (Coastal Area Management Act - Division of Coastal Management)

They are very active here and use satellite pics to monitor it.

The rule is that you can't have a dock that extends more than 1/4 the way across a river.  Our place is on Smith Creek up Bay River.  It doesn't extend perpendicular to the shore since we are on a point between two branches within Smith Creek.  It's hard to explain but I think we could extend at least another 50-75 ft without any issues.  When I first called them they said "No" without even looking.  But I kept after them and we plan to setup a meeting with them the next time we can match schedules.


We have about 300 ft of bulkhead that has about a 15ft opening.  We can't join the walls because "technically" the 15 ft are "wetlands".


Extending the dock is not out of the picture yet.  Maybe just persistance.

Good try though.  Maybe somebody has an idea we haven't thought of yet.

We've considers those (and other) options too.

1. We keep this at our second home.  It's not our primary residence and it's a 2 1/2 drive to get there.  We don't always have the luxury of waiting for the wind to change.  Remember the wind is driving the water depth.  It could be days before the wind direction changes.

2.  Technically you can't dredge a "natural waterway" in eastern NC. I may not have to wording correct but there are strict definitions of what you can and can't dredge.  We considered simply renting a high pressure pump (the kind that you use to re-level docks).  We could do that 2-3 times a year.  I can't say on this public forum that we "will" do that.  It was only discussed as an option.   There are fines for "dredging" without a permit.  All we need is a safety factor for unusual water depths.  Normally the depth isn't a problem.

3. The bottom is very soft silty mud throughout most of the area so the bottom isn't much of an issue.  NOTE: We know of a Catalina Wing keel couple that are changing to a fin because their marina has shallow water and the other boats with fins can get out when they can't.  They say the fins "knife" through the mud while a wing gets stuck... 

Every situation is different.  You just never know.

Glad to see the activity on this forum.  Like most boating discussions, there are many flavors of opinions for each boat.  It if often both informative and entertaining (sometimes both at the same time).

We are now discussing the step through transom.  Something we didn't know about.  We were looking at an '88 and were wondering why the price jump after that.  Now we know and can make a more informed decision.  We are leaning towards staying with Catalina because of our experience with our 25 and that forum.   You never know.

1. We need shallow draft because we have a personal dock that can get down to about 4' if the wind is strong from the west for a while and the river is emptied of water.  We have no measurable tide except wind tide.  Normal water depth is about 5' +/- but we have to allow for the unusual west wind.  Fin is NOT an option we are considering or likely will consider.  It's not getting around  that's the issue it's the dockage.

2. Jeff-  We have friends that have a boat at Matthews Point and that is a beautiful marina.  If anybody gets a chance you should check it out.  One of the cleanest and best maintained marinas I have seen in Eastern NC.

We have a C25 '89 SR/WK and are looking at C34 with Shoal draft.  We need the 4ft or less draft here in Eastern NC.

What are the main differences with the C34 in years.  For example if the floor plan changes after year '89.  Or if the Propane locker is vented after year '90.

What is the ideal year for C34?  Why?  (Shallow draft only)

Is there another Longer or shorter version of Catalina (for a certain year) that has that shallow of a draft?

Know of any other boats with shallow drafts?  I know there are some lioke Sabre, Pacific Seacraft, Island Packet, etc....  Old Morgans have some too.

Update: Just noticed the topic about this above.  I hope to have more time to search this.  It seems that this forum is active like the C25 forum.  That's encouraging.

Trouble deciding on boat features = Good problems to have.