Boat Bottom Cleaning in Coral Gables, FL

Canal boats here foul softly and constantly. The Coral Gables Waterway mixes bay salt water with fresh water from a stormwater outfall, and the city's tide stations show how little the canals move; the result is slime across the hull and a heavy algae band at the waterline that the diver takes off with soft brushes. Running gear still collects hard growth because bottom paint can't stick to metal, and cavitation cleaning handles that without touching Propspeed.

Boats at Matheson Hammock Park & Marina on Old Cutler Road sit in open Biscayne Bay water and foul faster and harder, so those owners see more barnacle on the props in every set of photos. With 18 fixed bridges on the canals, from 7 feet at Pisano Avenue to 21 feet at Isla Dorada Boulevard, which is why we ask which canal you are on.

Water is 24.38 square miles of Coral Gables, most of it the Biscayne Bay shoreline to the southeast. Matheson Hammock Park & Marina on Old Cutler Road is the county facility on that shore: a marina for boats up to 50 feet, fuel, and ramps with 210 trailer spaces, and the boats in its wet slips are the ones we clean there. The city's four tide stations on the Waterway log water levels every 15 minutes, which is a reminder of how little the canals move; a boat in Cocoplum or Gables Estates sits in water that barely changes between our visits.

Gables owners on the Waterway sometimes assume fresher water means less cleaning. It means different cleaning: the diver spends more time brushing the waterline band and less chipping barnacle off the hull, but the props and shafts still come up crusted because paint never protected them. Matheson Hammock slip owners see the opposite mix, and the photos show each owner which kind of water they have.

Coral Gables boats we clean sit on Biscayne Bay and the Coral Gables Waterway. Matheson Hammock Park & Marina: a regular stop. Private docks in Cocoplum, Gables Estates and Gables by the Sea (ZIP codes 33143, 33146 and 33156) get the same 30-day visit.

A written dive report and photos come with every cleaning.

• Zinc percentage per anode; replacement at 50%.
• Bottom paint condition, so the next haul-out is planned, not guessed.
• Photos of the hull and running gear.
• Anything the diver spotted: clogged thru-hulls, damage, loose gear.

How long it takes and how often. 45 minutes to 4 hours per cleaning, depending on growth and boat length. Every 30 days for a boat that stays in the water; every two weeks in nutrient-rich spots or for a hull without bottom paint.

Full boat bottom cleaning guide