Boat Bottom Cleaning in Miami Beach, FL

The south end of the city is fast water. Miami Beach Marina's 400 slips sit next to the shipping channel, and boats there grow hard barnacles on props and shafts quickly because paint can't protect metal. Up Indian Creek, past Allison Island to 71st Street, the water is calmer and the growth is softer: slime and a waterline algae band that the diver removes with soft brushes so the gelcoat is untouched.

The island neighborhoods were all dredged out of Biscayne Bay, which means private docks on the Sunset Islands, the Venetian Islands and La Gorce Island sit in shallow, warm water. We clean the hull, running gear and waterline with cavitation, check the zincs and send the photos. Owners in the two water-ski zones who run hard all summer and park the boat in winter usually need the two-week schedule by February.

Two smaller ramps serve residents: the Barry Kutun ramp at Maurice Gibb Park on Purdy Avenue, which is residents-only, permit-required and for motorized boats, and Island View Park's ramp on the Venetian Causeway with 11 trailer spaces. Boats that use them go home on a trailer; the ones we clean are the roughly 400 slips at Miami Beach Marina and the docks behind the houses. Water covers 62% of the city's area, and the Collins Canal along Dade Boulevard threads through the middle of it with docks of its own, all of it warm enough to grow barnacles in any month.

Sunset Islands and Venetian Islands owners usually ask one thing first: can the diver reach the boat without coming through the house. Yes, with the access details you give us when you book. The second question is about the two water-ski areas, and the answer is that a boat run hard from May to mid-November and then parked grows fastest in the parked months, so the winter cleaning is the one not to skip.

Miami Beach boats we clean sit on Biscayne Bay and Indian Creek, and in the Collins Canal. Miami Beach Marina: a regular stop. Private docks on the Sunset Islands, the Venetian Islands and La Gorce Island, and in Normandy Isles (ZIP codes 33139, 33140 and 33141) 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