Boat Bottom Cleaning in Miami, FL

A boat moored off Coconut Grove sits in open, salty Biscayne Bay water, and its running gear is the first thing to grow hard barnacles because bottom paint can't stick to metal. A boat tied up on the Miami River sits in a salt-and-fresh mix behind a no-wake rule that runs all the way to the Intracoastal, so it grows a thick algae band at the waterline and slime across the hull. We clean both with Ultra-Cavitation, which lifts the growth without touching the paint.

Dinner Key's mooring field is a different job from its slips; ask us with the mooring number and we will say whether a diver can reach it. At Rickenbacker Marina, boats in wet storage are cleaned in place. Biscayne Island and San Marco Island, the Venetian Islands on the City of Miami side, have private docks, and the owner does not need to be home.

The city's six public ramps tell you who doesn't need us: trailer boats launching at Seminole by Dinner Key (47 trailer spaces), Watson Island on the MacArthur Causeway (44), the Marine Stadium ramp (75), Legion Park (17), Morningside Park (21) and Curtis Park on the river (12) go home dry. The boats that stay wet are the ones in Dinner Key's slips, in Rickenbacker's wet storage, and tied behind houses from the Grove to the Upper Eastside, and those are the hulls we photograph every 30 days. The Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, which ran its early years out of the Cape Florida lighthouse, is a short run from all of them.

Coconut Grove boats that leave Dinner Key for a weekend at No Name Harbor or the Keys come back to the same slip and the same bay water, and the zinc report is where owners see the difference between a boat that runs and a boat that sits: the runners keep a cleaner painted hull, the sitters keep a cleaner set of anodes, and both need the props done.

Miami boats we clean sit on Biscayne Bay, the Miami River and the Intracoastal Waterway. Dinner Key Marina, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Rickenbacker Marina: regular stops. Private docks in Coconut Grove, Brickell and Edgewater (ZIP codes 33129, 33131, 33133 and 33137) 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