Boat Bottom Cleaning in Pompano Beach, FL

Harbor Village and Pompano Isles canals were dug in the 1950s for private docks, and a boat sitting in one grows a waterline band and slime over the paint between trips. Running Hillsboro Inlet knocks soft growth off the hull but not the props and shafts, which bottom paint can't protect; the diver cleans those with Ultra-Cavitation, safe on Propspeed, and checks each zinc.

Lake Santa Barbara is different: the Pompano Canal discharges inland drainage into it before it reaches the Intracoastal, and nutrient-rich water is what moves a dock from the 30-day schedule to every two weeks. Sands Harbor's 50 slips sit in fully salt tidal water, where running gear fouls fastest.

Pompano's roughly three miles of beachfront run from Terra Mar Drive north to Hillsboro Inlet, where the A1A bascule bridge crosses between Pompano Beach and Hillsboro Beach, and the Alsdorf Park ramp on the NE 14th Street Causeway is the public way onto the Intracoastal. The Cypress Creek Canal runs south, southeast to the city's southern limits and then northeast to join the Pompano Canal, so drainage from a wide area ends up in Lake Santa Barbara and the Intracoastal. Lake Santa Barbara's seasonal slow zone runs from mid-November through March on weekends and holidays, and the Hillsboro Inlet District's dredging keeps the inlet itself passable.

Harbor Village and Pompano Isles boats run Hillsboro Inlet on weekends, and the inlet's habit of standing up on an outgoing tide against an east wind keeps some of them home more than planned, which is more time at the dock and more growth. Lake Santa Barbara boats grow fastest of all in the city, and their owners are the ones we most often move to the two-week schedule.

Pompano Beach boats we clean sit on the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Santa Barbara, and in the Pompano Canal and the Cypress Creek Canal. Sands Harbor Resort & Marina: a regular stop. Private docks in Harbor Village, Pompano Isles and Santa Barbara Shores (ZIP codes 33060, 33062 and 33064) 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