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Posted by member Colin on Thursday 24 July 2025

Hi David,
Our Hardy MS18PH is anti fouled as this is essential on the sea as barnacles and other marine life will quickly attach and over time will impede the hulls progress through the water creating drag.

Previously, we had a sailing yacht and before that, a motor cruiser, both were used on a large body of water formerly a reservoir at Kielder Water, neither of these boats were anti fouled, KW being a fresh water lake.
In the 12 years or so we had a boat there, it was not a problem and the only build up of an Algae like substance was at the water line which looked more unsightly than anything else. Every now and again, I would take to our Avon inflatable with a long handled brush and just gently scrubbed away the build up and the boat was clean again. I found this was better than trying to do it from the jetty or the deckside of the boat.

We have never had a boat on the lakes, however, our Hardy boat came from there and had been moored there for many years. The previous owner told us he practically had to grind off the accumulated growth from the hull and even the topsides/superstructure. We have taken many boat trips on Windermere and have witnessed the state that some boats are left in if left uncleaned regularly, so I guess it’s not the same there. This is likely to the fact that raw sewage has been pumped into the lake over many years as I understand it, something that locals and others have been petitioning against for years, so it’s a guess that this produces a rich bacterial soup the Algae and other life forms thrive on!

I have heard that some inland waterways can have brackish water, a mixture of salt and fresh water and this can lead to fouling of the hull surface, additionally, some fresh water rivers can suffer a long green weedy fouling which can build up over a period of time and not only slow down your craft but look very unsightly too.
You need to ask around where you intend to use your boat and ask what specific problems are encountered and what remedial treatment is favoured there.
This is not a problem of course if you ‘slip and retrieve’ your boat as you will clean the hull after each recovery!
Hope this helps!
COL & Angie.

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