The influence of location and coating on the development of an in-water grooming program to maintain ship hull coatings

Ship hull grooming, a form of proactive in-water cleaning, has been extensively researched in a warm, productive, subtropical Atlantic location using US Navy-approved commercial coatings. Less is known about how grooming performs on toughened fouling control coatings or the grooming frequencies required in locations with lower seawater temperatures and lower fouling intensities. The purpose of this study was to explore differences in proactive in-water cleaning schedules due to changes in location and coating types. This study compared the time-based frequency of in-water grooming of two commercial and two experimental fouling control coatings in Port Canaveral, Florida, and Monterey, California. The results demonstrated that a higher grooming frequency was required to maintain surfaces free of fouling at the warm-water Port Canaveral, FL site compared to the cooler-water site in Monterey, CA. They also showed that the type of fouling control coating will influence the grooming frequency.