What if I don't clean the hull?

My dog never wipes her butt and is still perfectly clean; proof that all butts aren't equal.

The relevant question is: does it make sense to thoroughly clean the bottom of a planing craft or are we doing that mainly for cosmetics ?

 

I bought a planing boat once that had been anti-fouled, and it was a pretty rough job. I did not want to moor the boat, so after a while decided to remove the scabby paint job, back to nice slick gel coat, thinking I'd pick up some speed. I shouldn't have bothered, it made zero difference, I could not squeeze an extra knot out of it.

 

Though I'll bet she licks it, which is equally, possibly more effective than wiping. Maybe this could be thought of as an ablative butt?

 

They do that to get the taste of dog food out of their mouths, per Dave Lister.

 

et voilà, Listerine

 

Heheh ... I will never look at Listerine the same again!

(Nicely played, sir.)

 

As a matter of fact she doesn't; even your suggestion offends her.
Dogs and many other mammals have a pair of small glands that lubricate the process.

There is a lot of scientific research based on learning from nature. Maybe one day we'll see boat hulls with glands that keep them clean. Until then we have only paint, ultrasonics and galvanic efforts that never meet our expectations.

 

I often wondered what gland packings were for.

Poida