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SPECIAL MAINTENANCE SECTION
Would you believe that you
can clean your hull
Green effectively and safely
with baking soda?
Machine By Elizabeth Ginns Britten
or some of you, thinking of Texas might conjure images
F
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of oil wells and refineries, a place laden with environ-
mental no-no’s. But that’s unfair, since the Lone Star State bined. Even so, when I first learned about a green-thumb,
has more nature tourism acres than the Great Smokey Mountain Houston-based company called MMLJ that’s created a machine
National Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park com- that uses clean, non-polluting baking soda to remove bottom
April 2004 Power & Motoryacht xx
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fill this space. The Style for.A
caption will come in this space,
approximately 30 of the company’s
machines, recognized sodablasting
as a nondestructive way to remove
graffiti from buildings.
MMLJ uses a granulated baking
soda formula (yes, the same kind
used around your house and in
your food) to remove antifouling
paint. The process involves putting
the soda (a.k.a. sodium bicar-
bonate), a clean, pure substance
that’s FDA- and USDA-approved,
into a container called a Soda
Blaster where it’s pressurized and
then shot at the hull under high pressure.
The result is a nontoxic, eco-friendly way to clean
your boat’s hull bottom that won’t damage fiberglass
and represents a marked departure from conven-
tional methods like chemical strippers and sanding.
“So let me get this straight,” I said, dumbfounded,
after I listened to Benny LeCompte, vice president of
operations and general manager of MMLJ. “You’re
telling me I can clean and remove paint from my
boat’s hull with the same stuff I clean my teeth with?
The same stuff I keep in the ‘fridge?”
“I know,” he replied, “it almost sounds too good to
be true, but it’s not.”
Until recently, sodium bicarbonate was used
rarely—if at all—to remove antifouling paint.
LeCompte says that for many years MMLJ was so
focused on sodablasting in other industries that the
paint, I was caught off guard. When I learned this technique is marine businesses weren’t “there for them.” And, funny
also supposedly more cost-effective in the long run and less enough, Bill Connelly of StripCo, a Dallas-based company that
time-consuming than traditional stripping methods and eases uses the process and distributes Soda Blasters, adds, “blasting
waste-disposal problems, I had to know more. boat bottoms may be soda blast’s best and highest use. The
In fact, baking soda has long been recognized for its excep- next-best alternative [of chemical strippers and sanding] is so
tional cleaning abilities beyond household applications. Baking inferior in comparison, it doesn’t even come close.”
soda was used to restore the Statue of Liberty in the 1980’s, Ben Hershburger, an independent contractor who for three
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MMLJ
chosen for its ability to clean without destroying the integrity of years has been using the process on boats up to approximately
the statue’s surface. In the early 1990s, when Ford recalled a 90 feet LOA in South Florida, agrees. Hershburger says using
number of F-150 pick-ups, citing “premature failure of paint chemicals to strip paint is costly and time-consuming because,
coatings,” MMLJ offered sodablasting as a time- and labor- once the paint is removed, the chemicals and remnants must be
saving alternative to the established hand-sanding and chem- taken to an approved chemical dumping site and sealed into
ical-stripping methods. Later the city of Chicago, which owns drums. Prior to sodablasting, he relied heavily on pressure
xx Power & Motoryacht April 2004
washing and grinding, which resulted in a lot more difficulties, sand blasting) are “destructive [to gelcoat] by their nature.” He
most notably finding a skilled grinder who could remove the says he’ll occasionally sodablast a hull and reveal a “swirling” or
paint without leaving holes in the gelcoat. He says that although “blistering” from a previous job, indicating a damaged gelcoat
sodablasting “might be a little noisier,” it is faster. (LeCompte in need of patching or replacement, which can be costly. That’s
says using a soda blaster to remove paint from the boat’s hull why the cost of grinding vs. sodablasting cannot be compared.
takes about 1⁄10 the amount of time traditional methods do but “A lot of boat owners tend to go for what’s cheapest up front,
cautions that paint residue must still be disposed of in accor- but there’s always that ten percent of people in the know, who
dance with local codes.) Hershburger adds that baking soda is are looking for an alternative,” he says. “We want to reach
easier to work with, since there are no harmful chemicals to them.”
breathe in or protect your skin from. Although the cost of a soda blast job varies according to a
Connelly claims he has removed the bottom paint from a 35- boat’s length and beam, LeCompte reports that clients can
foot sportfisherman with a 12-foot beam in just 45 minutes. He expect to pay approximately “$20 per foot for a 22-foot boat,
also told me about a friend who uses the method and once had $30 per foot for a 35-footer, topping out at around $40 or $50
to hire a team of laborers to do the work he now does himself in per foot for larger boats.”
a fraction of the time. “With all his extra time, he’s building a So if you’d like to save yourself some hassle, get your boat
tug boat. I’d say he’s very appreciative,” Connelly adds. back in the water quicker, and do your part to protect the envi-
It is because of stories like these that MMLJ has teamed up ronment, check with your local marina to see if there are any
with Home Port Marine Marketing to develop and execute a soda blasters in your area. Or call MMLJ directly, and the
public relations program for the sodablast system. LeCompte company can refer you to a local contractor.
says MMLJ wants to make people aware that such an option MMLJ (800) 727-5707. www.mmlj.com.
exists in a market where conventional methods (grinding and
TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION: PAUL MIRTO
Month 2004 Power & Motoryacht xx
