Protect Customers Against Cooling System and A/C Failures
Photo courtesy ElectroSea
ElectroSea — Barnacles don’t just live on a boat’s hull, they make their way into the raw-water system where they clog pipes and wreak havoc on air conditioners, refrigeration and other equipment that depend on this water for cooling.
AN AGE-OLD PROBLEM
“CLEARLINE by ElectroSea sovles an age-old problem for boaters,” said Daniel L. Cosentino, ElectroSea CEO and President. Typically, owners and captains frequently have to remove barnacles and marine growth from the boat’s raw-water circuit to ensure that air-conditioners, chillers and hydraulics are running efficiently.
These systems require continuous seawater flow, and if marine growth clogs the pipes that feed this equipment, they will shut down. Blockages caused by barnacles and mussels can result in air conditioner overheating, high-pressure alarms, and system failure at the worst possible time.
This is something that is often overlooked, until it’s too late. Who do you think your customer will call when the air conditioner “breaks” on their boat? That’s right…it’s probably you…the broker.
THE DOWNSIDE TO DESCALING AND OTHER TREATMENT METHODS
“Before CLEARLINE, treatment methods for marine growth in raw-water pipes were reactionary instead of preventive,” said Cosentino. Without CLEARLINE, once crew receives a high-pressure alert or system failure, they’ll need to descale the boat’s raw-water plumbing by flushing the conduits, usually with an acid. Just like your health…it’s best to take preventative action instead of being reactive.
Another disadvantage to reactive descaling is that it allows marine growth to manifest in the plumbing. Without disassembling manifolds and fittings, there is no way to tell how much growth has accumulated in the pipes. So, most of the time crew won’t descale until they’ve received a high-pressure alert or experience a system failure. Even then, when the systems are disassembled and the marine growth breaks apart, it has to go somewhere…and you can only hope it makes its way to a bucket or tank and does not get stuck somewhere in the cooling system causing an even worse problem.
DOCK TALK
Old salts and early adopters report positive results using this new technology.
66′ VIKING YACHTS, SEA WOLF – Capt. Harry Schaffer
“Like clockwork, I would clean my A/C strainer every Tuesday for years until we installed the ElectroSea CLEARLINE system,” says Captain Harry Schaffer. “Based in Jupiter, FL the water around our dock can get really warm, especially in summer, and the barnacles, sludge and sea critters would thrive in our A/C system. After installing the [CLEARLINE] System, I only check on my A/C Strainer about every five weeks. When I do check it, I hardly clean anything, no barnacles or gunk. I’ve had the system installed for six months now and can honestly say this will change how the industry thinks about descaling saltwater systems. I haven’t had to call for air-conditioning service since we installed it [CLEARLINE]. In my opinion, this is one of the best improvements to boating in recent years.”
90′ JARRETT BAY, JARUCO – Capt. James Brown
“Although I was skeptical at first, I have been thoroughly impressed with the performance of the ElectroSea [CLEARLINE] system. Our systems are now constantly running at maximum efficiency and require far less maintenance.”
50′ MARITIMO – Owner
“I have 6 air conditioners on my Maritimo M50 and what seems like miles of tubing. Descaling was required much too often, to say nothing of the ongoing costs. Had CLEARLINE installed several months ago and have not experience any growth issues since. Thank you ElectroSea!”
HOW CLEARLINE WORKS
The engineers at ElectroSea harnessed the proven power of chlorine (sodium hypochlorite). It is a well-tested, safe technology with a long history of worldwide industrial application as a disinfectant in drinking water, cooling towers, and desalination plants.
CLEARLINE uses the sodium from saltwater and electricity to produce a consistent, precise amount of chlorine based on a vessel’s flow rate. This chlorine circulates through raw-water plumbing making it an uninhabitable environment for marine growth. The continuous, low-level of chlorine is a proven anti-fouling treatment that controls the growth of a range of marine organisms including barnacles and biofilms.
The patent pending CLEARLINE system includes two key components: the CLEARLINE Control Unit, which is the brain, and ClearCell electrochlorinator, which is the heart of the system.
The CLEARLINE Control Unit works in concert with the ClearCell to deliver a precise, low-level of chlorine. The System provides real-time monitoring, dynamic chlorine adjustment based on seawater and cell conditions, and automatic pump switching if necessary. The Control Unit is intuitive and easy to use with a full LED display, status indicator lights, and audible alarm.
The ClearCell is a specialized seawater electrochlorinator made from a unique formula of rare earth metal oxides for long life. The ClearCell is installed directly in the seawater intake circuit. Chlorinated water flows through the air conditioner, refrigeration, and other systems; and a secondary line runs back through the strainers. CLEARLINE’s low level of chlorine is compatible with titanium, copper nickel and other marine alloys. Further, this anti-fouling agent produces no heavy metal pollution (i.e. copper or
lead). The ClearCell is easy to maintain, long-lasting and designed for the marine environment.
CUSTOMIZED TO EACH VESSEL
The CLEARLINE system is customized to each vessel’s seawater intake demand and is recommended for vessels ranging 25 ft. – 200 ft.
CLEARLINE can be installed on new builds or retrofitted into existing vessels. Retrofitting a boat with the CLEARLINE System is a simple process that involves an ElectroSea field technician or certified dealer inspecting the boat’s raw-water system to determine the best location to plumb in the ClearCell and mount the Control Unit.
“Every boat is a little different,” said Cabe Regnerus, ElectroSea Senior Field Technician. “The first thing we’ll do is determine the optimal location for the ClearCell. We want to maintain the original flow characteristics of the vessel and have ClearCell as close to the raw-water pump as possible.”
After plumbing the ClearCell into the raw-water system, the technician will mount the Control Unit and wire it to 12 or 24 volt DC power.
ElectroSea offers five CLEARLINE models based on seawater pump flow rate. The CLEARLINE CL-410 fits 1/4 to 1/2-inch pipe and up to 7 gpm (gallons per minute) and runs on 12 or 24 volts. The CLEARLINE CL-430 fits 5/8 to 1-inch pipe, up to 26 gpm and runs on 12 or 24 volts. The CLEARLINE CL-990 fits 1¼ to 1½-inch pipe and up to 50 gpm. The CLEARLINE CL-1000 also fits 1¼ to 1½-inch pipe and up to 50 gpm and includes dual pump control and an inhibit feature that forces CLEARLINE into standby when running a reverse-osmosis water maker or live well. The CL-990 and 1000 models run on 24 volts. The CLEARLINE CL-2000 fits 2” pipe, and up to 75 gpm for larger vessels. The entire installation of the CLEARLINE System takes about a day and can be done with the boat in the water or out.
GLOBAL SUPPORT NETWORK
ElectroSea continues to expand its CLEARLINE OEM and refit dealer network and has been installed on over 35 boat brands globally.
“We are proud to be working with esteemed OEM brands and have been included in new builds with Catman Cats, F&S Yachts, Garlington, Hargrave Custom Yachts, Jarrett Bay, Jim Smith Sportfish, Marlow Yachts, Paul Mann Custom Boats, Princess Yachts Americas, Ricky Scarborough, Riviera Yachts, Viking Yachts, and Winter Custom Yachts” said Cosentino.
ElectroSea’s CLEARLINE System has also been refit on vessels from additional premier boat brands including: Custom Carolina, Dean Johnson, Hatteras, Horizon, Maritimo, Merritt, Navigator, Ocean Alexander, Riva, Sea Ray, Spencer, Symbol, Weaver, and Westport.
“With the new CLEARLINE System, the days of descaling raw-water conduits are over forever. Pumps will run at peak flow rates and the crew will incur less downtime caused by high pressure, and low flow alarms due to clogged pipes,” said Regnerus.
PROTECT YOUR CUSTOMER
CLEARLINE is backed by a global dealer network of refit dealers and OEM partners. To find a refit dealer for your customer or inquire about new build installation, contact ElectroSea at info@electrosea.com or (888) 384-8881.
Learn more at www.electrosea.com.
Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.
Sportfish Wish List
By Steve Katz
We do good things for ourselves so why not extend the courtesy of a wish list to your nice sportfish boat? After all, this is the same boat that gets you out and back to the fishing grounds and provides comfort while fishing. It also looks great at the dock!
Here are a few great items to consider…
Foulfree: No More Transducer Face Slime
Designed by the industry-leading engineers at Propspeed, Foulfree reduces marine growth on the faces of transducers. Designated by AIRMAR as a certified transducer coating, Foulfree reduces the maintenance needed to keep transducers clean. Not only does the product improve transducer performance, but it improves water flow beneath the hull.
Just why is transducer face fouling such a nasty problem? Fouling can reduce a transducer’s sensitivity and create bottom-echo returns and positive fish targets. Transducers perform best with minimal turbulence over their surface during operation. Foulfree is a specialized foul-release coating that is biocide-free and does not poison marine growth.
Foulfree…it’s like your wife’s fancy facewash, only for your transducers!
Once cured, Foulfree forms a super-slippery surface over the transducer, preventing marine growth from attaching to its surface. The coating boasts a long service life—a minimum of 12 months, even longer life span in cooler climates. Prior to Foulfree, the only solution to keep marine growth from fouling a transducer face was regular cleaning and or the application of a water-based bottom paint. Neither of these solutions were great, but we learned to live with them. If the track record of the popular Propspeed product is any indication, this new Foulfree product, available in spring 2020, should eliminate the need of constant maintenance of transducer faces.
“Foulfree is an exciting new coating specifically made to enhance the performance of transducers,” said Chris Baird, CEO, Propspeed. “Bringing together our revolutionary product design and working with the experts in transducer functionality from AIRMAR, we are able to offer boaters around the world a new solution to an age-old problem and improve sonar performance for anglers and cruisers alike.”
The mapping capabilities of chartplotters have come a long way in the past couple of years.
Detailed Bathymetry Charts: Making the Modern Chartplotter That Much Better
With the amount of satellite mapping technology available these days, there is a new push to integrate the most high-tech imagery into modern chart plotters. There is indeed a gold rush going in in the race to repurpose highly detailed bathymetric sources into data that is useful in the world of plotting course. Why wouldn’t there be?
CMOR is one of the first companies to have aggerated this data into a user-friendly product for multi-function displays. Simrad was the first brand to incorporate the CMOR charts, but they now work well with many brands of chartplotters. Not to be outdone, other chartplotter manufacturers and cartography companies have been feverishly working to provide similar bathometric data within their cartography offerings.
Much of the coastal bathymetry data is acquired using aerial LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). LIDAR bathymetry systems use pulsed blue-green lasers in aircraft to measure ranges to the sea floor below the water’s surface. The range measurements are combined with position and orientation data to obtain accurate, 3D spatial coordinates of points on Earth’s surface.
Most marine charts that incorporate LIDAR data information display the seafloor in “shaded relief” views, often with different colors for varying depths. This makes it easy for the captain to “see” the edges, drop-offs, walls and other distinctive features of the seabed below the boat. This helps to provide the 3D look to these modern charts.
One of these modern chart plotters, equipped with the latest and most detailed bathymetric data, would make any boat that much better. Why not put one on your sportfish wish list?
Keeping your lines clean is important, ElectroSea’s ClearLine makes it easy.
CLEARLINE™ System: An Ingenious Solution to an Age-Old Problem
How often do you need to clean the seawater cooling systems on your boat? Seawater is the most popular way to cool refrigeration systems, air condition systems, stabilizing systems and other on-board heat generating equipment. Even the newest cooling systems (that cool with a fresh water loop) have a seawater heat exchanger that needs to be cleaned.
Microorganisms living in saltwater can attach themselves to the seawater plumbing systems. Such growth can create a buildup of marine growth and eventually restrict or even stop the flow of water in your system. While the degree and rate of growth are very dependent on where you keep and how you use your boat, this is an issue faced by nearly all sporfish boats—no matter how meticulously cared for.
Over the years, many ideas and techniques have been tried to reduce or eliminate the growth. The most efficient way to keep the systems operating at their most efficient was to schedule regular cleaning. Not only are such cleanings time consuming and expensive, but there is always a chance of damage when removing and reassembling manifolds, piping, valves, etc.
The CLEARLINE™ System by Electrosea is an “ingenious solution to the barnacle problem.” Their approach is “not to remove them—but to prevent them growing in your raw water lines in the first place.” The system incorporates a specialized sea strainer that uses a small amount of electricity, regulated by a computerized control unit with external sensors to monitor the seawater system.
This control system can even integrate with sophisticated boat systems such as the OctoPlex used on Viking Sportfish boats. The specialized strainer is an electrochlorinator, producing controlled amounts of chlorine from the seawater itself. Not only is this low level of chlorine compatible with copper nickel, titanium and other marine alloys. It also eliminates barnacles, biofilm, and marine scale from growing inside the seawater piping systems. The chlorine level is similar to that found in tap water. Customers starting with a descaled or new seawater system have reported little or no growth during regular scheduled maintenance.
New Class B+ AIS Systems: Better AIS for the Traveling Sportfisher
One of the best navigation and safety systems since the invention of maritime radar, AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a widely used maritime identification system. Initially, there was a powerful and expensive Class A AIS system for the largest regulated commercial vessels and a less powerful and less expensive Class B AIS for smaller, less regulated vessels.
It was these Class B AIS systems that were voluntary installations often found on sportfish boats. (Note – both of these systems are transceiver – they transmit and receive information. There are many receive-only systems that are very beneficial – but not discussed here.)
A new regulation a few years ago allowed for a new, third AIS system. This new system, fitting somewhere in-between the two current offerings, is sometimes referred to as Class B+ or Class B SOTDMA or Class B 5W. Why is this new offering important?
The Class B+ has over twice the transmit power and range of the original Class B (it’s 5 watts of power doubles the transmit range to 10-15 miles). Most important for sportfish vessels, the Class B+ uses the same technology of the Class A AIS for sending messages. It has the same top priority when it comes to reserving a transmission time slot in the AIS airwaves, guaranteeing that it will always be able to transmit, even in busy AIS congested waters. For fast moving boats this is important as a missed Class B transmission can result in a vessel moving a long distance before it next manages to send a transmission.
(Note – if you are wondering if your vessel is required by the USCG to have an AIS system, you can review the regulations here: www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISRequirementsRev.
Satellite TV: A New Path for International TV Watching
It seems that most tournament sportfish are equipped with the latest and greatest satellite communications systems. Satellite communication services such as TV, phone and internet are now commonplace. When traveling outside of the US coastal waters, satellite TV service can become complicated and expensive, not matter what type of antenna your vessel is equipped with. In the past, many sportfish boats have had two sets of satellite TV receivers, one DirecTV set for coastal USA and one set for Latin America DirecTV.
A few years ago, Latin America DirecTV changed its coverage area and decreased its English language programming to only a few channels. The result? Watching English language television in Latin America became more complicated and expensive than it had been in the past.
So why is satellite TV on this wish list? It is now much easier and less expensive to receive American TV service with a standard marine satellite TV antenna that you may already own. You can eliminate the expensive LNB change-out needed when traveling away from the coastal USA. The DISH network offers a month-to-month service for subscribers, making it easy to change service to DISH while out of the USA.
The DISH TV network has some great coverage in the Caribbean and Latin America using a single satellite, while not a duplicate of what’s available on the three DISH satellites in the USA, but a very good offering when away from home. DISH service has traditionally not been very popular with boaters in the USA due to the need to switch between three satellites while changing HDTV channels—as compared to specialized antenna systems from KVH and Intellian that can easily track the three DirecTV HDTV satellites at the same time.
Most marine satellite TV antennas can be easily re-programed to track a single DISH satellite covering the area where you are traveling. While you may need to slightly re-configure the coax cables to the receivers, anything you need to do now pales in comparison to the antics that were necessary in years past to switch to DirecTV Latin America. Before cutting the cord, check with your local marine electronics company to confirm compatibility.
Most 18” and larger satellite TV antennas can receive DISH throughout the Caribbean and Central America. Heading farther east towards the Dominican Republic will require a larger 24” antenna. After switching to DISH, many boaters decide to keep the service, since it has continuous coverage in the coastal USA and therefore does not require changing of service or equipment when traveling. (Recently a boat equipped with a basic KVH TV6 24” satellite antenna was able to travel from the Mid-Atlantic area, to Florida and Dominican Republic, watching DISH along the way, without changing antenna settings, receivers, etc.)
If you are traveling even farther from the USA, check the coverage maps with your antenna manufacturer. These maps will show you what service can be received with your size antenna in a given geographic area. You will likely need specific receivers for the TV providers for that region of the world.
For a single source worldwide solution, KVH has a service exclusively for TracPhone® V7HTS/V11HTS owners. It is the subscription based HTS Entertainment Bundle—which includes hundreds of hours of the most popular TV shows and classic movies. This bundle doesn’t require a satellite TV antenna—it receives entertainment sent by a data feed into a specialized receiver during the “off hours” without a data charge.
The LIDAR process illustrated graphically.
Where have LIDAR Charts Been?
LIDAR has been used for land surveying for years. Why has it taken so long for the bathymetric data end up on marine charts? It’s expensive compared to land LIDAR, the lasers are much more powerful, operate on different wavelengths and the water needs to be clear to get a good bottom reading. Aircraft have to wait for the right conditions, fly low and slow to get the laser beam to penetrate to the sea floor and extract meaningful data.
Bathometric LIDAR has a maximum depth of about 25 fathoms, for deeper water seafloor, data is gathered using Multibeam Bathymetry. Instead of just one transducer pointing down, multibeam bathymetry systems have arrays of transducers, sending out a fan shaped sonar energy to cover a large swath of bottom, usually covering a distance on either side of the ship that is equal to about two times the water depth.
Here in the USA, NOAA’s department of National Center for Environmental information (NCEI) is the national archive for multibeam bathymetric data and holds more than nine million nautical miles of ship track line data recorded from over 2400 cruises and received from sources worldwide. In addition to deep water data, the Multibeam Bathymetry Database (MBBDB) includes hydrographic multibeam survey data from NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS). Some of the information has been used in marine cartography for years, but more recently additional more detailed data has been included in marine charts used with popular sportfish marine electronics.
Satellite TV Antenna
If you are in need of a new satellite TV antenna, KVH recently introduced a new 24” antenna that can do it all—the TracVision® UHD7. This system can simultaneously receive broadcasts from three Ku- and Ka-band DIRECTV® satellites to deliver HD and UHD programming (4K), full DVR support, local channels, and uninterrupted reception, even in the roughest seas. Plus, it features built-in support for DISH Network and Bell so you can get the entertainment you want whenever you want.
Captain Steve Katz is the owner of Steve’s Marine Service Inc in Ocean City, Maryland. He is the Vice Chairman of Board of Directors—National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) and holds ABYC Master Technician certification, NMEA AMEI, NMEA2000 certificates along with factory training from many manufacturers.
To contact Steve, email info@inthebite.com and we’ll be happy help.
ElectroSea Expands OEM and Refit Dealer Network
ElectroSea’s ClearLine now installed on more than 25 unique boat brands
Minneapolis, MN.— ElectroSea is pleased to announce expansion of its OEM and refit dealer network to better serve sportfish and recreational boaters. ElectroSea’s ClearLine System continuously prevents barnacles and marine growth from clogging a boat’s seawater lines. ClearLine has been installed on more than 25 unique boat brands globally.
“We are proud that ClearLine has been rapidly adopted by leading OEM’s and installed in new builds of Catman Cats, F&S Yachts, Garlington, Hargrave Custom Yachts, Jarrett Bay, Jim Smith Sportfish, Marlow Yachts, Paul Mann Custom Boats, Princess Yachts America, Ricky Scarborough, Riviera Yachts, Viking Yachts, and Winter Custom Yachts” said Daniel L. Cosentino, President, ElectroSea.
ClearLine has also been refit on vessels ranging from 48 ft. to 112 ft. on premier boat brands such as Custom Carolina, Dean Johnson, Hatteras Yachts, Horizon Yachts, Maritimo, Merritt, Michael Rybovich & Sons Custom Boat Works, Navigator Yachts, Ocean Alexander, Overlook, Prestige, Riva Yachts, Sea Ray, Spencer Yachts, Symbol Yachts, Weaver Boatworks, and Westport.
Individuals interested in refitting ClearLine on their boat can choose from a global network of over 25 certified dealers closest to their port of call.*
ElectroSea launched ClearLine in 2019 after years of research and development. The system’s patent-pending technology prevents barnacles, biofilm, and unwanted marine growth from clogging the vessel’s seawater lines in air conditioners, chillers, refrigeration and hydraulics. Once ClearLine is installed, the boat’s raw-water lines will never need descaling again.
Tom Carroll, president and CEO of Princess Yachts America, installs ClearLine on all the inventory boats he orders, and recommends it as an option to all Princess Yachts America customers. “At $1,200 to $2,000 to acid-clean a system,” he explained, “the ClearLine pays for itself the first year in Florida, where growth often returns within 60 days after cleaning. You get barnacles, algae, you name it. If a given system isn’t acid-cleaned regularly, hoses can clog and burst, or air-conditioning condensers clog, which costs even more”.
ClearLine is available in four models for boats ranging in size from 30 ft. to 200 ft. and up. It’s latest model ClearLine CL-430, was released in February 2020, and is being installed in vessels 35 ft. to 60 ft.
ElectroSea will showcase the ClearLine System at the Palm Beach International Boat Show, March 26-29 – located at Booth 555, Clematis Tent.
* A complete list of ElectroSea Dealers can be found at www.electrosea.com.
