Drive-In Boat Wash

Departing Rebecca Spit, we headed south along the southern end of Quadra Island and discovered a large field of yellow buoys marking a scallop farm, approximately a mile long.  

Field of yellow buoys marking Scallop Farm

Boaters should move well off shore to avoid this extensive field of buoys which are not shown on some charts.  

Cape Mudge, Discovery Passage

Reaching the southern tip of Quadra Island, we rounded Cape Mudge and headed north along Discovery Passage to Campbell River on the Vancouver Island side.  We spent several days gathering updates for the marinas in town and at marinas on the Quadra Island side of the Passage.  Marinas were busy with lots of boating activity and tour operators for bear and whale watching expeditions were equally busy.   Water taxi and tour operators are found at both Discovery Harbour Marina and Coast Marina.  

Dockside Fish & Chips at Coast Marina

Lots of changes are taking place at Coast Marina.  The popular Dockside Fish & Chips is now fully licensed and also serves quality Benino Gelato.  Located next door is the new CR Oceanfront Gallery.  For 2017, the old barge that used to be on C-dock has been removed and a new finger pier is being added.  C-dock will also be extended with 120 feet of linear moorage to accommodate larger vessels for the 2018 season.  Perhaps the most interesting addition is the unique ‘Hydro Clean Hull Wash’ system.  

Hydro Clean Hull Wash station

This dockside hull wash station is located on the northwest end of the marina near the entrance.  To have the bottom if your hull cleaned, you simply motor between the beams into the basin, a gate is hoisted up behind the boat.  The boat is stabilized with lines and then the cleaning begins.  

Brushes on the Hydro Clean Station follow the hull shape

Rotating brushes move along the hull following the natural shape of the hull to the stern and then back again until they reach the original starting point.  It takes about 20 minutes for a 30-foot boat.  The system is self-contained, catching particles in a catch basin so as not to contaminate the environment.  Note:  boaters with ablative bottom paint should not use the Hydro Hull Wash system.  The idea behind the hydro cleaning method is to eliminate the need to paint the bottom of your boat by using this wash system on a regular basis.  Perhaps we will see more of these drive-in boat wash stations as more and more constraints are put on bottom paint and the painting process.