BPS Marine BPS-4 4-Transducer Ultrasonic Antifouling System 12V

Marine growth is relentless. Slime first, then weed, then barnacles, and before long you're losing speed and burning extra fuel just to push a dirty bottom through the water. The BPS-4 fights that at the source. It's a four transducer ultrasonic system that sends a multi-frequency sound sweep through your hull, and that constant vibration makes it hard for microorganisms to settle and take hold. Stop the slime layer from forming and you knock out the foundation that the barnacles and weed need to grab onto.

What sets a system like this apart is the range it works across. The BPS-4 runs a multi-frequency sweep from 20 kHz up to 42 kHz instead of sitting on one note. Different organisms react to different frequencies, so sweeping the whole band covers more of what's trying to move in. Each transducer puts out up to 60 watts, and the control module cycles them through the sweep automatically once it's powered up. There's nothing to program day to day. You power it and it works.

One BPS-4 covers a hull up to 50 feet, and you're not limited to just the hull. The four transducers can be spread out to protect drives, rudders, and stabilizers too, so the running gear that's a pain to scrub gets the same treatment as the bottom. Got a bigger boat? You can add more than one system and combine them for full coverage. It's a good fit for solid fiberglass monohulls, which is what most of our cruising and sportfishing customers are running.

The whole thing runs off 12V DC and sips power, right around 1 amp on average with all four transducers working. That's light enough to leave running around the clock at the dock, and that's exactly how ultrasonic antifouling earns its keep. It works while you sleep. If you're on a sailboat or a boat that sits on the hook without shore power, plan for the draw. A small solar panel or a battery monitor keeps you from waking up to a flat bank. And wire it to a dedicated fuse off a clean 12V supply. Voltage drop is the enemy here, so don't tap it off a crowded accessory bus.

Install is straightforward for a handy owner. The transducers bond to the inside of the hull with the included epoxy kit, so nothing gets drilled through and nothing sits in the water to foul or corrode on the outside. The trick is prep. The mounting spots have to be clean, dry, solid fiberglass, and the epoxy bond needs to be void-free. Any air gap under a transducer makes a weak spot where the sound doesn't transmit well. Spread the four transducers around the boat, think bow, midships, and stern quadrants, and keep them clear of stringers, tanks, and thick structural areas that soak up the vibration. Each transducer comes with 15 feet of cable, and you get two extra 15 foot extension cables in the box for the longer runs.

Here's the straight talk. Ultrasonic antifouling is a slime and weed fighter, and it's very good at that job. It isn't a magic force field. On high-fouling water and on hard-to-reach spots like the trailing edge of a rudder, you'll still want a coat of ablative bottom paint backing it up. Think of the BPS-4 as the thing that keeps your bottom cleaner for longer between haul-outs and cuts down the scrubbing, not as a total replacement for paint on every boat. The owners who run it that way, ultrasonic plus a good ablative, are the happiest with it.

You get the BPS-4 control module with an integrated power cable, four submersible transducers with 15 feet of cable each, two additional 15 foot extension cables, the epoxy mounting kit, and a printed installation and operation manual. It's a complete kit out of the box. If you've been tired of hauling out early or diving on your own hull to knock off growth, this is a set-it-and-forget-it way to stay ahead of it. And if you're not sure how many transducers your boat really needs or where to place them, give us a call. We've helped plenty of owners spec these out.