BPS Marine Pro Series 16-Transducer 24V Ultrasonic Antifouling System

BPS Marine's Pro Series is ultrasonic antifouling built for boats that spend real time in the water. The 16-transducer, 24V version is the big one in the lineup, sized for larger hulls and vessels running a 24V house system. It works around the clock, quietly keeping biofouling from ever getting a grip on your running surfaces. No moving parts in the water, no chemicals leaching out, just sound doing the job.

Here's the basic idea. Each transducer bonds to the inside of your hull and sends ultrasonic waves out through the fiberglass into the water. That energy creates a thin, constantly moving layer of high pressure right at the surface. The microorganisms that start every fouling problem, the slime and weed and barnacle larvae, simply can't settle on a surface that's vibrating like that. And if you stop that first film of slime, you stop everything that would otherwise build on top of it. That's the whole trick. No paint carrying all the load, no diver scrubbing your bottom every few weeks.

With 16 transducers you've got the coverage to protect a lot more than the main hull. Owners run these across sea chests, strainers, keel coolers, and box coolers, the spots that are a real pain to clean by hand and genuinely expensive when they clog up. If you run a larger yacht or a power cat in the 45 to 60 foot range, this is the system sized for you. Smaller monohulls usually don't need this many transducers. So if you're under 40 feet, give us a call. We'll point you at the right transducer count instead of selling you coverage you'll never use.

The payoff shows up in a few places. A clean hull means less drag, and less drag means you burn less fuel and hold your cruising speed instead of pushing a beard of weed around. You'll stretch the time between haul-outs. And when you do haul, there's far less growth to blast off, which makes the yard bill smaller too. Over a season, that adds up to real money and a lot less hassle.

On power, this is a 24V system, so it's meant for a boat already running a 24V house bank. The current draw is modest for something that never shuts off, but continuous is the key word here. It's on the entire time your boat sits, which is exactly when fouling wants to start. If you live on a mooring off solar, size your battery bank with that steady draw in mind. Owners with small solar setups have learned it likes a healthy bank behind it to stay happy over a long swing at anchor.

Now the honest part. This isn't a peel-and-stick job. The transducers need clean, sanded gelcoat and a proper bed of thickened epoxy with no air pockets underneath, because a void kills the acoustic contact and takes out the transducer sitting over it. Cable runs through the stringers and bilge want split loom and a tie every six inches or so to keep chafe from wearing through them. Most owners have this professionally installed, and we'd back that call. Get the bonding right the first time and the system just works. Rush the cure and you'll be chasing dead transducers later.

A couple of realistic expectations before you buy. This works on fiberglass hulls, because that's the material the ultrasound is designed to pass through. Aluminum hulls damp the vibration and won't see the same result, so it's not the right pick there. And think of it as a strong deterrent, not a force field. Plenty of owners still run a copper-free ablative bottom paint alongside it and still haul every 18 to 24 months to service props, shafts, and rudders, which the transducers don't reach. Used that way, as one solid layer in a complete antifouling plan, the Pro Series 16 earns its keep.

One more thing we like about ultrasonic. Once it's installed and wired, there's nothing to babysit. No annual respray of the whole system, no consumables, no dedicated anodes to swap. You power it up, glance at the indicator now and then, and it does its thing every hour of every day. For a boat that's your home or your livelihood, that kind of set-and-forget protection is worth a lot.