Antifouling trim tabs... or not

[SimonD]

Just had the boat sandblasted and now seeing the stainless steel trim tabs for the first time. They were previously covered in a thick layer of 'normal' antifouling. As they look so nice and shiny, I was thinking of leaving them as they are. rather than antifouling. Don't know if it makes a difference, but the boat is normally kept in the brackish water of Weymouth harbour. Worth a try or a bad idea?

 

[Seastoke]

Colel is from Whale Mouth , he will be along soon.

 

[trialframe]

If you don't antifoul them they will get fouled fairly quickly & potentially cause drag. The difficulty is getting anything to stick to shiny stainless. Hammerite Special metals primer is sometimes recommended or Hempel light primer.

 

[Momac]

I leave them unpainted . But fouling is not a major issue here .

 

[oldgit]

If the hull of your boat fouls ...so will the tabs.

A bottle of nicely chilled "white" would certainly help this lot go down.

 

[ss2016]

If I antifoul S/S trim tabs do I have to leave a bare border around the anode so it is not in contact with copper based antifouling? This would be similar to the break / border around the stern drive on the hull.

 

[Tranona]

No need around the anode. It just has to have electrical contact with the tab. The border round the drive is to isolate the aluminium from the copper in the AF. You can use a non copper AF such as Trilux in that area

 

[ss2016]

Clearly the non copper route is an option but I was asking about copper based. Anyone?

 

[jon and michie]

Originally My Trim Tabs were caked in A/F when I first got my boat then I sanded it back to bare stainless then used primacon as a primer (anode removed and the Hold down thread masked up) then used the same antifoul as the Hull.