antifouling

[nac]

i have just read an article in pbo about antifouling props. it seems as if the thinking has changed on this. years ago we were told not to let even a splash of anti fouling touch the prop or it would eat the metal. any thoughts on this.
nac

 

[chippie]

I think the fears of antifouling eating props were directed towards aluminium propellors on outboards and sterndrives which would be sensitive to the copper content.

 

[castaway]

The matter of prop antifouling is one that bothers me every year. For the last 10 years or so I have a/fouled the prop with 3 coats of hard stuff and this has worked well, however this was on a boat which I used the engine on average maybe50-70 hrs per season at quite low revs, so the paint has not had an opportunity to wear off.

This year with a motor sailer I expect to be using the engine far more, and am wondering how well the a/fouling will stand up to it.

My only experience of leaving the prop untreated but polished, was that by the end of the summer I was getting almost no drive at all, and when the boat was lifted the prop was almost unrecognisable. This was with quite an old prop so maybe dispite polishing it , it still had enough roughness on the surface to let the fouling get a toe hold. (Solent area)....Nick

 

[Chris_Stannard]

There was a lot of discussion on this in an earlier thread. advice then seemed to be that lanolin or black leading offered the best antifouling on props. Having been unable to get lanolin (Boots failed) I used black lead but as I have only just gone back in I cannot tell you if it is effective.

Chris Stannard

 

[TimLamb]

Bugger !
I've just spent about 4 hours polishing the prop having read somewhere that a shiny prop will resist fouling - sadly parts of the surface are rough so looks like it might not work.

TL

 

[Gaffer]

I have asked arround at several boatyards and the trend would appear to be that as a general rule, on sailing boats you do, and on power boats you don't.

 

[quaelgeist2]

Maybe a bit expensive, but when antifouling the hull, the prop always gets 2-3 layers of pro-o-drive sprayed on. Then I forget it until a year later and it has never had any fouling.

(Yes, I have an aluminium prop and do not want to take any risk, but just forget it)

chris