Bronze prop - Paint or Polish?

[ash2020]

I'm sure this is probably a tired old subject but opinions please on whether to carry on polishing a prop or prime with Hammerite metal primer and paint with antifoul of some sort. It's been polished for the last 3 or 4 seasons and was reasonably clean in Scottish waters but now I'm down in Poole for the first season, where it's probably a bit warmer. She's a Varne 27 sailing boat with 14hp Beta engine.

 

[Tranona]

Velox is the best - but expensive. Problem is always adhesion of the paint to the metal as it erodes and breaks away when the prop is spinning. give it a try, nothing to lose. Velox on bronze blades of a Flexofold.

 

[AllanG]

I just polished mine…..this was in the Hamble.

 

[ash2020]

My point exactly. So far 50/50, polish or paint!

 

[ash2020]

Velox is the best - but expensive. Problem is always adhesion of the paint to the metal as it erodes and breaks away when the prop is spinning. give it a try, nothing to lose. Velox on bronze blades of a Flexofold.

"Velox Plus is no longer available for sale in the UK due to COPR registration issues."

 

[MikeBz]

When I tried Velox on the East Coast the barnacles just loved it. Others have found it successful however.

 

[Tranona]

A relatively simple treatment is to use one of the spray on paints used on aluminium which is what I used before switching to Velox. However if you don't need it for anything else (like a saildrive housing) this is also expensive. However on a simple foxed blade prop, your proposal for priming and ordinary antifouls is cheap and will be better than nothing or polishing. Not very happy memories of heavy fouling of my polished prop when I used to moor in Parkstone Bay. Less so when on a mooring off Salterns, but still lots of barnacles most years.

 

[Tranona]

Was banned from the EU for a while but now available boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Velox-Plus-Antifouling.html

 

[Daydream believer]

With polishing , cleaning only takes a short while with a decently strong brick cleaner. Once one applies paint, then it always has to be used, unless one spends ages getting it off..

 

[ash2020]

Was banned from the EU for a while but now available boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Velox-Plus-Antifouling.html

That's where I got the quote from about it being banned.

 

[ash2020]

With polishing , cleaning only takes a short while with a decently strong brick cleaner. Once one applies paint, then it always has to be used, unless one spends ages getting it off..

That's why I'm a bit worried. It did take me ages to get all the old paint off a few years ago and go through various stages of abrasive to get a very shiny polished finish.

 

[vyv_cox]

That's where I got the quote from about it being banned.

It was only banned because sales were too small to justify spending on the expensive registry and testing process. The active ingredient is used in the treatment of dermatitis!

 

[Daydream believer]

That's why I'm a bit worried. It did take me ages to get all the old paint off a few years ago and go through various stages of abrasive to get a very shiny polished finish.

When my boat is launched I do not use it straight away. So I smear it with a thick layer of grease. ( I have just done it this morning). Nothing is going to grow on that & once I start to use the boat it will wash off over a couple of weeks or so. Mid season I have to have the boat lifted for jet washing because I have Coppercoat & as most of us know it does not work very well. When I do, the prop is normally very clean. At the end of the season it has some areas of hard skin on it that is <0.5mm thick. However, there has never been any more than that over the last 15 years. I think that the grease must change structure over time, but it stops the growth. I expected it to wash off completely but perhaps not. . I do use the engine a lot, having clocked nearly 5000 hours in 18 years. So perhaps use is the clue.

 

[ash2020]

When my boat is launched I do not use it straight away. So I smear it with a thick layer of grease. ( I have just done it this morning). Nothing is going to grow on that & once I start to use the boat it will wash off over a couple of weeks or so. Mid season I have to have the boat lifted for jet washing because I have Coppercoat & as most of us know it does not work very well. When I do, the prop is normally very clean. At the end of the season it has some areas of hard skin on it that is <0.5mm thick. However, there has never been any more than that over the last 15 years. I think that the grease must change structure over time, but it stops the growth. I expected it to wash off completely but perhaps not. . I do use the engine a lot, having clocked nearly 5000 hours in 18 years. So perhaps use is the clue.

That's interesting, I would have thought grease would wash off very soon. Any particular grease, or just a gen. purpose marine grease? I do have some copper grease, the stuff used on brakes.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Tried allsorts and now settled on acid bath descale, hammerite special metals primer and 2 coats of trilux spray. After a year in the solent, no mid season clean very little trilux left but hammerite nearly intact, minimal fouling

 

[neil_s]

Good clean and a light rub over with abrasive paper works in Chichester harbour. It is made of a copper alloy after all!

 

[dunedin]

We are of the polish preference. Was persuaded to go with paint one year and fouled badly. Unpainted means uses the anode faster, but change regularly anyway.

 

[ash2020]

We are of the polish preference. Was persuaded to go with paint one year and fouled badly. Unpainted means uses the anode faster, but change regularly anyway.

Of course, I hadn't considered the anode.

 

[Pye_End]

Velox.

 

[billyfish]

Polish. And snorkel with brush, gets the blood pumping