Decent results of prop a/f - and a bit less so with Coppercoat

[MapisM]

A couple of days ago I lifted the boat.
She started the season in June, with a brand new CC application on the hull (my decision), and Trilux 33 applied on u/w gear (yard suggestion).
During the 1200Nm or so delivery trip, both the hull and props stayed pretty clean. Unsurprisingly, since the boat kept moving almost on a daily basis.
After that trip, she always looked in pretty decent shape, whenever I had an occasion to snorkel around the boat and have a look, till beginning of Oct.
Since then, she stayed sitting in her berth for about three months, till a few days ago, when I made about one hour at 20kts to reach the yard where she will now spend the winter.

Before starting this short transfer, I expected to notice at least a bit of speed decrease through the usual rpm range, but if there was any degradation, it was negligible. In fact, after lifting the boat, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the props were pretty clean - see pic below.
I suppose they weren't equally clean at the beginning of the trip (I didn't have the guts to jump in the water to check... ), but if one hour at cruising speed was enough to clean them, it's reasonable to be happy with the performance of this Trilux 33 thing anyway, I reckon.

Otoh, as you can see, some growth managed to stick to the CC.
Actually, it wasn't as bad as it looks - in fact, it only took a rather light powerwash passage to bring back the hull to the greenish CC surface, which doesn't look worn out at all, also wherever some barnacles did stick to it.
Besides, several folks suggested in the past that CC is somewhat less effective on the first year of application, and performs better afterwards, so I guess I can't complain... Time will tell of course, but in the meantime I thought to post the experience, for anyone interested.
And for those already familiar with CC, I'd be curious to hear if they would consider this result in line with their own experience - TIA!

 

[Portofino]

Props pretty impressive I must say .
I have never tried to do anything with mine on this boat .Previous boat nothing seemed to work ( no trilux ) on the SS prop set on outdrives.
It’s no hassle anyhow for me to scrub them , most boats just leave bare nibral or what ever .

So what’s next prop wise ? Is another layer of trilux just pasted on ? Year end on year ?

 

[jfm]

Good going on the props. I also had good success 2018 with paint on the props - velox in my case.

As you know and as I've said many times, I hate CC. I would never use it. Expensive ugly snake oil. Your pictures prove it. Micron 99 is far far better imho.

 

[MapisM]

So what’s next prop wise ? Is another layer of trilux just pasted on ? Year end on year ?

I didn't think about it yet. The boat will not go back in the water for a while, anyway.
IIRC, my local yard here used to apply Velox Plus on my old lady, which also worked well.
Otoh, life is bound to be much easier at 8kts for any prop a/f, I suppose...

 

[MapisM]

As you know and as I've said many times, I hate CC. I would never use it. Expensive ugly snake oil. Your pictures prove it. Micron 99 is far far better imho.

Yup, I'm aware of that, and I don't even try arguing with the ugliness point, of course!
I'm just not bothered at all about it, but each to their own.

Ref. effectiveness, also leaving aside the possible improvement after the first year, actually CC did its job nicely for most of the season.
As I said, from Jun to Oct, while the boat has been regularly used, the hull stayed much cleaner that in the previous pics.
It seems that the growth mostly developed during the last three months of no use.
And while I'm a bit puzzled by that (considering also the cooler water), I was also impressed by how easily the slime was removed by the powerwash.
And in spite of the fact that several barnacles managed to stick to the hull, once removed by the powerwash it was impossible to understand where they were attached - just to give an idea of how intact the epoxy surface remained, underneath (sorry, I didn't take any post-powerwash pics).
In other words, I'm rather confident that the hull is now already good to go for the next season - in fact, I could have put her back in the water right away if I wanted/needed to, which can be in itself a bonus for some people.

And if that will still be true for the next 5 or 6 years (let alone if it would last more), well, that's a snake oil I can live with.
Btw, even accepting (and I half recall some pics which you posted) that Micron is more effective, as I said previously the boat performance didn't seem to suffer in a perceivable way, even with the above dirty-ish hull.
I would think that this has something to see with the fact that the growth was mostly just thin slime, but now I'm just speculating.

 

[petem]

They put Velox on my props in Sept. I was quite impressed, after 150 miles about a two thirds of it was still on there!

 

[superheat6k]

Chatting with a professional GRP man recently he reckoned most appliers of CC do not spend nearly enough time abrading the newly applied coating, so too much of the copper is left with a minute coating of resin, which is why it reportedly improves after the first season.

Yesterday I was chatting with the chap who offers the nano coating for stern gear, Grapefruit Graphics, who suggests virtually no fouling with their coating, but at £350 plus labour for two 4 blade props (1 litre) and ~18 months service seems a bit expensive.

My experience of Velox was bizarre - it didn't wear off but instead after 1 year most of it was coated in a hard brown scale, onto which the barnacles were quite happy to attach. I am going to use the Velox again this year, and will see if I can just touch up where gaps have appeared.

 

[wellf100]

hempel do a silicone propeller kit. not seen any reviews so no idea if it works...or sticks.
https://www.force4.co.uk/hempel-silic-one-propeller-kit.html

 

[MapisM]

Fwiw, everything I hear and read about silicone-based stuff (both for hull and u/w gear) points in the direction of not being suitable for pleasure boats.
The critical point is that these products work on the pretty simple principle of making the surfaces more slippery, but they do nothing to repel marine growth.
So, they make it harder to stick to the surfaces, and whenever some growth begins to attach anyway, chances are that they are wiped away as soon as the boat moves.
BUT, if the boat doesn't move very often, leaving to barnacles and all other sort of critters enough time to grab the surface well, it's pretty much game over.
That's the reason why, in my understanding, these products are only effective for commercial boats, which are used almost constantly.

 

[wellf100]

Fwiw, everything I hear and read about silicone-based stuff (both for hull and u/w gear) points in the direction of not being suitable for pleasure boats.
The critical point is that these products work on the pretty simple principle of making the surfaces more slippery, but they do nothing to repel marine growth.
So, they make it harder to stick to the surfaces, and whenever some growth begins to attach anyway, chances are that they are wiped away as soon as the boat moves.
BUT, if the boat doesn't move very often, leaving to barnacles and all other sort of critters enough time to grab the surface well, it's pretty much game over.
That's the reason why, in my understanding, these products are only effective for commercial boats, which are used almost constantly.

yes all very valid. if the boat sits still for any length of time it's no benefit if the fouling doesn't drop off pretty quickly once you get going. FWIW i still have Aquacote on mine and into my 5th season with it. It still works as it says on the tin but it definitely doesn't self clean..... I still need to wipe fouling off...which i can't be bothered to do very often. Not a big deal on a little boat like mine on which fuel use is relatively low. The plus point being I've not had to repaint it each year so its definitely saved me money and possibly time.

I was thinking that if the silicon stuff actually sticks to the props ok it might be more successful than the hull coating due to the higher forces. But if it doesn't stick then it's no better then anything else. Also given that this one is Hempel I thought it may have a fair bit of testing/evidence behind it.