new feathering prop, paint or not?

[chubby]

Just fitted a lovely gleaming hunk of shiny bronze, a tribute to British manufacturing and all that but how long will it gleam!

But seems a shame to desecrate it!

So leave polished and vow to dry out and clean after a few months, a trip to Ryde!

Paint: velox seems favoured but does it really need keying with 80 grit paper?

smear with some sort of lanolin stuff?

If I paint will it reduce anode wear, presumably?

If I am going to paint at some stage, is it best when fresh from the factory for adherence.

Anything better than velox? there was a thread a while back with VyCox ? reporting good results others variable.

Boat on a swinging mooring in the tide in Portsmouth and used most weekends

So how much longer to admire the glistening bronze like a modern sculpture!

 

[Tranona]

Had good success on bronze folding prop with Trilux. Problem with props is getting adhesion to blades because they spin when in use. Others have had success with Velox but perhaps needs more care in preparation than Trilux.

 

[vyv_cox]

Adhesion of paint to brass and bronze can be a problem. I have had tremendous success with the solvent-based version of Hammerite special metals primer but this has now been replaced by the water-based one, which I have not tried. Velox adhesion to the primer is not perfect without light abrasion with 320 grit. In the Med the hub of my Brunton's used to be covered in tube-worm by the end of the season, blades reasonably clean because the boat is used a lot.
Photo shows the prop at haul-out 2015. The boat didn't move throughout August and the prop was not scrubbed through the season, 1 May to 20 October. Totally free of any fouling. The P-bracket has the same coating, very slight fouling by shell but a vast improvement over eroding A/F.

 

[bigwow]

I've had success with both my folding props with this.
http://www.rsclare.com/product/dr-barnacle-anti-barnacle-grease

 

[GrahamM376]

I've had success with both my folding props with this.
http://www.rsclare.com/product/dr-barnacle-anti-barnacle-grease

I've used Dr Barnacle for a few seasons and it works reasonably well. When we're hauled out after being on the mooring for a couple of months, I can see marks where barnacles have settled but then skidded off once the prop is revolving.

 

[Daydream believer]

Bruntons - who supply Brunton Auto prop as well as other makes- advise against paint. The point they make is that if the paint gets chipped & the boat gets into a high "electrolsis" situation ( for want of better term) the deterioration of the prop will be concentrated at one point thus causing imbalance. I would imagine that some marina berths may experience high electrolytic activity. My anodes always have to be changed each season & could do with changing sooner

I smear my prop with a handful of thick grease each season before launch. After launching the boat sits for 4-5 weeks then I go off on hols. I believe the grease probably comes off after a little use, but because the boat gets used a lot I get very little weed growth thereafter. I doubt that any weed will be attracted to grease & it is cheap. At the end of the season there are still traces of degraded grease I spend 15 mins cleaning prop with brick cleaner. Seems to have worked for the last 13 years & I average 150 hours motoring a year ( sometimes wonder if I do actually have a yacht, but I do cover well over 2000 miles PA)

 

[VicS]

Just fitted a lovely gleaming hunk of shiny bronze

Paint: velox seems favoured but does it really need keying with 80 grit paper?

If you opt for Velox follow the instructions for preparation and priming diligently http://www.antifoulingpaint.net/applyingvelox.html

 

[Moonbeam]

We went the cow udder lanolin route four years ago with our flex-o-fold. It's been great, really impressed, hardly any fouling in a range of waters up and down the south and south west coast. Cheap as well... 1Kg will last you forever http://www.wessexanimalhealth.co.uk/acatalog/Lanolin-Udder-Cream.html

Clean off with warm soapy water at haul out, then just rub on with a cloth just before re-launch.

 

[johnalison]

I once took the advice of a neighbour in the yard who used to run a chandlery, and used AutoGlym resin polish. I looked wonderful but was foul within a couple of months.

 

[prv]

We fitted a new folding prop on Ariam; I wasn't sure which approach to use, but I noted that one of the suggestions was polishing to a high shine so that sealife couldn't stick. I didn't find the idea terribly convincing, but the best opportunity to do it was from new, since if I ever wanted to try after that it would be a lot of work to bring it up to the necessary finish. So I decided to give it a go, using progressively finer wet-and-dry and finishing up with Brasso on cloth. The finish on the blades when she went in was glassy smooth, easily good enough to shave in.

Covered in barnacles all over in a couple of months

Trilux has done a reasonable job since then.

Pete

 

[ex-Gladys]

Bruntons - who supply Brunton Auto prop as well as other makes- advise against paint. The point they make is that if the paint gets chipped & the boat gets into a high "electrolsis" situation ( for want of better term) the deterioration of the prop will be concentrated at one point thus causing imbalance.

Not true when I bought my Autoprop, they recommended "silicon based antifoul" or a copper free antifoul. I wasted £150 on having Propspeed applied. It was so bad that they gave me a free application the next season.

Back to Trilux, although last season it didn't adhere so well, so I'm trying the Seajet triple pack for the epoxy primer...

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Max prop' one side polish 2 weeks ago, the other side was polished last March (ignore the bit of Autosol around the edges, I forgot to take a before picture).

As you can see, parts of the prop' still show signs of being polished after a year, swinging mooring on the West Coast of Scotland.

Absolutely no growth on the prop' just a very light slime on parts of the blades. The rope stripper, which wasn't polished had barnacles.

I used a very fine wet and dry, 800, followed by 1200, then a polish with Autosol.

In the past I've tried various forms of antifouling paint, they all work more of less, the problem has always been paint flaking off over the season.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Unfortunately down on the East Coast we suffer from very high fouling. I've used lanolin melted on, and polished... I might as well have whistled at the barnacles and pointed them at the prop.

 

[DanTribe]

Can anyone explain why barnacles find propellors so attractive?
Given that copper is supposed to deter them and many props have a high copper content [my new one is stainless], why dont the critters find props distasteful?

 

[vyv_cox]

Can anyone explain why barnacles find propellors so attractive?
Given that copper is supposed to deter them and many props have a high copper content [my new one is stainless], why dont the critters find props distasteful?

Pure copper and copper-nickel are the only fouling resistant metals that I am aware of. All the others have no properties that repel fouling. It is copper oxide, rather than copper metal, that is the active agent. Don't know whether this forms on copper nickel.

 

[Boo2]

I may have asked this before, but is there any reason why our props couldn't be electro-plated with pure copper when new ? This would oxidise quickly enough and should end up with anti-fouling properties, no ?

Boo2

 

[GrahamM376]

Can anyone explain why barnacles find propellors so attractive?
Given that copper is supposed to deter them and many props have a high copper content [my new one is stainless], why dont the critters find props distasteful?

One thing I have noticed is that they seem to be attracted to anything bonded to anodes. Our shaft, P bracket and rudder hinge are pretty well covered whereas the hull and keel aren't, although all (except shaft) have the same antifoul

 

[xeitosaphil]

I was in the same dilemma as the OP when I fitted my new Feather Stream prop last summer, manufacturers advised against any antifouling paint and I was in two minds as the new prop looked Fab. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of no antifouling after 12 mnths afloat will be, when the boat comes out in a couple of months.

Sorry not to have any experience at the moment but will report back with photos later.

I do have a photo though of the boat after 12 mnths afloat in Torquay after being taken ashore for antifouling last May at Totnes if it is of interest, also one of the new prop fitted ready to go back in.

Boat was antifouled with two coats of Hemple Cruising Performer ( applied on a nice dry day with two days between coats and two weeks before re-launch), prop left shiny.

Philip

 

[lpdsn]

Another vote for Trilux. Used it every year apart from the first season. Never had any significant problem with flaking. I didn't deliberately prep the surface initially, but there was a lot of sanding to remove the calcium left over from the first year's residents' attempt to recreate Manhatten in minature, so it was probably quite rough.

Worth heating the can before spraying. I drop it in a tub of hot water for a few minutes. (Tub usually means the bottom half of a 2l coke bottle.)

 

[Leighb]

Another vote for Trilux. Used it every year apart from the first season. Never had any significant problem with flaking. I didn't deliberately prep the surface initially, but there was a lot of sanding to remove the calcium left over from the first year's residents' attempt to recreate Manhatten in minature, so it was probably quite rough.

Worth heating the can before spraying. I drop it in a tub of hot water for a few minutes. (Tub usually means the bottom half of a 2l coke bottle.)

You mention spraying, can you get Trilux in a spray can? If so how may coats would you apply? Does it need any sort of undercoat/primer?