PellerClean, PropSpeed, anything?

[Piers]

Having never antifouled Play d'eau's props, I'm starting to hear about specialist applications such as PellerClean and PropSpeed. There are others, but what does the jury think - snake oil?

 

[petem]

Quite a few of us are using Velox Plus (even on planing boats / aluminium props) with some success. It's cheap so I'd certainly give it a try before spending £thousands on something more exotic.

 

[DAW]

I've heard mixed reports about PropSpeed and Velox Plus and nothing about PellerClean. People with sailing boats seem very happy and swear by it. However, the results on motor boats seem more mixed and dependent on speed, nature of use and conditions. The effect of the coatings doesn't seem to last as long on higher-speed planing boats and most of the people I know in SoF who've tried them have gone back to mid-season scrub by a diver on the basis it was cheaper and more effective. Most people here only use their boats for 3-4 months in the summer, so lift/clean/antifoul at the start of the season and scrub by diver mid-season gets you through to October and seems to the way most people choose to go.

 

[Hurricane]

Having never antifouled Play d'eau's props, I'm starting to hear about specialist applications such as PellerClean and PropSpeed. There are others, but what does the jury think - snake oil?

I've tried everything, Piers.
We are in a particularly aggressive area for barnacle growth.
This was my first introduction to it - 2009 - just after the marina had opened.


The growth in our marina has got better (less growth) since then but it does take careful managing.

Actually Velox was my first attempt - didn't work at all.


This was about the best attempt - I used a two part primer followed an intermediate coat and the a special high speed antifoul.



The BIG problem that manufacturers have got to overcome when developing a product is to find something that "sticks".
Only then can they put something into it what will repel the growth.
The blue treatment above lasted about 100 miles before it started to wear off.
The power being applied down there is quite significant.
The problem is that only the paint that is on the extreme parts of the prop wears off .
The bits near the shaft stay on and become a real problem next year to remove for another treatment.
Some people just paint over it but thats not a proper job.

So, I have reverted to doing nothing - just polish the props and give them an acid wash whilst the boat is in the pressure wash bay.
This is after polishing - I use a felt disk on a 4" angle grinder and metal polish blocks.


Then - before pressure/acid wash it will look a bit like this:-


And after the acid wash it looks like this.
The acid wash takes me about 45 mins.
Two of us can do the props in the time that the yard's pressure washer operator does the rest of the boat.


The props, shafts, rudders and trim tabs are then as good as they can be.
We get very cheap lifts (in fact one free lift each year) so it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of time on products that "literally" don't stick.

 

[BartW]

We have had good results with Velox+, but has to be applied in the correct manner, ..
next week we will have a lift out, and will be able to post pics afer 1y Velox+

 

[Portofino]

Echoing ^^^ .Still searching i,am afraid .
This time I have subcontracted the issue out to a good yard hopefully that’s knows a thing or too .
It was only some extra €200 or so for the stern gear so worth a punt .

How ever we have previous tried stuff but it just came off and also cost a lot more by the time you buy enough .
Its not just the props , it’s the shafts , rudders and flaps .For me the bathing platform supports , but others may have hi lo apparatus.
The props + rudders and similar extent the working surfaces of the flaps are obviously the biggies in-terms of performance losses .Fortunately in the Med in the season I use a bottle + regulator dive in it takes me 30 mins tops to do the latter ^.
Well worth it as fortunately again I can see the elevated loads and EGTs from fouled stern gear .Or course I can see a lower speed at a given rpm , but I resist pushing the throttles forwards just pull up anchor and clean them up .
Can normal end up within a knot from speed trails straight after a annual lift in .

Unprotected even a 2 week rest in the berth they are gonna need another scrub albeit a light one .

 

[Portofino]

^^ After a winter lay up from Nov to April SoF .

^ Here we did the rudder boxes with outdrive AF left over from my outdrive days .Did not works see below .


^ Here we have metal primed the shafts + P brackets , then applied the same hull AF but left the props + rudders just acid cleaned .



Flaps primed + hull AF ......matching colours at least .FWIW .^^


^ well that was a waste of time .and below the flaps .

 

[Portofino]

^ This is typically what they are like after I hand scrub them with a bottle .

There are advantages of the DIY dive route ( snorkel works but takes 2x time ) .....you can do anodes if needs be ^^^


Rudders done as best by me .

 

[Portofino]

Picking up on Barts point I have concluded it’s very technique sensitive applying stern gear AF or “ snake oils “ .That’s where most go wrong and hence the poor rep .
So here is a professional version below .


Firstly they get the shafts back to SS and apply a primer ( sorry no idea what ) .


Different colours on different metals .Not sure what’s what ?

Finished AF work ?
Well I guess time will tel .Due to see the boat in a couple of weeks , but it will be interesting to see if this what ever it is works ??

 

[penfold]

@vyv_cox had some success copper plating his propellor, in UK waters anyway.

 

[Bandit]

Piers
Guernsey has very low levels of fouling for props, shafts and rudders, especially for crustacia build up, clean it once a year and polish.

I did my boat one year , one side only with a Lanolin product and forgot to note down what side, at the end of the season no difference between the two sides.

Not cost effective in my mind for the low level of growth we have here.

However I am happy to sell it to you as its a good earner.

South Coat UK marinas, St Malo and Med higher levels of fouling so possibly worthwhile.

 

[Hurricane]

I did my boat one year , one side only with a Lanolin product and forgot to note down what side, at the end of the season no difference between the two sides.

Oh yes - I forgot, I also tried Lanolin and Propshield (a Lanolin based product).
Rather than trying one on each side I did the test like this:-


We had just Coppercoated the boat so I also tried Coppercoat on the rudders, shafts and P brackets.
Both Lanolin treatments didn't stay on the props and the Coppercoat didn't work on the rudders, shafts and P brackets.
They do say that Coppercoat isn't good for props etc but I thought I would give it a try.
However, the Coppercoat works for us on the hull.
It is 10 years now since the Coppercoat was applied - topped it up a couple of years ago.
I'm quite pleased with the Coppercoat and I think, being a strong epoxy layer, it is a good protection for the hull.
This was the state of the Coppercoat last September


Sorry, a bit of thread drift on the Coppercoat.

 

[Piers]

Thanks so much for all the replies which have confirmed three key points. One, the level of fouling depends on where your keep your boat; two, you ask around to find out what treatment seems to work; three, using a diver could be the most cost effective.

What am I going to do? Nothing at all.

 

[[165042]]

I've recently been using Hempel Silic One. It's a bit of a faff to apply in three coats but seems to work very well on thruster props, a nibral prop and trim tabs.

 

[petem]

Thanks so much for all the replies which have confirmed three key points. One, the level of fouling depends on where your keep your boat; two, you ask around to find out what treatment seems to work; three, using a diver could be the most cost effective.

What am I going to do? Nothing at all.

Fourth point is that thorough prep is essential, whatever you use.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

I used Propspeed on customers Pershing 37 and a Cayman 58 and it was a good result.
The trick with Propspeed is to give exactly as on specs, 6/8 hours before launch. If you do not do this, it wasted money.

 

[Chris H]

Didn’t think this was too bad after more than 18 months since the last lift out.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

With surface drives that was very good. Propspeed? Many say its the only solution for the stainless propellers.

 

[Chris H]

With surface drives that was very good. Propspeed? Many say its the only solution for the stainless propellers.

Nothing on these but I do clean them every two weeks in the season.