Princess P45 barnacles

[Soul_dancee]

Hi everyone,

I have a question for the experts,

I did my anti-fouling Coating for the haul back in January 2021 and i have used a coating called PRO GLIDE (picture attached) for the shaft+propellers+rudders+trim tabs.


For some reasons i keep getting barnacles mostly on the places where i have used the pro glad every 2 to 4 weeks and it seems that the coating doesn't stick to the trim tabs.

I usually higher some one to clean the barnacles, So my question is, is there away to reduce the amount of barnacles though i don't use the boat much.

Thanks alot

 

[[181131]]

I had one of those Ultrasonic systems on my old boat, barnies & algae hate it, which keeps the bottom clean. It also gained me 3/4 knots more which is nice. Would deffo recommend

 

[Hurricane]

I had one of those Ultrasonic systems on my old boat, barnies & algae hate it, which keeps the bottom clean. It also gained me 3/4 knots more which is nice. Would deffo recommend

I really don't have that experience.
IMHO, Ultrasonics are useless.

 

[Hurricane]

Hi everyone,

I have a question for the experts,

I did my anti-fouling Coating for the haul back in January 2021 and i have used a coating called PRO GLIDE (picture attached) for the shaft+propellers+rudders+trim tabs.


For some reasons i keep getting barnacles mostly on the places where i have used the pro glad every 2 to 4 weeks and it seems that the coating doesn't stick to the trim tabs.

I usually higher some one to clean the barnacles, So my question is, is there away to reduce the amount of barnacles though i don't use the boat much.

Thanks alot

Where is the boat kept?
Fouling differs greatly from place to place.
The UK is very different to (say) the Med

 

[Soul_dancee]

Where is the boat kept?
Fouling differs greatly from place to place.
The UK is very different to (say) the Med

It's located in dubai

 

[Hurricane]

It's located in dubai

OK
My experience is mainly in the Med (the last 13 years) but I did have a boat in the UK before.
The hotter waters of the Med definitely attract more barnacles than the UK.
So, I would expect you will have the same problems.
Our marina is also next to rice paddy fields which I suspect has lots of nutrients used in the growth of rice.
I believe that those nutrients leech down into the water thus creating a very fertile environment for marine growth.
This is an example of the growth we had in the first year that our marina was opened:-



Over the years, it has got significantly better (less growth) - not sure why.
But these conditions led me to experiment with various methods.
Anti foul paints, generally are good and work well for the hull.
And they would work on the underwater metalwork if you could make the paint stick to the metal surfaces.
Our marina has a particularly aggressive pressure washer to get the barnacles etc off the underwater metalwork.
So, I use Coppercoat on the hull - softer anti foul paints tend to wash off with the high pressure washer.
However, antifoul paint on the hull performs in the water better than Coppercoat.

Back to the point.
I've tried lots of coatings and, believe me, nothing works.
The first problem that a coating manufacturer has to overcome is the aggressive nature of a propeller under water.
Nothing sticks to it.
Once that problem is solved, it should be easier to impregnate that coating with a form of anti foul.

So essentially, I do nothing.
When the boat is out of the water and blocked off, I polish the props, rudders, p brackets shafts and trim tabs.



Our marina has a cheap lift/wash service.
Our 20m Princess can be lifted, washed and relaunched in a couple of hours.
During that time, the boatyard operatives pressure wash the props, p brackets, shafts. rudders and trim tabs first.
Then whilst they are pressure washing the rest of the hull, I acid wash the metalwork.
The result is bright shiny metalwork that performs better than if it were coated.
If we are using the boat, the underwater metalwork will stay clean for several months.

This is before washing - in the travel hoist slings



And this is the result after a pressure wash followed by a hand acid wash - less than 2 hours later.



So, after trying lots of different coatings, I think it is just better to clean it as you need it.
You need to have a good relationship with the boatyard though.