Prop Antifoul

[jakeroyd]

My boat has just come out of the water , for winter.
I thought I would report on the effectivity , or otherwise , of the prop antifoul I used.
Last Spring I polished off all of the antifoul on the prop with a flap wheel , however this was nowhere near the fine finish some people achieve but it was chemically clean.

I then applied about 6 coats of Hempels aerosol primer (the can says 2 minimum)
I then applied about 6 coats of the antifoul (Hempel 'Prop-o-Drev') , the can says 3 minimum.

For the first time in 6 years the prop was not an encrusted mess on haul out and my speed using the motor did not seem to be much reduced at the end of the season.

I am not saying this is the best , people use all sorts on the prop as you all know too well from these fora. I am saying it seemed to work for me so I shall do the same next year.

2 cans (one primer and one topcoat) do my prop and P bracket for 2 seasons.

Incidentally I used 2 coats of Tiger Extra on the hull and that did well as well.
Plymouth area.

 

[SHUG]

GOOD!!

 

[Neeves]

For those of us unused to antipodean practices of wintering the yacht on the hard - how long was the season to which you refer? Virtually everyone in Oz can enjoy 12 months sailing, our winter is a bit like youre summer, so the idea of wintering, and sailing seasons, is a bit alien.

We have just applied our prop with a product callen Feldten Nano (something?). Its a one pack aerosol spray - German, right in your neck of the woods!

 

[jakeroyd]

Hi Neeves
This was for a 6 Month summer period.

With just polishing or ordinary hull anti foul on the prop I would notice a significant reduction in motoring speed in about 3 Months from launching

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Cleaning and 12 coats of stuff.
Sounds like a lot of work to me.

Propspeed is way simpler and our prop looks absolutely clean after a season.

 

[Neeves]

Thanks Jakeroyd,

My understanding is that your Hempel prep took some efort in cleaing up, stainless wire brush etc, and then 12 (was it really that many) coats of aerosols. My understanding of aerosols is that they are actually pretty simple to use. Actually does not seem much effort (just out of interest - how much does it cost) You know its done properly, after all its your prop, your money and your motivation. Though with Prop Speed you would have had the satisfaction you were propping up someone's pension funds.

 

[jakeroyd]

The primer is about £8 per can
The topcoat about £16 per can.

Not that much work really , the flapwheel soon gets all the old antifoul off.

Coats are applied very quickly with the cans , just a case of using a piece of cardboard as a mask. I did them at the same time as my hull antifouling.

Each coat dries very quickly and is about 15mins or so between coats , so it's all easy really

The longest time it took me the second time was getting one of the cans unblocked even given I had held them upside down and cleared them etc. lots of poking with wire and hot water for the topcoat can.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Thanks Jakeroyd,

My understanding is that your Hempel prep took some efort in cleaing up, stainless wire brush etc, and then 12 (was it really that many) coats of aerosols. My understanding of aerosols is that they are actually pretty simple to use. Actually does not seem much effort (just out of interest - how much does it cost) You know its done properly, after all its your prop, your money and your motivation. Though with Prop Speed you would have had the satisfaction you were propping up someone's pension funds.

Propspeed is much faster. I takes me about 30 seconds to send the boatyard £50. The next time I see the boat the job is done. It's like magic.

 

[Zagato]

Prop Speed does seem to be excellent stuff - see hear also http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/forum/showthread.php?26874-How-Good-Is-Propspeed

but where can you get it from?

 

[Neeves]

The purveyors of Prop Speed want you to buy it from their applicators, basically you need to pay for it to be appllied (in the UK and Oz) available over the counter at West Marine. Prop Speed also works on saildrives, but you do need to use your yacht - if it sits idle, anything will eventually find a home. Equally if Prop Speed is damaged, rope on the prop, hit a piece of wood (and Prop Speed is soft) then if there is any damage the area of damage will attract growth - and this problem might be common to other products, like Feldten or Hempel. The Feldten product that we are trying costs less than £20 from Gael Force (a bit cheaper than the Hempel, certainly cheaper than Prop Speed - but then it might not work!) Same application procedure angle grinder, stainless wire brush, some coase paper (just the sort of thing you can do at home during those long dark winter months) and then spray until the surface is 'wet' it dries in an hour. It can be re-applied over itself if the surface is clean (so if you did it everytime you dried out = no grinding) and a can will do many props.

I'll comment on the Feldten product in 6 months time.

There are direct competitors to Prop Speed, in Oz we have Prop Shield - which can be bought over the counter.

Money can buy anything, but not the same satisfaction of having done a job well.

I suspect that the monies paid for the Hempel system actually buy enough for more than one prop?

Interesting the preparation you did - most surface coatings applied to props demand the prop is abraded as much as possible, to try to achieve good adhesion - the Hempel product does not appear to need a finish of a 40 grit paper?

 

[Taunto]

G,day Neeves i,m interested to know if the Feldten worked on your prop , i,m not far away from you in J B and having the devil of a time with the little beasties . I have just bought a can and going to do some testing , would like to know your out come.
Cheers taunto

 

[Neeves]

Feldten,

It was waste of time. The prop was fouled after 3 months. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and cleaned it back, though this was between tides, and put another coat on. Same result, 3 months later.

I then cleaned it back to bare metal again, between tides, and will beach again in a couple of weeks time (so I'm at the 9 month stage). But the water is cooler so fouling is not quite so active. Simply looking at it - Feldten is no better than a good clean!

The distributors suggest it works on MoBos, whose props spin faster.

Currently the only thing that works is Prop Speed, though we do not think its quite as fantastic as claimed (maybe think of a 12 months life).

We are lucky as we can beach and clean the prop, whenever.

Jonathan

 

[jakeroyd]

Digging up an old thread eh Neeves.
AFAIK you don't need a super finish for the Hempel
My boat , small prop, a can of primer and one of 'topcoat' does 2 applications/seasons
Did not know your Feltens product could be got at Gael Force. Might check this out for next season.
This year I got lazy and spplied 3 coats of each. I'll let you know how it did at the end of the season

 

[Neeves]

Not guilty, jakeroyd

Taunto dug it up, I just happened to see his request and simply thought it pertinent to reply

But if anyone has success with Feldten everyone would love to know, its not expensive, easy to apply - just I drew a blank (and I was willing it to be successful!

We do not seem to have the Hempel product mentioned down under, I assume it has not been through the approval process.

The big move on the horizon are these 3 coat fuoro silicones being used on commercial ships (with 12 year life cycles) - but they are difficult to apply and only come in bulk. But maybe??

Best wishes,

Jonathan

 

[vyv_cox]

My Marlin Velox Plus trial is going very well. We have been launched since 2 May, now 9 June, since when we have covered 515 miles and about 50 engine hours. The prop is perfectly clean. Some test areas that I painted with Hammerite non-ferrous primer are not so good, some shell fouling. All of this is in the Aegean Sea, where the water temperature is now 22C.

 

[Taunto]

Many thanks gentle men , i though it was too good to be true but if any one has had good results with feldten i wood like to know . I am considering copper plating the prop as we have a plating works in woollongong that is only to happy to take my coin , if anyone else has been down this path would love to hear about your trip.
Cheers Taunto

 

[KAL]

Eeeer! Oi put udder salve on the prop - so farrr so good!! You ain't never seen barnacles on a cow's danglies, inn yer?

 

[svhoneybee]

I've been lurking on this thread for a while hoping for a more positive outcome on the Feldten trials. After reading about it in the local cruising rag, I decided to give it a go. The price was attractive. I anti-fouled the boat in early April and covered the prop with Feldten. We then put the boat into the Prince of Wales Bay marina (which is badly fouled with mussels) and headed off for a long driving trip, leaving Honey Bee to her fate.

For other reasons, we have now slipped again after only six months. The prop was completely clean. Whether this was due to the Feldten or the cold Tasmanian winter, I can't say, but I've stuck on another coat and will see how it goes with a bit of activity on the water.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Cappen Boidseye]

I just buy a can of International's Boot top line anti-fouling, whatever doesn't go on the boot-top line gets painted onto the prop, normally just one thick coat. The prop always comes out clear with nothing to scrape off. I don't clean it between seasons, just one more coat when I am wiping the bottom of the boat ready for the next season.
Maybe I have just been lucky, but that one seasonal coat and my swinging mooring on the Gareloch seem to work pretty well together.

 

[TQA]

Well here is what mine looks like after a month in Clarks Court Bay Grenada. I blame it on the rum [ factory ].
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