Prop - Polish or antifoul?

[Amulet]

Looking round opinions seem to differ. I have, for many years, antifouled my prop. It is quite rough and messy, and I think it should push me faster. I could polish it up. On a lightly used sailing boat may not be best. Opinions.

 

[Topcat47]

I polish my prop and treat it with lanolin. It has to be done every year but is reasonably effective. I had a lot of weed growth on it this year after a winter afloat, but I ran up the engine and it mostly all floated off. I"ve not had it out for it's annual antifoam and polish yet so it's a good sign.

 

[Tranona]

There is no right answer. While a clean prop is obviously better than one that is fouled, polishing makes no difference. It might however slow down fouling. so the starting point is whether you get fouling on your prop. If you don't then no point in anti fouling. If, like many, you do then there is a wide range of different treatments, some of which are effective. However, what is effective in one area may not be in another.

First thing is to see what others in the same location have found effective and try that. Be aware though that some treatments are expensive and tricky to apply. Also getting anything to stick to smooth metal and stay on when it is whizzing around at 1000+ rpm is not easy. Personally I have had good success with sprayed on Trilux. Others have not.

So really a question of experimenting and finding something that works for you (if any!)

 

[jakeroyd]

Would agree with the above , there is no perfect solution.
For the past 5 years os so I have used Hempel , prop primer followed by Hempel Mille Drive hard antifouling on top.

I prepare the prop with a stiff wire wool rotary mop , so it's clean but my no means shiny.
Then apply , both are spray applied and dry quickly so it's not much effort

On haul out 6m later there are deposits on the prop but it's still functional.

I used to just apply ordinary antifoul and many still do , but for me it wore off and the prop perfromance was noticably reduced by the time August came along.

 

[Amulet]

Thanks for the input. Have since looked at motorboat forums. Many opinions. Shiny seems to create some difficulty for the wee beasties attaching themselves, but not necessarily make you go faster. Some arguments that a slightly matt surface is better in pure drive terms. Mine is now fairly shiny. We'll see - expecting better performance at the start of the season, but probably diminishing.

 

[Neeves]

Beware user comments. I agree with the previous posts, there are lots of options and none work as well as the AF on your hull. Much depends on how the prop, or vessel, is used - and a successful coating on one vessel maybe a complete failure on another next door simply because of usage. One person's frequent usage is infrequent to another. Many will claim success for a year, omitting to mention they leave the yacht on the hard for 8 months.

I find it difficult to imagine anyone can tell the efficiency of a prop polished or left matte - so that's a puzzle

The options seem to be polish; coat with a silicone coating (like PropSpeed, PropGold); polish and coat with something slippery, lanolin, a waterproof grease, lots of traditional methods; coat with Velox from Marlin; use something like Trilux (I think there are a number of formulations/suppliers).

Currently we favour Velox but getting the primer to adhere is the big issue. Trawl back through the threads and you will find Vyv Cox, see his website, had success with a Hammerite primer, and Velox on top, (but the Hammerite primer has since been reformulated). Vyv has also posted that he is trialing an electro plated copper coating onto his prop - and I think eventually he wants to report in PBO or YM.

I'm of the opinion that both silicone and Velox work but once anything gets a toehold the battle is lost. You can knock whatever adhered off but I suspect you damage the coating allowing a site for another organism to attach - and it gets worse and worse. Possibly if you can wipe, note use of the word wipe, down every couple of months that might help. But despite our best intentions something interrupts our idea of using the yacht frequently - and as soon as you leave the prop idle - growth starts.

Prop treatment - one of the holy grails of the leisure marine world

Jonathan

edit

I have wondered about Trilux or Velox, both of which are chemical antifouls with something slippery (not thought what), lanolin, Molydisulphide or graphite waterproof grease on top - but never progressed it.

close edit