Prop treatment Med - Update

[Hurricane]

Used Agua Fuerta in the toilets on my old catamaran following advice from the ex owner. Used to 'dump' a litre into each head and leave to do its work clearing the somewhat soiled pipe work. Seemed to work.

In terms of hull and props I met a nice French man (Bernard) who swore by his 'waveblade' to clean everything below waterline on his Lagoon 39. I might try one if I can get to warmer water in the future.

I've looked at the Waveblade and IMHO it is too aggressive for the kind of thing I've been discussing above.
Can't see the point of the device.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

IMO, it is the fertile water flowing off the delta that also fertilises the water in the two lagoons that are formed by the delta.
SCM is located just behind one of those lagoons.

I don't know about fertile. IMHO its the over use of chemical fertilisers which encourages marine growth. It is noticeable that those areas of the Med in which large scale arable farming isn't widespread don't have issues with marine fouling. The other thing we've noticed is that those areas with less fouling also seem to have fewer jellyfish although I'm no expert in this field so I don't know whether there is a connection

 

[vas]

I've looked at the Waveblade and IMHO it is too aggressive for the kind of thing I've been discussing above.
Can't see the point of the device.

I also had a look and quite liked it (up to the point of costing almost 400usd)
What is the problem with using it for cleaning stern gear Mike? Am I missing something?

I don't know about fertile. IMHO its the over use of chemical fertilisers which encourages marine growth. It is noticeable that those areas of the Med in which large scale arable farming isn't widespread don't have issues with marine fouling.

spot on!
colleagues from the depts of ichthyology and agriculture here in Volos go on about this a lot.

cheers

V.

 

[Hurricane]

What is the problem with using it for cleaning stern gear Mike? Am I missing something?

Scratches - in the past, I wouldn't be worried but now, even a scotch pad scratches the surface.
And besides, why do you need a scraper so aggressive when chemicals can dissolve the growth quicker and easier than mechanical scraping.
Sorry, I've been "full circle" and the process outlined at the beginning of this thread is the solution I use.

 

[MapisM]

And this one shows the lagoon - the mussel beds (frames) can be seen in the other side the marina sea wall.

Aha! Now I understand why you wanted a larger tender.
Did you already install extra batteries to keep some lights on all night long, while you harvest the black thingies?

 

[Nick_H]

Scratches - in the past, I wouldn't be worried but now, even a scotch pad scratches the surface.
And besides, why do you need a scraper so aggressive when chemicals can dissolve the growth quicker and easier than mechanical scraping.
Sorry, I've been "full circle" and the process outlined at the beginning of this thread is the solution I use.

It looks as though the waveblade is for use underwater, so acid treatment isn't really an alternative. I find a good quality scraper works pretty effectively though, so I can't believe a waveblade would save much time or give a much better finish.

 

[Bandit]

Channel Islands is not high fouling, reasonable weed but little barnacle growth, but a good rotary pressure-wash and a "brick clean" of the props, shafts & rudders is 99.9% there.
I know of two people who antifoul props , in my mind to no advantage and I have tried the lanolin treatment which made no difference.

 

[Assassin]

I prefer the 3M surface conditioning pads which use the hook and loop system to attach to a backing pad, but be aware if you use these. Backing pads come in two types, these are the plastic type and the rubber type, the plastic type is not flexible enough so stick to the more flexible rubber type.

Backing pads screw straight onto a standard 115mm angle grinder with M14 X 2 thread and being hook and loop pads they stick straight on to the backing pad; being a woven nylon you can take them off and wash them and they come in a range of grades from coarse to very fine.

 

[Nick_H]

I know of two people who antifoul props , in my mind to no advantage and I have tried the lanolin treatment which made no difference.

I antifoul ours, but only with a thin spray of Trilux (no primer, and one can does both props and rudders on our 57 footer). My logic is that it only takes a few mins to spray, and it will at least stop the fouling for a while until it wears off, and there's often a period of time between antifouling and our first cruise, so it stops any fouling during that time. By the following years lift out the paint that hasn't already worn off is removed by the powerwash/acid, so there's no paint build up.

Over the course of a season, I suspect I get similar results to polishing the props, but with far less elbow grease.

 

[rchrdm]

Dear Hurricane
Do you have any information on your chain counter project? Is there a kit or instructions about how to build one?
By the way, your private mailbox on this web site is full.

Richard