Propellor - paint or not?

[Greenwichman]

Have just spent ages cleaning layers of old antiifoul and primer off the prop of my Beany 285. Big ships leave their propellors unpainted, why don't we /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif? Any advice?

 

[VicMallows]

Well, the vast majority I know do leave them unpainted. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Vic

 

[Shantyman]

Big ship props aren't painted Prob'ly cause they're turning most of the time.

Shantyman.

 

[oldharry]

[ QUOTE ]
Big ship props aren't painted Prob'ly cause they're turning most of the time.



[/ QUOTE ]

Health and safety Regulations for painters I suppose... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Hornet]

Have you tried white teflon grease? I've put it on this season and will let you know how it goes. On the few times I have used AF on the propeller, the barnacles and weeds grew as readily as ever. Last year I used normal underwater grease, and it worked quite well.

 

[Rob_Webb]

Me (and a whole lot of kiwis around here) use this stuff - Propspeed:

http://www.propspeedusa.com/images.htm

Has to be professionally applied (here in NZ anyway) but does fantastic job - miles more effective than antifouling. All the big motor yachts use it on their props.

Rob

 

[Shantyman]

I think there was a post recently about putting lanolin on the prop.

Shantyman.

 

[BrendanS]

There have been many over the past few years. Though not controlled trials, the reports are pretty positive

 

[Evadne]

I polish the prop each year and get just as much (little?) growth as I used to get when I antifouled it. There used to be lots of advocates for anhydrous lanolin, which is painted on then smoothed by heating with a hot air gun, but I've never ben convinced.

 

[Born_Free]

I use the old ZEBO fire grate polish on mine re-applied every year, and worked well in, a tip I got from my old engineering instructor years ago. Believe me nothing ever grows on that prop.

 

[GilesC]

I did the polish/lanolin/hot air gun routine last year, and it worked OK. It was probably a little better than the best year I had using antifoul, but pretty comparable. But I have had some awful results using hard antifoul over the years, though, so I'm going to stick with the lanolin. I got mine from Classic Marine.