Seajet Pellerclean

Nick_H

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20 Apr 2004
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www.ybw-boatsforsale.com
There has to be a prop treatment that would actually work. We all spend a fortune anti-fouling our hulls, but a fouled prop has more adverse effect on boat speed and fuel consumption, yet so far there's no treatment that really works. Is this the one? I'm going to try it this year, so can report back

I could only find this, on a NZ site web page
 
We decided on Lymington, but its all on hold due to recession. Couldn't sell the house so decided to rent it, and rent down south as well so as not to have two houses depreciating. Had tenant lined up from middle of this month, but decided I need to be closer to the business for a while till things are more stable, so pulled out. Still planning to move before summer, but all depends on factors outside my control.
 
Silicone elastomers have been around for a while and are gaining ground for commercial shipping provided they are on the move most of the time and at a good speed(container ships etc).
They work reasonably well on props for leisure boats due to the high speed even though not used very often. Not suitable for hulls due to low speed and infrequent use. Most established product is Propspeed, made in New Zealand but with agents around the world. Chugoku product will be very similar.
Key to performance is getting good adhesion which means preparation and application have to be faultless. They use an aggressive primer so take care with protective gear.
 
Agree with that. This product looks similar to Propspeed which was very expensive and didn't work for me, despite being applied with great care by the Propspeed agent. Basically, the silicon top coat started to flake off after only a few weeks allowing baranacles to adhere to the uncovered patches. I would love to find a product that worked for a whole season but at the moment, the best treatment is a regular scrub by a diver
 
I am using it at the moment, I bought a new pair of alloy props for my outdrives in July.

I was pretty careful about keying up the standard Volvo paint before applying it - seem to remember it was two coats of different epoxy primers followed by two coats of the liquid silicone with a catalyst added.

One pack was enough to paint my two new props as well as the old ones [after beadblasting and painting] which I am keeping as spares.

Seems to have stayed on well so far and is dead easy to clean, just trim up the drives and give them a thorough wipe with a sponge every few weeks. The slime etc. comes off easily.

Despite the faff of application its loads better than Lanolin on bare alloy as previously [which was useless]. 6 months is probably early days yet for a definitive answer tho.

You are right though - it made a huge difference to boat speed and cruise speed [brought the sticks back by a good two inches]


Hope that helps.

Boat is halfway up the Hamble btw.
 
A very well known old sea dog told me that if fouling is a problem on your stern gear - then LANOLIN is what you should use.

Can't comment on its practibaility from experience as I have never tried it - but worth a go don't you think????
 
Propshield is just posh Lanolin, and was a complete failure on my props. It stops any fouling from the time you put your boat back in the water, till the time you do your first decent cruise, but then it all comes off and the fouling starts. In that respect, I don't think it does much more than the thick grease mentioned above.
 
I have a new contractor this year who says that is all to do with the way that you apply the products to the props etc.

He uses a non marine based primer which he applies immediatly after cleaning the props (thats "immediatly" after - no waiting for the air to get at the metal). Then after the primer he just applies a hard antifoul.

Most antifouls work for us - if only they would stay on.

So, I've told him that I dont believe him and plan to cruise about 1000 miles in the early part of this year (perhaps a trip to Antibes and back via Corsica and Menorca). I told him I'd kiss his feet if the a/f paint is still on the props when we get back. If the a/f does stick, we will be in our home berth for the hotter part of the summer when the marina water temp rises well above 30 degrees - the ideal barnacle temps!!!

So, Nick, thats my plan for this year.

BTW the Micron 66 (now 77) worked well during last season.
So good that I wasnt going to re-treat this season but this new contractor has give me a good price to spray with Micron 77.
 

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