Hurricane
Well-Known Member
In previous posts, I have reported that I was trying Velox on JW's underwater metalwork.
Velox is the only treatment that I couldnt find any bad reports when I googled so I opted this season to try it out.
I had a particularly tough test for the treatment as well - a trip from Sant Carles on Mainland Spain to Malta and back - a round trip in excess of 1600 nautical miles. If the Velox could stay on the props and shafts etc over that journey, it would satisfy most leisure users.
Well, I'm afraid that the simple answer is that it didnt. I made sure that the treatment was applied properly - even doing some of the work myself. The propellers, shafts and rudders of any high planing motor boat are in an extremely harsh enviroment for any coating to survive.
Anyway, lets look at the facts.
Velox comes with a special primer which indicated on the tin that it is an "etching primer". This means to me that it will adhere itself to the metal by etching into the surface. To help, the instructions say that you have to sand the surfaces with a course abrasive paper. I did all this and made a special effort not to touch the surface after it had been sanded. We also applied the primer immediatly after sanding so as not to get any oxidisation. The Velox A/F itself stuck to the primer very well.
Anyway, here' are a few pics of the results.
Props, shafts and rudders before
And then 1600 nautical miles later.
So - what have I done since.
We lifted the boat last Monday and then spent a few hours removing all the Velox from the props, shafts, trim tabs and rudders. The Velox had stuck prety well to the P brackets so I left it on them. A few months ago, I had a conversation with a very helpful guy at Blakes and he suggested an alternative treatment so this is what I'm trying this time. Blakes/Hempel produce a two part epoxy based primer with a totally different approach to the "etching" primer of Velox. Its a bit like applying treacle and goes hard within about 30 mins.
Anyway, we have put two coats of this two part primer onto nicely cleaned and abrased metalwork.
See here
Finally, we painted the whole lot with some normal "Hard Racing" antifoul.
JW is likely to have a much more relaxed time for the rest of this season and I just wanted something that keeps any growth to a minimum.
I'll keep you all posted but I think that the prop treatment that we have now is very common - especially on mainland Spain.
Its just a shame that the Velox didnt work. Probably something to do with 2400 HP - it must be a very aggressive environment.
It would be interesting to see if displacement motorboats or sailing boats can make it stick.
Velox is the only treatment that I couldnt find any bad reports when I googled so I opted this season to try it out.
I had a particularly tough test for the treatment as well - a trip from Sant Carles on Mainland Spain to Malta and back - a round trip in excess of 1600 nautical miles. If the Velox could stay on the props and shafts etc over that journey, it would satisfy most leisure users.
Well, I'm afraid that the simple answer is that it didnt. I made sure that the treatment was applied properly - even doing some of the work myself. The propellers, shafts and rudders of any high planing motor boat are in an extremely harsh enviroment for any coating to survive.
Anyway, lets look at the facts.
Velox comes with a special primer which indicated on the tin that it is an "etching primer". This means to me that it will adhere itself to the metal by etching into the surface. To help, the instructions say that you have to sand the surfaces with a course abrasive paper. I did all this and made a special effort not to touch the surface after it had been sanded. We also applied the primer immediatly after sanding so as not to get any oxidisation. The Velox A/F itself stuck to the primer very well.
Anyway, here' are a few pics of the results.
Props, shafts and rudders before
And then 1600 nautical miles later.
So - what have I done since.
We lifted the boat last Monday and then spent a few hours removing all the Velox from the props, shafts, trim tabs and rudders. The Velox had stuck prety well to the P brackets so I left it on them. A few months ago, I had a conversation with a very helpful guy at Blakes and he suggested an alternative treatment so this is what I'm trying this time. Blakes/Hempel produce a two part epoxy based primer with a totally different approach to the "etching" primer of Velox. Its a bit like applying treacle and goes hard within about 30 mins.
Anyway, we have put two coats of this two part primer onto nicely cleaned and abrased metalwork.
See here
Finally, we painted the whole lot with some normal "Hard Racing" antifoul.
JW is likely to have a much more relaxed time for the rest of this season and I just wanted something that keeps any growth to a minimum.
I'll keep you all posted but I think that the prop treatment that we have now is very common - especially on mainland Spain.
Its just a shame that the Velox didnt work. Probably something to do with 2400 HP - it must be a very aggressive environment.
It would be interesting to see if displacement motorboats or sailing boats can make it stick.
