Permanent Marking Pen to keep prop clean

[JstaRebel]

For years I've slathered grease on my prop and cutless bearing housing to keep growth in check if we we're going to be anchored for an extended period of time. A little messy but it works well and is cheap. A fellow sailor told me that he used a Magnum sized permanent marking pen on his new bronze prop and had no growth in the three years in between haul outs. Has anyone else ever tried this approach and if so, what kind of success did you have with it?

[puffcard]

Put a black plastic bag around the prop and strut. Works great.

[model 10]

It depends on what color you use. Red is best, blue is OK and black does not work at all.

[Navi2016]

Originally Posted by Guy

It depends on what color you use. Red is best, blue is OK and black does not work at all.

Percentage wise, how much less effective is blue than red. I would go for red, but I have a blue hull

Thanks

[Blue Crab]

Good stuff!

[Steve Bean]

We're months past April 1st!!

[Striker37]

Take your prop off and spray it with cold galvanizing.1 spray can from ace hardware or home depot will do 2 coats on 2 22x22 props.No barneys for 3 years so far for me.

[Greg Mason]

A wonderful tip if actually works. When I had my boat out for bottom paint, I asked around the yard why people don't paint their props, struts and shafts, only leaving the zincs exposed. No one knew. I have always painted my stuff in the water and it eventually sloughs off, but my barnacle growth was minimal. When we went offshore into warmer waters, I added 1lb of cayenne to my bottom paint to deter growth, worked well for over a year in tropical waters, except it left about a 100 grit surface. I have consistently used Micron CSC, and found the black seems to protect better than the white or blue, whether power or sail.

[Over Budget]

Interesting approach. I have had growth problems, but eliminated them with PropSpeed which my yard applied and reapplies each season. I'm moored in a confined bay in Massachusetts and growth is heavy in the summer months. PropSpeed isn't as inexpensive as other suggestions, but it really works.

[MAK982]

Is suggesting wrapping the prop in a plastic bag, using cayenne or cold galvanizing getting to the issue as to whether a marker works which is what the question is?!!!!!

[BWSJWS]

Well, I am about to haul out. We live on our boat in Mexico and it is hot. WAter temp this time of year is 34 - 35 degrees centigrade. I will try the permanent marker and tell you. We get our bottom cleaned every one or two months and the prop always needs to be cleaned. The dirty prop slows us down by over a knot when motoring. Stay tuned. I will report back in a few months. Splashing at the end of september then a month in the warm water should start showing growth. we will see how the prop looks after the permanent black and red markers perform.

John
s/v Ingenium

[hellosailor]

AFAIK the traditional reason that props aren't painted, is because the leading edge will always cavitate at least a little, and that boils off the edge of the paint layer, or the simple edge-on pressure of the water strips it off. Traditional coatings just get ripped off in short order.

The propshield stuff is supposed to be specially designed for this application, unlike anything on a "paint" shelf in the hardware store.

If zinc paint works, you need to ask why who is keeping that information clandestine.

[a64pilot]

I had my fixed prop coated with hard antifoul, worked pretty well I think.
Then got my autoprop and just used Lanocoat on it, same as grease really, didn't change the fouling, but did make it easier to remove.
Had it zinc paint sprayed this year during the bottom job, same stuff that can be had at Home Depot I'm sure just way more expensive as it's boat paint of course, anyway pretty useless from what I can tell, maybe makes it easier to clean off, but a lot of paint comes off with the barnacles too.
I think lots of stuff works up where the water is cooler, that does not work down here in warming water. Right now aim in the St Lucie river, and growth is the worst I have ever seen, I assume due to fertilizer run off from lake Okechobee

[GoneIsland]

We've been doing this since I had my prop repaired. It works well, just doesn't last more than two years. The old timer that repaired my prop said that they would write the pitch and size on with permanent magic marker and later the customer would bring back the prop and it would have growth all over it except where it was written on. Figured why not, and have been doing it that way for 6 years now. Always get asked what the heck I'm doing when applying it in the yard, but have converted several people after they try it!
Wonder if I could buy it in gallons and do my whole bottom

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Steve Bean

We're months past April 1st!!

And yet the April fools jokes continue..................