Cleaning the Prop - What Tools / Methods ?

[svrodeorm]

Originally Posted by At sea

Consensus here is that there's no point - begins flying off from the moment you engage gear. I'd like to see a tank test on that though. But try the heated lanolin - unless your barnacles are from space, I think you'll be happy.

I tried the antifouling on the prop myself last time on the hard. May-09. New bronze prop.

Hauled out again 5 weeks ago after 2500 miles (and 300 hours of motoring due to dead calm across the North Sea)

95% of the prop surface stil had the GOOD antifouling (70% copper) on it.

Unfortunately it also had barnacles over quite a bit of the prop, dispite the copper.

Never cleaned the prop during these 18 months...

Dunno what the lesson learned should be...

Oh, and hardly a barnacle over the rest of the bottom. Pretty much ONLY on the prop.

[JamuJoe]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Bad, bad, BAD idea! Never put anything in your ears while diving! You should wear a hood however, regardless of water temperature.

This thread isn't about diving! Unless your props are 10 ft or more below the surface, ear plugs will not be a problem. They are commonly worn by competitive swimmers, surfers etc.. My props are 2 ft below the waterline. Equalization isn't an issue.

PADI Rescue Diver

[chris07732]

Originally Posted by At sea

The easy way is to not let the barnacles attach in the first place. A smearing of lanolin grease heated with a hairdryer keeps the prop perfectly clean between haulouts. The hull might be a forest but you can still see your reflection in the polished blades.

At sea: Intriguing statement. How did you prepare the prop prior to applying the lanolin? Why does it not wash off the prop during use.

My experience is that it is very difficult to get long term adherence of antifouling materials to the prop, even with grit blasting, priming and multiple coats of hard antifoul.

If copper sheathing the boat's bottom is effective antifouling, has anyone heard of copper plating your prop?

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by chris07732

...............

If copper sheathing the boat's bottom is effective antifouling, has anyone heard of copper plating your prop?

See http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...rop-12961.html
especially the last page

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by JamuJoe

This thread isn't about diving! Unless your props are 10 ft or more below the surface, ear plugs will not be a problem. They are commonly worn by competitive swimmers, surfers etc.. My props are 2 ft below the waterline. Equalization isn't an issue.

PADI Rescue Diver

It's a bad idea and I find it hard to believe you are actually endorsing it, considering you supposedly have some diving credentials. Just wear a hood for crissakes.

[JamuJoe]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

It's a bad idea and I find it hard to believe you are actually endorsing it, considering you supposedly have some diving credentials. Just wear a hood for crissakes.

I won't trade personal insults, but this forum would be better served if posters would actually read the thread and address the topic in a constructive manner. The issue of ear pressure equalization when diving to depth is quite different from that when swimming or snorkeling two or three feet from the surface. If you don't understand the difference, perhaps you should refrain from comments, and certainly from personal criticism.

[fstbttms]

I think what you are doing is irresponsible. You are advocating the use of something that carries inherent risk and you are advocating it to people who have no diving training. I understand that you don't wear them at depth, but it is very easy to imagine somebody dropping a tool and going after it (or going deeper than a few feet for some other reason), forgetting that they are wearing earplugs and injuring themselves.

Hull cleaners (who are exposed to plenty of waterborne crap every day) do not wear earplugs. They wear hoods.

From the DAN (Divers Alert Network) web site:

"Dr. Allen Dekelboum, an ENT and DAN consulting physician in California, reiterated the common view that earplugs create an air pocket in the ear canal, preventing equalization and resulting in differences in the pressure between the water and a diver's ear canal. This situation could lead to serious injury, he said."

DAN Divers Alert Network : Unplugged: Use of Earplugs In Scuba Divers

[zeehag]

i believe the comment about earplugs was meant as a deterrent to receiving barnacle seeds into ear canal, which a hood is a bit better equipment. even then i would wonder about earplugs as opposed to a hood......krill and seeds of barnacles and such will go to any unprotected opening.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i believe the comment about earplugs was meant as a deterrent to receiving barnacle seeds into ear canal...

Understood. The discussion was how to keep the bits and pieces of barnacles and other crud you knock off boat bottoms and running gear while cleaning them, out of your ears.

The scuba community is (at best) divided on the advisability of diving with ear plugs. My point is simply that there is a risk and no reason to do it, as far as hull cleaning is concerned.

[David M]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Okay on the scraper; just didn't want to gouge the metal too bad.

For barnacles a plastic scraper would remove all but the bases of the barnacles and not scratch the metal. Good enough until you get the boat hauled. Then I would use acid to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell and a red 3-M pad to remove everything.

Originally Posted by zeehag

i believe the comment about earplugs was meant as a deterrent to receiving barnacle seeds into ear canal, which a hood is a bit better equipment. even then i would wonder about earplugs as opposed to a hood......krill and seeds of barnacles and such will go to any unprotected opening.

Barnacles are animals and not plants and therefore have no seeds. A nauplii larvae in the Cyprid stage lives suspended in the water column until it clings to a surface that it chemically and physically prefers. They also prefer to colonize with other barnacles. It then goes through a metamorphosis and grows to what we recognize as a barnacle.

If you destroy the first of them, you discourage others from colonizing.

Barnacles are hermaphroditic and have the longest penis to body size ratio in the animal kingdom.

A little food for thought the next time you are going after these buggers Fstbttms.

[Tellie]

Absoultly going with Fstbttms on this one. Ear plugs are a very dangerous reccommendation for people who want to clean their own props and bottoms. Just a quick glance at the threads on homemade hookah gear will reveal the dangerous lack of knowledge when it comes to the dangers of shallow water diving by the untrained. Seeds or large wennies in the ears aside, a hood is by far the better method.

[JamuJoe]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

It's a bad idea and I find it hard to believe you are actually endorsing it, considering you supposedly have some diving credentials. Just wear a hood for crissakes.

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I think what you are doing is irresponsible. You are advocating the use of something that carries inherent risk and you are advocating it to people who have no diving training. I understand that you don't wear them at depth, but it is very easy to imagine somebody dropping a tool and going after it (or going deeper than a few feet for some other reason), forgetting that they are wearing earplugs and injuring themselves.

Hull cleaners (who are exposed to plenty of waterborne crap every day) do not wear earplugs. They wear hoods.

From the DAN (Divers Alert Network) web site:

"Dr. Allen Dekelboum, an ENT and DAN consulting physician in California, reiterated the common view that earplugs create an air pocket in the ear canal, preventing equalization and resulting in differences in the pressure between the water and a diver's ear canal. This situation could lead to serious injury, he said."

DAN Divers Alert Network : Unplugged: Use of Earplugs In Scuba Divers

Sir, you seem to be intent upon continuing your rudeness. You capture a comment and take it out of context, and then insult the poster.
My original post was a restatement of tips by others earlier in this thread, which I considered to be excellent tips. In this thread, the use of ear plugs as suggested by the OP was clearly in the context of cleaning a prop at shallow depth. I HAVE NOT ADVOCATED THE USE OF EARPLUGS WHEN DIVING. Your assertion that the use of ear plugs carries inherent risk if used improperly is correct. Using any tool improperly carries inherent risk. Cleaning a prop underwater carries inherent risk, and the person who undertakes it should be aware of all of the risks and take appropriate safety precautions. eg; Is the engine positively locked against starting? Is a second person maintaing buddy watch? Is a 'diver below' flag displayed?

Nor have I criticized your recommendation for wearing a hood. I've not used one in my scuba diving in tropical and sub-tropical waters, but if I were cleaning bottoms in San Francisco Bay I probably would wear one.

I will restate that this is not a thread on diving, but for reference the DAN site states "As for the use of earplugs, opinions differ on their use in scuba diving. In general, they are not recommended. However, some divers use earplugs in special situations." DAN Divers Alert Network : Unplugged: Use of Earplugs In Scuba Divers

Polite exchange of opinions is a strength of this forum. Rudeness and insults are not welcome.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by JamuJoe

Rudeness and insults are not welcome.

Please indicate to me any insults or rudeness I have directed towards you.

[skipmac]

Know this is thread drift but the subject is here and the issues are here. Mods might want to move this.

If one knows and understands the additional risks of using a certain technique (like using ear plugs underwater) and chooses to do so anyway then that is their decision. To recommend that on a public forum, where there certainly will be readers with less expertise that will not know or understand the risks, is not advised.

Even for those that know and understand the risks, when there is a viable option that does not add the risk it seems to be prudent to use that option.

An example of why not.

When I first got into technical diving I met a guy that was doing some very advanced dives; trimix to >300', multi-tank dives, side-mount and no-mount cave dives, etc. So he was planning a long, deep dive that would use a lot of trimix, also required a lot of deco which he was doing on high oxygen mixes including pure O2. Decided to start the dive on his oxygen tank to save his mix for the long dive. His plan was to drop the oxygen at his 20' deco station and switch to the mix. Well he had to sort out some things at the deco station, move some tanks around and such, got task focused and forgot he was on oxygen. Dropped down to set up his 70' deco stop on pure oxygen, toxed and went into convulsions under water. Fortunately his dive buddies were on the ball and got him to the surface in time for resuscitation.

So like fstbttms mentioned, what if you (or someone that reads this thread) drops a tool or forgets the plugs and drops to the bottom of a deep fin keel. Could be enough to end up with ruptured ear drums. So why not just use a hood? Does the job with zero added concerns.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by chris07732

At sea: Intriguing statement. How did you prepare the prop prior to applying the lanolin? Why does it not wash off the prop during use.

I'm not too scientific about it - I squirt off any gunk and use wet'n'dry, starting where necessary and progressively up to 1200 grade, apply lanolin grease and heat. Not sure why it sticks - I could never get antifoul to stick but this has worked for me.