Prop coating. DON'T DO THIS!!

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Nothing is better than Propspeed, IMHO.

This is as good a recommendation as you are going to get. Matt puts his hands on more props in a week than most of the rest of us do in a decade.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Was trying to decide between PropSpeed and Petit Prop Coat when the geniuses at the marina insisted the best thing ever was black permanent magic marker. I expressed serious skepticism so they produced a couple of boat owners that said they did it on their boats and was the best thing ever.

Did you also get invited on a snipe hunt? Or sent looking for a left-handed monkey wrench?

[HopCar]

Prop Speed works

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by BillKny

A good argument for an isolation transformer. As soon as that leakage current got done with your coating it was going to work on the prop itself!

If you're in the mood, please educate me on the best plan. 50' Cat, shaft drive.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by BillKny

Did you also get invited on a snipe hunt? Or sent looking for a left-handed monkey wrench?

No but they did try to sell me a set of metric screw drivers.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Hauled for bottom paint in May and installed a new prop. Was trying to decide between PropSpeed and Petit Prop Coat when the geniuses at the marina insisted the best thing ever was black permanent magic marker. I expressed serious skepticism so they produced a couple of boat owners that said they did it on their boats and was the best thing ever. Two years later and the prop clean as new.

Like a fool I thought I would try it. Well the results to say the least were dismal. Getting ready to head back south and found the prop to be completely covered in heavy barnacle growth. Worst I've ever had. I think the stuff must act like barnacle fertilizer. So bad I couldn't get it clean just free diving and ended up renting SCUBA gear. Took almost an hour of scraping to get the prop and all the little nooks and crannies (it's a folding prop) clean.

Think I'm going back to Prop Speed

The old adage remains true, "If something sounds too good to be true it probably is." Its a lesson we all learn the hard way. One recommendation I tried was a heavy paste wax coating which didn't prove worth while.

I use Petit Prop Coat Barnacle Barrier #1792 but still have barnacles on my one year zinc changes. My guess it is probably good for about six months.

However, another adage is "A difference is a difference if it makes a difference." That means going a year without any prop protection to establish a baseline and comparing anti-barnacle products against it. So take a prop photo on each haul and compare your results.

Maybe Petit #1792 isn't perfect but better than nothing.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Thanks.
I used an ablative for the bottom on the last haul. Forget the brand but I think was initials like ABC or BCP or something. Just dove the bottom after a season in a very high fouling harbor and a very light brush with a soft sponge was all it took to remove a very light coat of slime.

Probably Interlux ACT.

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by BillKny

A good argument for an isolation transformer. As soon as that leakage current got done with your coating it was going to work on the prop itself!

To me clear we have isolation transformers in our shore power system.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by MJH

The old adage remains true, "If something sounds too good to be true it probably is." Its a lesson we all learn the hard way. One recommendation I tried was a heavy paste wax coating which didn't prove worth while.

Well in the defense of my gullibility (stupidity?) two boat owners jumped into the discussion who both swore they used it personally on their very own boats and it worked miraculously. If it hadn't been for that I would have laughed and moved on.

I don't think they were outright lying but do wonder if it really worked for them or what.

[Squanderbucks]

As a powerboat owner for 30+ years I have run the gammut of products and methods for use on my running gear and I can say categorically the only combo of products I have used that has done it's job for any extended period is Prop Speed. That being said I am not sure it is a product for many sail boaters. From following this forum for years now I see many if not most sailors do not haul their boats on an annual basis - some going for years between bottom jobs. Maybe monthly or periodic hand scrubbing to keep up with the buildup.

If I was only concerned with the hull that would likely work for me as well as the bottom does not get fully repainted every year but the running gear does. Any degree of fouling on a powerboat drastically affects performance and fuel consumption negatively.

Prop Speed is soft and hand scrubbing I suspect would be a problem. It bonds pretty well to the metal and resists the forces of water pressure but I suspect that if it was run in areas of high sargassum or silt it could be worn away. I don't think it should be messed with once applied as that would alter the slick soft surface.

I do not find it runs into the electrolysis issue that copper paints can have. I have used many different "metal priming" undercoatings for traditional bottom paints and found none of them to do a particularly great job for an extended time span due to the copper paint failure (often with even self generated electrolysis between the paint and shaft- struts etc).

As to Petit's Prop Glide - I found it in a word terrible. It did not resist barnacles for even 4 months.

Prop Speed is very technique sensitive and others in my area have had some issues with peeling. I personally have not encountered that but have found it to wear away on the leading edges of props and rudders sometimes, In my case it is likely from traveling in shallow water getting from the intracoastal waterway to my dock and kicking up silt sometimes.

I have an experiment going on at this time with substituting their metal primer with Interlux's e2000 epoxy metal primer and applying the Prop speed while the primer is still a little tacky (after about 1 hour setting). I am hopeful that the good metal adhesion and the bond to Prop Speed may bypass some of the erratic bonding of their "special" primer. I will post my results at next haul out.

Bottom line - I think for those who do not frequently ( once a year) haul and repaint that Prop Speed is not their solution.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Squanderbucks

I do not find it runs into the electrolysis issue that copper paints can have.

Why would it? It has no biocide in it, metal or otherwise.

[JPA Cate]

We've had Prop Speed last 2 yrs. in our usage (both warm, subtropical water and colder water). We have also used Prop Gold to good effect. Wouldn't be without it. There are places from where you can buy just the amount you need; kits are available, now; and it is is bit touchy to apply (one does have to follow the directions carefully, needs to go on right after the primer).

Ann

[sailcrazy]

We are a sailboat, and use an Autoprop (folding prop). When we sailed in the Medd, we, too, heard about the "carbon Black" printer ink, and the black magic marker approach to a clean prop. so we tried both(over 2 years)....and neither worked. We also tried Prop Speed. It is very application-sensitive, expensive, and for us did not work at all. Our best success has been to paint the prop with the ablative anti-foul paint we use, knowing it will not last very long. Or...do nothing at all! We've had far better luck with ...doing nothing at all, except sanding clean when we haulout, and diving on the bottom~1/month and doing a little scraping!

[Kd9truck]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Well in the defense of my gullibility (stupidity?) two boat owners jumped into the discussion who both swore they used it personally on their very own boats and it worked miraculously. If it hadn't been for that I would have laughed and moved on.

I don't think they were outright lying but do wonder if it really worked for them or what.

May be it was the type of marker you used? They are not all the same.

[skipperpete]

I posted a bit about the “ink as antifoul” once so here’s a brief rundown.
The shipping company I worked for bought a number of new, large propellers which arrived with shipping details written on the blades with some sort of ink. I fitted the propellers but one was on a salvage tug that sat for some time at the dock after the refloat and had to be drydocked again for anodes. When she came out, the writing was still on the blades but everywhere else on the prop was shelled up. We contacted the store man at the propeller factory and found out what he used and then bought a LOT of ink and did each of the fleet as they came out for antifoul........total waste of time. It made no difference at all and we went back to naked bronze.