Propeller antifouling
I have a Gori prop fitted on my Swan 40 and would like to antifoul prop and shaft.   Can you tell me your experience with different brands of prop antifouling please ?

Dear Richard,

I tried Trilux (I have a Max Prop three blades) and I am not satisfied at all (it lasted not more than a few days), I would now like to try Propspeed, I have been told it's a very good prop/shaft antifouling.

Comments are very welcome!

Fair Winds!

Matteo (38/067 Only You)

Dear Richard and Matteo,

Lately, I have had a discussion about the mentioned problem with a "development engineer" at International. The content of this discussion might be of interest:

-The major problem, according to this engineer, is to have the antifouling to stick to metal such as bronze and stainless steel, i.e. propeller and shat.

-A possible solution ( I say possible because I have not tried it yet, even if my engineer seems quite sure of the result) is to start by priming the propeller and the shaft with a good primer such as Interprotect heavily diluted with the Solution Nr. 7 (also from international). This priming must be done several times. After that put two or three coats of BQA 109 antifouling. The figure 109 stands for the black color. I think that the BQA can also be obtain in brown

I will try this solution this coming season and will let you know the results.

Cheers

Philippe (47/050 Farouche)

Dear Philippe,

thank you very much, sounds good, when are you getting the antifouling? I should get the boat ashore for the antifouling in July, hope you could give us a definitive experience by then...!?

Thanks a lot and Fair Winds!

Matteo (38/067 Only You)

Guys, I am advised it is not good to cover S/S with anything below the water line.  Remeber galvanic crevise corrosion will occurr if you do.

John Bailey 

Hello John,

There are different school of thoughts indeed. However, it is a fact that the SS edge on our keels - I also have one of those edges on my keel - has been covered and it looks brand new when uncovered for inspection.

There are two type of problems here. One is that of the corrosion of the metal and whether it should be covered or not. The second problem is the method of getting the antifouling to sticl to both SS and to bronze.

I am addressing the second problem.

Cheers

Philippe (47/050 Farouche)

DEar Richard, I have been using prop speed on my prop for a while with great results. Although i am not using the boat that much lately and it stays on the water (salt) all the time and I get over 12 months of protection. Prop speed is very expensive, 300US+ for the kit and once you open it you have to use the whole thing. What I do is I go over to the yards that work on megayachts and find out when are they doing pro speed on a large prop, then talk to the painter and for a tip they are usually more that willing to paint a small prop.

Guys, I am advised it is not good to cover S/S with anything below the water line.  Remeber galvanic crevise corrosion will occurr if you do.

John, could you elaborate on the subject of galvanic crevise corrosion as this is the first time I have come across this topic.  Does it also apply to bronze propellors ?

Many thanks

Richard

I recommend machine polish using Autosol metal polish http://www.autosol.com.
Work on the prop until surface is totally smooth. Has proved to be the best solution so far for my prop in Scandinavian waters.

Brgds.

Carsten