Do I need to paint my prop?

[Hermit Scott]

Do I need to paint my prop with some kind of primer and some kind of anti-fouling paint?
I have a new prop, the one in the pic is broken. And I have a new shaft.
I scraped the bottom of my boat in the water and the pic of the side is what it looked like 4 to 5 weeks later when I hauled it. I have ablative paint but I am worried it will get blasted off of the prop quickly. I am worried that marine growth will unbalance the shaft and/or prop if I don't paint it with something.

 

[Allan R]

I use a product from Pettit on my prop. You can fiind some additional information on the link below.

Zinc Coat Barnacle Barrier

 

[sailingdog]

You have to be careful what you paint the prop with, since some of the paints will cause galvanic issues and may damage the prop. It would help if you said what your current prop is made of, since they can be made of several different materials, and the different materials will generally need to be treated differently.

 

[Shell]

I would use only paint that is made for your kind of prop.

Regardless, if you use the engine a lot, it won't last too long anyway.

SH

 

[ITMaster]

Scott

That is an incredible amount of growth. I have left my boat in the water for over two years and not seen that amount of growth on either the hull or the prop. And I keep the boat in a nasty nasty brackish water creek that has a water filtration plant upstream that back flushes their filters daily and dumps serious micro organisims that the barnicles love. All marine growth is quite proliferant in our area, and yet I can't say I have seen anything that abundant.

When was the last time that the boat was hauled? How often is it used? What kind of paint are you using? Perhaps you may consider getting a dive mask and spending a little time below the water line. I would think that you will pick up at least 2 or 3 knots when you get the boat back in.

Regarding a paint for protecting the prop, they make some stuff that is really expensive. I have seen it in a spray paint can, the standard size, the primer is about $25 to $30 and the paint is the same cost or a little bit more. I have to date not seen it work and have seen lots of people try and use it.

The best thing I have seen work is to use it or clean it. If you can't take the boat out at least once a week, perhaps you could at least go to the slip and engage the transmission and turn the prop in forward and reverse at least once a week.

I try and use my boat a minimum of at least once a week throughout the year. During the months of from late October through early April, the barnicles don't seem to grow here since the water temps are down; I suspect in your climate you need to really stay on top of it, as evidenced in the photos. Good luck with getting that cleaned up. You may want to look really close to the gel coat and or barrier coat if you have one to ensure that you don't have any penetrations into the surface from the barnicles.

Good luck.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I've attached a pic of my prop (and bottom) the one year I did not paint it ...:dance: For some reason or other, I didn't do well in the Wed night races that year. Seriously, I paint my bronze prop and shaft with Interlux Primocon primer and then two coats of whatever hard modified epoxy bottom paint I have on hand. This "sort of" works in that by the time the boat is hauled, most of the paint, but not all, is gone. I typically only have a few barnacles on the prop. I don't thinik I can do better than this....

 

[John T1594]

Prime then Paint

I have had some success in preventing growth on my prop and shaft in the salt and brackish waters of Barnegat Bay NJ. I clean the prop and shaft down to bare shinny metal then wipe down with acetone. I then apply two coats of InterProtect 2000E primer followed by two coat of the hard copper epoxy paint that I use on the rest of the bottom. Be sure to not paint under or over the shaft zincs.

This year, as in the past, I did not have one barnacle or any other growth on my prop and/or shaft. I use the boat every weekend during the six month sailing season and run the motor at least 1-2+ hours per week.

At the end of the season, most of the paint and primer are worn off the prop blades but the hub and shaft and still protected.

Practical Sailor magazine is planning to do an ariticle on painting the prop and shaft so stay tuned

 

[Hermit Scott]

growth

The last time the boat was bottom painted was 5 to 8 years ago. AND, no exageration, the growth I scraped off was very similar to the growth in those obscene pictures Warren posted. Except the growth on my boat was more like a coral reef. You see the stuff in the pics, it was like that but more coral, there were shrimp living in the growth. I had to scrape it in the water because I had to motor it 40 miles to a boat yard.
If you look at my link to my myspace page, you will see how it looks now. I should be getting my prop shaft and a new coupling tomorrow and I will go down to the boat Tuesday to install. Then I have 40 miles to motor to the marina I am going to keep her at.

The prop is bronze and the shaft is Aquamet 17(a modified 304 stainless). The coupling I am installing is 304 stainless, new cutlass bearing and gore GFO packing. When I took the shaft out and the prop out they had been left so long in the water with no zinc that they were completely shot.

Also I don't know how much zinc to install. Some people say you can install too much.

I want to be able to leave my boat in the water as long as possible. I am a scuba diver and I live in Texas so going under to clean is no big deal. But I don't want to have to do it every week.

Please give me your wisdom on this. These things were expensive to replace. I don't want to have to do this again for a while. I will check out the links you guys have provided.

If you know of specific types of primer and paint to use please let me know what they are for the type of shaft and prop I have.

 

[sailingdog]

Hermit Scott-

Yes, you can definitely install too many zincs and cause yourself other problems.

 

[BobM]

First year with the new boat and I had significant barnacle growth after only 90 days in the water. The boat was sailed weekly in July and August, but sat in September due to an illness.

 

[Jim]

WOW! I am glad we keep the boat in brackish water!

No don't paint the prop. I dive down and sand mine every other month. We get pin worms and a few barnicules. Nothing like you have!

 

[larryw]

Don't paint the prop. It was designed to work without paint. 8 years without bottom paint? I haul and paint every three years, but I have a diver clean the bottom every month. It's money well-spent since the water is cold and I don't want to do it myself, but it must be done. No one ever said owning a sailboat would be an inexpensive past time, and trying to cheap out is a false economy that will come back and bite you one day.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I am not going to paint the prop or shaft. I will be diving around the boat anyway, so I will just keep it clean. I don't plan on pulling my boat from the water for 3 years if I can help it. So I guess paint on a prop won't last that long anyway.
Larry, you can be 'cheap' as long as you are proficient. And if you are proficient enough you can have better work done on your boat at 1/10 the price. I am only proficient at some things. I want to be proficient at all things concerning my boat, just so I can have a better boat. Of course if I was rich I would pay someone else to take care of most things. I don't blame you for that. Being rich isn't just about getting to do the things you WANT to do(like sailing), it's also about not having to do the things you DON'T want to do(like getting barnacles in your shorts).