Haulout and propspeed

I hauled last Friday afternoon and splashed this morning. The primary reason was to replace zinc anodes on shafts and rudders, but I was due for antifoul and was keen to try propspeed given strong recommendations by local TF members.

First pic is stbd stern quarter before pressure wash. Above the chine is mostly weed, accumulated since Jan 15 which was the last quick dive and scrub on the hull. Below the chine is mostly barnacles. I had scraped the props and rudders, but not shafts or struts, in Jan 15 and also in early Jul 15. The antifoul itself dates back to Oct 13. I think a bit long - I don't want to spend a day scraping barnacles off again.

The props look kinda nice with the Propspeed applied. I hope they stay free of barnacles! Although I have not accurately measured it, the trip back up river after splashing, against the current, seemed to give me an extra knot at the same rpm compared to before the haulout.

Looks great Brian

Hmmm, why didn't they put prospeed on all the metal, shafts, struts, rudder, through hulls, etc? All my metal gets propspeed and only the hull gets paint.

Ted

Our boat looked similar when we had it hauled a couple of weeks ago, a year and a half overdue. This has been a particularly bad year for barnacles because of the lack of cloud cover this summer. We were losing close to a knot toward the end there.

We do not use anything on our props as both the yard and the dive service we use say that prop coatings don't last much longer than a year here so for most people who go two to three years betwern haulouts the coatings are not worth the cost. The exception is people who don't use their boats much so they just sit. We use our boat year round.

O C Diver said:

Hmmm, why didn't they put prospeed on all the metal, shafts, struts, rudder, through hulls, etc? All my metal gets propspeed and only the hull gets paint.

Ted

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The work was done by myself and a friend in the boating industry. He worked for me at discounted rates and also he was able to source the Propspeed at a good price. Normally its only available to accredited applicators. He was concerned one kit would only cover the 30 x 26 props, and that there would not be enough to do the shafts etc. But we ended up using just one of the etchprimer/hardener combos and just half of the clear topcoat, even being generous in applying both. So there would have been enough in one kit to do a lot more of the metal and that's probably what we will do next time. Cal kept the other half for himself/another boat, as he did with all the materials. I only paid for what was used. Its good to not have leftovers lying around as half used cans probably would not keep until I next needed them.

We used PA 10 under the antifoul, which was common practice until Propspeed came along. I'll be interested to compare performance.

I think normal practice with PropSpeed would be to do the shafts, struts & rudders as well as props. My own experience with it is +ve, BUT it does require strict adherence to the manufacturer's prep instructions. Shortcutting prep and applying to anything less than perfectly clean will reduce its life to just a few months (guess how I know this!) I haven't seen/heard of it being applied to thru'hulls though (as reported by Ted at post #3); interested to hear if others do that....as I'm about to haul out and antifoul (Altex #5) and PropSpeed myself.

I've heard some crazy $$$ numbers for this product, hard to justify myself.

Props in need of repair?

I am new to Trawler Forum and looking for advice on props. I am looking to buy a Viking 44, during the survey I was told by the surveyor that The prop nuts were in need of work.
I contacted the broker, and was told that it was no big deal. I then contacted the surveyor again he sent me these photos. After seeing the photos I am wondering what all has to be done?

They need more then work, either something is wrong electrical wise at the dock this is kept at or the boat has a bonding/electrical issue, you have to find the source of the issue, I'm guessing the zincs were long gone?

I noticed that in the photo of the shafts do not have any zincs at all. I am having an electrician coming later this week. There are wipers on the shafts. My worry is what needs to be done to the props? It is obvious that the nuts are wasted, but can the props be saved or do they need to be replaced?

The props don't look terrible to me, which is interesting given how "melted" the two prop nuts are. If it were me I'm have them removed and sent into a prop shop and have them take a look more closely, they are more qualified.

If you use your boat enough, you don't need propspeed.

The pink coloration in the photos is a very bad sign. As Marlinmike says it indicates an electrical or bonding system problem. It could be that there is or has been no zinc anode protection.

The pink color is the indicator that copper has been leached out of the bronze (I think I have that right). This compromises the strength of the metal. The components cannot be repaired but must be replaced.

The evidence in the photos suggests that all the boat's through-hulls, assuming they are bronze, should be checked for the same problem. Having a through hull fail is not something you want to have happen.

Thanks for the input, I will now have the broker make sure that the props are looked at by the prop pro's, and that the nuts are replaced and anodes are installed on the shafts.
Thanks again

This past April we cleaned and polished our props and shafts, then sprayed them with Rustoleum Cold Galvinizing Compound. Used 2 cans costing $7.99 each. My diver inspected them yesterday and said they are as clean as if I had used Propspeed. This is certainly not a long-term report but it is promising.

Howard

Marin said:

The pink color is the indicator that copper has been leached out of the bronze (I think I have that right). This compromises the strength of the metal. The components cannot be repaired but must be replaced.

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Actually it is the loss of Zinc that produces the pink color change.

rardoin said:

Actually it is the loss of Zinc that produces the pink color change.

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Thanks for the correction.

rardoin said:

Actually it is the loss of Zinc that produces the pink color change.

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Unless it is Baker's props...then it may be pink undergarments!

In that instance it is termed depantyfication; caused by ethanol saturation in female CPU's.

rardoin said:

Unless it is Baker's props...then it may be pink undergarments!

In that instance it is termed depantyfication; caused by ethanol saturation in female CPU's.

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This is the fair maiden I captured this past weekend!!! It's a Pirate's life!!!!

It's good to be the king!

Edit- failed attempt to upload short video clip....

Mel Brooks fans will get the visual however.

round #2

Insequent said:

The work was done by myself and a friend in the boating industry. He worked for me at discounted rates and also he was able to source the Propspeed at a good price. Normally its only available to accredited applicators.

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Or to people who shop at West Marine, B.O.W., National Marine Supply, Lewis, etc.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Or to people who shop at West Marine, B.O.W., National Marine Supply, Lewis, etc.

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The market may be a bit different in 'stralia!!!

Baker said:

The market may be a bit different in 'stralia!!!

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Oh, yeah. I didn't notice he was in Oz.

Yes, sale of Propspeed is restricted here it seems. The argument is that unless it is applied exactly as specified it wont last. Otherwise its guaranteed for a year, and most get longer life from it.

Marlinmike said:

I've heard some crazy $$$ numbers for this product, hard to justify myself.

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Mike: cost for PropSpeed (product, prep & application) is AUD550 for twins (props, shafts, rudders, skegs)...that's about USD400. (I happened to get a quote yesterday for my 24-month haul-out). I don't think that is too bad, given my running gear stays really clean for 20 months and 'ok' for the last 4 (in Sydney harbour).

Baker said:

If you use your boat enough, you don't need propspeed.

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Baker: the local experience is that the more you use your boat, the BETTER/longer PropSpeed works.

The Propspeed kit we used cost $305, and i only used half of it so paid $150. Prep took a bit of time at $35/hr. Application is quite fast.

hmason wrote in post #15;
"No, it is probably not friction in the hydraulic system itself, but friction in things like rudder post and hydrodynamic loads on rudder. I am not familiar with that brand, but am with other brands and with boat dockside it is easy to turn wheel lock to lock. There is some friction, but there will be in any syst"

I did that too last fall.
Should be nice and clean re Marin's report of using nothing. I used AmorAll most all of my time in Alaska.

Baker,
Don't you ever date librarians?

manyboats said:

I did that too last fall.
Should be nice and clean re Marin's report of using nothing. I used AmorAll most all of my time in Alaska.

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There are some qualifications to my statement, Eric. One is that the boat gets used a lot, or at least has its prop(s) spun up at near cruise rpm at least every month or so for as long as it takes to get the engine(s) up to operating temperature and held there for awhile if the boat isn't actually taken out, which is of course preferable.

Second is that it not be a super-bad barnacle year, which this year was.