Faster easiest way to remove prop barnacles on the hard ?

Full size barnacles...a mess...on two 65 foot boat props that had no bottom paint.... Anyone with similar situation tried an oscillating chisel, like a Fein Multicaster with chisel attachment, for example ? A pneumatic chisel would shave 'em off like getting a haircut but got no source of compressed air where the boat sits now. Other ideas other than elbow grease ?

(and whatever the solution is, would like to avoid removing them to do it)

Try Muriatic acid

Five-in-one tool and then muriatic.

Or grinder with nice wire wheel.

Ski in NC said:

Five-in-one tool and then muriatic.

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Well yeah, that would work...but still wondering if anyone here has ever tried a powered chisel of some sort for this sort of thing.

I used a stand up pneumatic one once on a concrete floor that had dried fiberglass resin in many areas and it made night and day difference in the ease of getting that stuff off the floor compared to a manual chisel scraper.

I would be afraid of gouging with a power chisel.

Yep, not liking power chisel here. No needle gun either. Prop material too soft for those. Fein tool might work, worth a try.

Even with major league barnacles a hand scraper usually removes all but the base, then muriatic acid or 120 grit small sander should bring you down to bare metal.

Not sure why all the suggestions, dozens of marinas that I have either worked at, had my boat hauled at, or just hapoened to be there all use wire wheels.

Quick, easy, least amount of damage to the prop except acid wash......

........ on two 65 foot boat props ..........

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Those are some pretty big props!

How exactly do you do that? I've used them in drills and wasn't real happy with the results. Is there a particular wheel or tool to use?

mike66 said:

How exactly do you do that? I've used them in drills and wasn't real happy with the results. Is there a particular wheel or tool to use?

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Any tool will take some education and practice to produce good results. You've got your flat wheels and your cup wheels. You have your coarse wheels and you have your fine wheels. You have steel, stainless steel and brass wheels. Then you have your motor. I would think an angle motor would be easier to control than a hand drill.

Speed will have an effect on how well it works and how well you can control it. Also pressure against the surface.

had a 39 Bayliner that we left in the water for 4 months and we thought would not be bad and just wanted to use it through the season
But duh

Used a 9 inch auto body disk grinder
What a B with everything flying everywhere after we knocked most of it off we used hand scrappers and smaller sander and some acid.
never again did I not have the bottom paint done.

have you tried a high pressure washer

Okay. Back to 120 grit on a. Fein sander.

mike66 said:

How exactly do you do that? I've used them in drills and wasn't real happy with the results. Is there a particular wheel or tool to use?

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I have a 4 inch Dewalt grinder.

For props I use about a 3 to 4 inch cup, stiff wire but not too aggressive.

It is my go to tool for grinding, sanding, wire wheelung, etc. Probably my most used tool after the drill and screw gun.

Grinder for sure. Drill with wire wheel is tough for this amount of area.

4.5" grinder with wire cup. Also double eye protection and dust mask.
Stay out of the line of fire.

Long pants and long sleeved shirt. Those cups throw wires and its no fun on the receiving end.

For what it is worth, I'll share my experience with marine growth on my underwater metals.

I could not beat the growth stuff no matter how I tried until lately. Once even took my props to a plating company and had them copper plated. No improvement. I have found though, that cleaning the metal and spraying it with zinc chromate to act as a binder for bottom paint works wonders. I recommend that hard bottom paint be used rather than ablative.

My shafts and props are almost clean at fall haul time using this approach.

Have used Mary KayOn/Off; or Rydlime, with a wire brush. Results varied, but were generally good.

Never thought of Ridlyme, but it certainly makes sense. Thanks!

Use an oscillating scraper with the flexible blade that has teeth. Easy peasy.

There's a 12v Verizon so you can do it in the water too. "Waveblade"

The Fein multi with scraper works well. Use it upside down like at a high angle and keep it sharp with a file. It will not do damage if like any tool you use it appropriately. Compared to a wire wheel in a air powered die grinder, the wheel wins. Compared to a wire wheel in a drill, the Multimaster wins.

Also, the Multimaster wins hands down on creating less mess, more chips less dust. Wire wheel would ideally require tenting if on bottom paint. The multi master worked well for old propspeed, which was as bad or sometimes worse than barnacles.

Wire wheel in die grinder with tenting and respirator will still be quicker than the next alternative. I just hate the respirator and tenting mess, heat and nasty. But then I had a lot of barnacles on top of bottom paint.

Poly wheels do a good job. (Manufactured from nylon cord with polyurethane coating impregnated with silicon carbide) Available at HD.

Wire cup brushes can be found with bronze brissles.

These will eat the barnacle and not much off the prop.

The steel cups can be found with very thin wires that also are easier to not damage the prop.

Go to the hardware store and buy a brick bolster. This is a heavy steel chisel with about a four inch wide blade and a rubber cased handle normally used for splitting bricks. They have enough weight to make the job really easy and are very cheap.

One simple way:



After all it is hard like rock isn't it?

L.

D.Duck44 said:

Go to the hardware store and buy a brick bolster. This is a heavy steel chisel with about a four inch wide blade and a rubber cased handle normally used for splitting bricks. They have enough weight to make the job really easy and are very cheap.

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Great tool for the hull, but the question was for the props.

Not sure how in my experience the industry standard tool where I am from is glossed over.

I'm another going with an angle grinder and wire wheel and cup brush. You'll be impressed at how well this works.

Rydlyme in a bag around the prop. Rotating the blades as needed. Or brush it on several times to loosen the growth and the a putty knife should do it.
Or Pull the props and soak in a tub.