Prop Coatings

[Brent Strickland]

What coatings have owners tried that is successful?
We have tried Prop-O-Drev and Prop Shield to limited success, also tried
polishing but maybe not to the standards required to stay clean.
Is there a magic formula out there?
Thanks in anticipation
Brent Smokey Cat

[Alasdair Woodfield]

Hello Brent,

Over the last 6 years I’ve tried several products, in each case with polishing as a preparation. This last August I tried Prop-O-Drev, and cannot as yet comment on it’s effectiveness.

The first thing I tried was Propspeed, lanolin base red goop. Useless, in 2012 I had occasion to lift-out after a month, treatment 98% gone, only remained at the blade roots. I then tried Seajet Peller Clean, it is a multilayer product. The propeller needs to be cleaned, & polished throughly as the first coat is an epoxy, and the air temp needs to be high. This is then coated with several coats of a sticky silicon based liquid. It looks really good once on, but sure enough when hauled out after a year, fouled propeller. Patches of the epoxy remnained and they were very difficult to remove.

So like you I look forward to the ‘magic’ product to resist the fouling.

Alasdair

[Brent Strickland]

Hi Alasdair,
Thank you for your reply, it seems as though we all have the same problem with prop coatings,
I think I will go back to Prop-O-Derv, it seems to last reasonable well on my bow thruster.
I too hope someone may have the answer.
Regards
Brent

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Just to add to this thread, I was shocked on the build up on my propeller from last year. The coral worm build up is shown in the first photo.

In Chichester Marina they recommend

Velox

.

You have to sand the propeller first after usual wash off, the manufacturer recommends 80 grit using a sander, but I found it was best using manual sanding. In the UK the distributor says not to use acetone to wash down the prop.

You then apply one coat of primer, followed by two of top coat.

I Will monitor how it looks over the season.

rgds

Richard

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[39Schuss]

If you ever think about changing your propeller then going for a feathering KiwiProp gives a big advantage. The blades are made of a special composite plastic called Zytel. As a result you paint normal antifoul on them. Works a treat and remarkably it is still there at the end of the season.
I’ve had mine for 10 years now. Given the cost of some of these special prop coatings then the saving will go a long way towards the price of the prop itself.
Another advantage, as I found out a couple of years ago, is that the blades are individually replaceable by yourself at very reasonable cost. I had damage on a blade tip from hitting some underwater object. Removing the blade just involved knocking out a pin and replacing the blade with a new pin.

Regards

Steve

[Author]

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