The guy I sail with is looking for a good slick coating for the folding
prop on his J-109 racing sailboat. The prop appears to be made of brass
or bronze, and gets a pretty good dose of hard marine growth during the
season here in the northeast. He has the bottom cleaned each week or
just before races during the season. The bottom has some kind of slick
paint or coating on it, not like anti-fouling paint, but the prop is
bare. So far, there is only one coating that sounds good, but requires
the prop to be removed and sent to the company for treatment. Anyone
know of a treatment that can be self-applied that would not cause a lot
of friction in the water, and yet protect from sea life?

I've tried several things without much success because they all get
scoured off tghe prop by cavitation. Furthermore, if there is a zinc
nearby, it will suppress any copper ions from going into the water from
the prop. He might try removing the shaft zinc which will allow the
copper in the bronze to act as an anti-foulant but this is risky for
such an expensive prop.

Sailaway wrote:

The guy I sail with is looking for a good slick coating for the
folding prop on his J-109 racing sailboat. The prop appears to be made
of brass or bronze, and gets a pretty good dose of hard marine growth
during the season here in the northeast. He has the bottom cleaned
each week or just before races during the season. The bottom has some
kind of slick paint or coating on it, not like anti-fouling paint, but
the prop is bare. So far, there is only one coating that sounds good,
but requires the prop to be removed and sent to the company for
treatment. Anyone know of a treatment that can be self-applied that
would not cause a lot of friction in the water, and yet protect from
sea life?

--------------------

I have a source of teflon (tm) powder which can be added to
paints/epoxies but frankly don't know how effective it would be.


paul oman


--

As a matter of fact just a few hours ago I called about "Propspeed", that
supposedly does just that. Propspeed was mentioned on either this group or
rbc, and on emailing the manufacture in New Zealand, I believe, I got the
sense that it was not "owner applied". However, in talking with the
distributor given by the home company, I was told that it could be owner
applied, and that instructions were on this website:

www.propspeedusa.com/

Two years ago for the first time I gave the full treatment as recommended by
Interlux to my props to put antifouling on them. Seems like it was a total
of about 4 or 5 liquids, 2 of which were mixed. together. When I haul in the
next few days, I'll decide whether to do it again or maybe start over from
scratch w/ Propspeed. As the original poster of Propspeed said, it is
expensive. I think the quantity I'd need for my 2 props is about $200
(smallest container)


"Sailaway" wrote in message
...
The guy I sail with is looking for a good slick coating for the folding
prop on his J-109 racing sailboat. The prop appears to be made of brass or
bronze, and gets a pretty good dose of hard marine growth during the
season here in the northeast. He has the bottom cleaned each week or just
before races during the season. The bottom has some kind of slick paint or
coating on it, not like anti-fouling paint, but the prop is bare. So far,
there is only one coating that sounds good, but requires the prop to be
removed and sent to the company for treatment. Anyone know of a treatment
that can be self-applied that would not cause a lot of friction in the
water, and yet protect from sea life?

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:19:44 -0500, Sailaway
wrote:

The guy I sail with is looking for a good slick coating for the folding
prop on his J-109 racing sailboat. The prop appears to be made of brass
or bronze, and gets a pretty good dose of hard marine growth during the
season here in the northeast. He has the bottom cleaned each week or
just before races during the season.

Bronze. Ask the diver to clean the prop also.

The problem with folding props is that they are built to fairly close
tolerances and need to swing open and closed with little or no
resistance. I have never seen one painted.

Interesting. Have you tried applying a Teflon/epoxy mix?

I'd half expect a pitted surface where the powder bits left for lack of
bonding, but if they were small ... ????

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm
"Paul Oman" wrote in message
nk.net...

I have a source of teflon (tm) powder which can be added to paints/epoxies
but frankly don't know how effective it would be.

paul oman

derbyrm wrote:

Interesting. Have you tried applying a Teflon/epoxy mix?

I'd half expect a pitted surface where the powder bits left for lack of
bonding, but if they were small ... ????


---------------- the teflon (tm) powder is the size of flour...... paul

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm
"Paul Oman" wrote in message
ink.net...



I have a source of teflon (tm) powder which can be added to paints/epoxies
but frankly don't know how effective it would be.

paul oman

Thanks for all the replies. I'll pass the info along

Sailaway wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. I'll pass the info along
As a side note, he could try using Anhydrous Lanolin (the nice goopy
white stuff) I've heard a good smear of that keeps props nice and
clean.. Shouldnt be a problem for a folding prop either..

Sailaway wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. I'll pass the info along
As a side note, he could try using Anhydrous Lanolin (the nice goopy
white stuff) I've heard a good smear of that keeps props nice and
clean.. Shouldnt be a problem for a folding prop either..