Painted Prop

[BaylorU]

Hey everyone, on my Cutwater 26 I recently noticed the PO bottom painted the prop! I’ve never in my life seen or heard of anyone painting their prop with anti fouling paint. Seems to me like a great way to reduce efficiency, increase noise and cavitation, and generally be a bad idea.
Is this common practice around here? This is my first “slow boat”, so maybe it’s not as big a deal on a slower boat? I don’t have the prop on my sailboat painted, and I have never even considered doing so.
Would love thoughts. Thanks!
Ken

 

[Mr. Ed]

Did they use regular bottom paint? Or could it have been something like Propspeed? https://oceanmax.com/marine-products/propspeed/product-information

 

[BaylorU]

No, definitely not what was used. It’s just basic, bumpy bottom paint.
That stuff looks awesome, though.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

I think bottom paint will just slough off within an hour so i would not worry.

I paint mine with a barnicle barrier coat as I cant afford Propspeed! :shock:

 

[Red Raven]

I think some folks who don’t use their boats much may find the need to have anti-fouling paint on their prop. However, If the boat gets used more than once every couple of months I doubt anything can grow on it that wouldn’t come off quickly with the high rpms of the prop. I don’t put anything on the prop and it always stays clean but we keep the boat in the water only for 6 months and use it often during that time. I do paint the rudder and the trim tabs however with barnacle barrier or equivalent.

In any case, if applied evenly I doubt it hurts performance.

Curt

 

[ixlr8]

I bottom painted my last boat, but didn't paint the prop, or the prop cage. At the end of the season the bottom of my boat was perfectly clean, but the prop and prop cage were covered with growth and barnacles which took 3kts off of a 10kts boat. I should have done something to protect the prop and prop cage.

 

[BaylorU]

Interesting...
To clarify, it’s painted with a barnacle barrier. It’s an anti fouling paint.
I don’t think it’s necessary, and I’ll likely remove it from the prop somehow....not sure how yet but maybe a soft blast media. I have to do some research on best methods.

 

[Brian B]

I use this paint on all underwater metals including the prop. If I didn’t everything would be covered in sea growth, guess it depends where you boat. I prefer being able to brush it on rather than the spray paints and dealing with overspray.
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/m ... AF_Results

 

[Red Raven]

Interesting...
To clarify, it’s painted with a barnacle barrier. It’s an anti fouling paint.
I don’t think it’s necessary, and I’ll likely remove it from the prop somehow....not sure how yet but maybe a soft blast media. I have to do some research on best methods.

Ken,

Regarding blasting it off be aware that there is zinc in Barnacle Barrier. The blast shops I talked to regarding potentially blasting it off my rudder (another story) would not touch it because of the environmental concerns with contaminated blast material. I ended up leaving it on. If you have the equipment to do it yourself and means of disposal then probably not a problem.

Curt

 

[BaylorU]

Interesting. Never had thought about that, but it’s a good thing to be aware of. I have a blaster cabinet so I could certainly take care of it myself.
Thanks for that!
K

 

[captstu]

Two years into propspeed. Works as advertised



Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796

 

[rpmerrill]

The West Marine spray paint works great for me.
I think I had two barnacles and almost no slime at the end of the season 2.

 

[Salty7]

I use Pettit Barnacle Barrier and find it works great. I have used Propspeed too and didn't find it to be effective any longer than Barnacle Barrier and it cost a lot of money to apply. If you leave your boat in the water and apply nothing to the metal, including the prop, hard growth will attach to anything metal. Hard growth volume is worse in some places than others but Barnacle Barrier really keeps it down to a very manageable level. The hard growth will cause a much greater loss of prop efficiency than paint on the prop.