Comments, explanations, theories , suggestions wanted

[Don Sargeant]

The question: Why do I get large barnacles on my prop?. My old boat with a non-bonded prop never grew anything. My CD25D hosted a number of mammmoth barnacles this summer inspite of having been primed and painted with outdrive tin antifouling. I don't use the engine much so I don't think I washed the paint off, but I did use it enough to have normally prevented such a growth. Does this have anything to do with the fact that the prop is electrically bonded to the rest of the boat? The Dyna-plate also grows a bumper crop. My old boat's dynaplate didn't. I almost completely ate a Perry nut this season also.

Don Sargeant
~~COQUINA~~
CD25D # 189
On the hard (sheesh!) already
near Greenwich Cove



don@cliggott.com

[Brian Hickson]

Same thing occurred to my 25D prop last year. Before launching this Spring, I applied a liberal dose of anhydrous lanolin to the prop and shaft. This solution was the easiest and least expensive [$15 for a lifetime jar at CVS] of many suggestions I received. I'll give you the verdict in a couple of weeks.

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Don,

This spring, before she went in, I covered the prop on Hanalei with old fashioned STOVE POLISH! Someone on another site said it works. Well, Hanalei had to come out about a month ago, after being in since April 1st., for some shaft log work and guess what, NO barnacles! OK, there was one very small one right next to the hub, but the prop was essentially clean! I was amazed! Never saw anything like it!

The polish I used was the liquid stuff, basically liquified carbon black. It wasn't pretty going on, basically rubbed it on with a rag, but who cares! It worked! Cheapest thing I ever did to a vessel of any kind.

Hanalei is kept at the mouth of the Mystic River in Noank, CT. Don't know if location makes a difference, but the stuff worked here. Oh,

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Jim Kingrea]

Don

This spring, before she went in, I covered the prop on Hanalei with old fashioned STOVE POLISH! Someone on another site said it works. Well, Hanalei had to come out about a month ago, after being in since April 1st., for some shaft log work and guess what, NO barnacles! OK, there was one very small one right next to the hub, but the prop was essentially clean! I was amazed! Never saw anything like it!

The polish I used was the liquid stuff, basically liquified carbon black. It wasn't pretty going on, basically rubbed it on with a rag, but who cares! It worked! Cheapest thing I ever did to a vessel of any kind.

Hanalei is kept at the mouth of the Mystic River in Noank, CT. Don't know if location makes a difference, but the stuff worked here. Oh,

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

Dave:
I don't know anything about barnacles since I sail on a fresh water lake in Texas but I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed my recent trip to Mystic Seaport and Connecticut and New Port, RI. My sister lives in Darien, Ct. We saw a lot of marinas and some great boats including some Cape Dories. I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman from Noank that worked at the Mystic Seaport boat yard. He said he has worked in the shipyards since 1947. We talked about wooden boats for several minutes. The area was beautiful and the weather was super and the people were great.
Good Sailing
Jim Kingrea

[Don Craig]

Another proven unusual antifouling is Desitin ointment, the stuff that goes on babies' bottoms to prevent diaper rash, available at drug stores. Some guys have actually covered hulls with it with good results. Don't know how well it would be retained on a spinning prop.

Don,

This spring, before she went in, I covered the prop on Hanalei with old fashioned STOVE POLISH! Someone on another site said it works. Well, Hanalei had to come out about a month ago, after being in since April 1st., for some shaft log work and guess what, NO barnacles! OK, there was one very small one right next to the hub, but the prop was essentially clean! I was amazed! Never saw anything like it!

The polish I used was the liquid stuff, basically liquified carbon black. It wasn't pretty going on, basically rubbed it on with a rag, but who cares! It worked! Cheapest thing I ever did to a vessel of any kind.

Hanalei is kept at the mouth of the Mystic River in Noank, CT. Don't know if location makes a difference, but the stuff worked here. Oh,

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Scott Ritchey]

I keep my CD27 on a bayou on the Florida gulf coast. The water is brackish to fresh, depending on rainfall, tides, etc. I had no problem with prop fouling until this year. What has changed? The only thing I can think of is I have a fresh new zink (perry nut) plus an extra medium size zink hanging from the stern rail but bonded to ground. The rope to that zink is covered with growth. Also, my prop fouled so bad that the engine would not get up to RPM and I had no thrust --- twice this summer. Two other times when the zink was gone, I had no fouling.

Hypothesis: something about the zink either attracts fouling or suppresses the antifouling properties of the copper in the prop.

Question: any marine biologists out there who have studied this? It really seems that adding zink makes fouling worse.

The question: Why do I get large barnacles on my prop?. My old boat with a non-bonded prop never grew anything. My CD25D hosted a number of mammmoth barnacles this summer inspite of having been primed and painted with outdrive tin antifouling. I don't use the engine much so I don't think I washed the paint off, but I did use it enough to have normally prevented such a growth. Does this have anything to do with the fact that the prop is electrically bonded to the rest of the boat? The Dyna-plate also grows a bumper crop. My old boat's dynaplate didn't. I almost completely ate a Perry nut this season also.

Don Sargeant
~~COQUINA~~
CD25D # 189
On the hard (sheesh!) already
near Greenwich Cove

RitcheyVS@aol.com

[Russell]

The molecular chemists do not fully understand the anti-fouling properties of copper alloys. But they have experimented with just this difference. Put a sheet of copper or copper-nickel alloy in the sea, and it doesn't foul. The sheet next to it -- same material, same size, differing only by the presence of an anode -- will foul. There are some side-by-side pictures of this somewhere on the web.

So .. take your choice. (a) Buy a copper alloy prop, do not bond it, do not put an anode on it, and it won't foul. It may suffer electrolysis. But it won't foul. (b) Put an anode on it, to protect it from electrolysis, and enjoy your barnacles.

[David Stiles]

This was a good Barnnacle year in the Northwest. Outdrives seem to have greater problems than shasfted boats. I am basically barnacle free - The prop is bronze and the S.S. shaft is bonded with a zinc saver system and no treatment on shaft or prop. Locally they are using bag balm, the stuff farmers use to keep cow udders pliable and it seems to help. It sticks pretty well. I like the stove polish and Desitin ideas although Destin should wash off pretty easily.



ddstiles@tscnet.com

[Ken Coit]

Yep, and here's the photo to prove it:

http://marine.copper.org/1-figure16.html

The text:

http://marine.copper.org/1-biofouling.html

The paper is titled: "Marine Applications of Copper-Nickel Alloys" and is published by the Copper Development Institute.

http://marine.copper.org/


Ken Coit
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC



parfait@nc.rr.com

[Pat Carlson]

Dave - Never thought of using stove polish - good idea! We are in Florida & try to clean the bottom & the prop about every month or so. We apply "sex wax" to the prop & it keeps the barnacles off pretty well. (Sex wax is the stuff surfers use on their surfboards - weird name, but, hey the surfers named it!).

Best regards!

Pat Carlson
S/V Skywind



SkywindMCM@aol.com