bertram31.com

My boat came out and I am extremely disappointed with the condition my shafts, struts props....basically everything that isnt fiberglass came out.

They were covered with barnacles, tons of them.

The bottom on the other hand could have been the best I have ever seen it come out of the water. I used a semi ablative from Freeport Marine that was on sale in the spring. I will be sure to look at the can to make sure I post what brand.


I had been out of boating for 5 years before this past season and I used outdrive anti-fouling paint on the underwater metal parts. I used to do that on my props without a problem but obviously this was a disaster.

Any recommendations, I remember using some interlux tri-lux or something like that but........just dont remember.




BTW I could not be happier with my B28 Diesel!!!!!

About three years ago I started getting those little tube barnacles on my underwater metal. It's amazing how just a few of those buggers on the prop will effect performance. Now I pull the boat in mid July for a scraping and I make sure to use the boat more when the water is at its warmest. I tried the clear outdrive antifouling paint but nothing seems to work better than not giving them the time needed to attach themselves.

I don't paint my shafts or props but the rudders and struts get painted. The paint doesn't seem to bother the bastards.

Since my re-power I've used Interlux Tri-Lux with good results. With new shafts, struts, and props I cleaned pre-treated and primed according to interlux instructions and then top coated with tri-lux.

The trick seamed to be the pre and priming as I had used tri-lux alone in preveious years with poor results.

I've thought of the prop-speed stuff but it's about double the cost of what I'm doing and I hall each year to re-paint the bottom anyway.

Another thing that helped was swithing from gas 2 diesel. My last trip in November saw crusing speeds 1-2kts slower than a clean bottom after being in the water all summer and sitting most of the time.

br,
JohnD

Use the acid etch primer and nonchlornated rubber primer fist to insulate the bottom paint from the metal. I use Petit Ultima Pro ablative.