Barnacle Prevention

...even before the Gribble...the long calc deposits..is the algae. Happens very fast. Gribble seems about 10 days , two weeks, in warm water from observing my tenders bottom. Why algae and marine growth have a hard time getting a good bite on Poly barrels is a good question. Perhaps the angle of sunlight, perhaps the slick plastic surface, perhap its bobbing up and down motion, perhaps surface salinity changes, perhaps surface temperature. The top of 15 percent of my rudder fouls long before the bottom of the boat.

Sooner of latter the poly barrel gets growth, but the chain or rope attchment under the bouy seems to always foul first ? Also..why no, or limited marine growth on the verticle face of a concrete seawall ? Sunlight ? the little creatures get sunburn ?

Why, in gin clear water, is ther no seagrass in the 3 meter depth to shoreline littoral zone ? always clean sandy bottom...then heavy grass at 4 meters till 15 meters ? Why is the aluminiun scrubbrush handle I dropped over the side three years ago still laying on the bottom and still unfouled at 6 meter depth , yet my prop fouls very fast.?

 

The plastics have a low energy surface. So do silicone based anti fouling coatings which are easier to apply. The idea is you either scrub or haulout and clean every 6 months unless the vessel exceeds around 17 knots then it's self cleaning.

Seagrass stays out of the turbulent wave zone I would think. And your handle is in deeper colder water which is not the habitat of the fouling organisms.

Low surface energy paints are promising.

 

Lanolin has had some mention in Brisbane

Not sure how good it really is

 

It's like prop coatings old hands always claimed you couldn't beat a good porous bronze boiled in whale oil. Now some use lanoline but I notice the epoxied props with hard antifoul do better to resist fouling later in the season.

People use all manner of concoctions and none of are better than a decent antifouling, and in the colder waters of SE Tassie a lot of people get two years from the cheapest anti foul. The waxes lanolines etc last only 6 months in use and erode too quickly.

 

Been using wool grease on my props for ever...its the only thing that works. Its even sold as a "marine " product in ships stores. To get the best result take your prop off an bring it to a polishing wheel and polish evey scratch out..make it a piece of jewlerly then mount and wool grease it. Seems any little scratch gives the marine critters a toe hold. I can get a good season, six months tropical water, hign usage, of no foul from a grease job.

I epoxy coat the thruster props..never stays on to long, but the reduced metal mass prolongs the life of its expensive anodes.

 

Lanolins

I used some Lanolin cremes for dry skin in the winter, but never on an underwater surface...interesting that it appears to have some good usage history.

Its quite expensive as a hand creme if I remember correctly. Covering a hull would appear to be an expensive proposition??...unless of course the suppy is substantial as down in NZ and Austrailia??

 

No need to cover a hull...conventional antifoul works great. Antifoul, or any paint just wont stick of the prop for a season....you end up, year after year , spending time and money removing the old paint then putting on new paint that just falls off....best prop solution is wool grease. A jar of grease is enough for a few seasons. cheap

 

Epoxied to keep the dis-similar metals in the antifoul away from the metal of the props themselves. The reason most prop and outdrive leg owners should not bottom paint these items.

 

That does not fit your claim of 500 thousand miles at sea, layman!

After 9 years on circumnavigating with two different vessels, I can tell you that marine growth does nearly not happen. And adding capsaicine to the antifouling, kept my boats in pristine condition between hauls. I had NO marine growth, for 9 years. But again, a travelling boat is a cheap boat.
You will hardly agree....

Tell us, you bigmouth, what is the cheapest way to get rid of marine growth?

 

And *********,

it is not worth mentioning! Lanoline...(but how would YOU know)....

 

Is the concrete a light color??
An old article says barnacles dont like white surfaces
http://books.google.com/books?id=7CcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=barnacles+speed&source=bl&ots=-Hj1PuxNza&sig=n7kGwTirT3B-i639-AVV7ESaGXo&hl=en&ei=GwXnTO7OCYu2sAP03qWxCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBjge#v=onepage&q=barnacles%20speed&f=false
click the plus to zoom and read

 

It is expensive Brian, compared to conventional antifoulings, but compared to propspeed?

I wouldn't do a hull in it myself, but I thought the idea interesting and environmentally friendly.

 

Each time a NEW product comes out I give it a try.

Ive gone the" ProPspeed" routine. I works for half a season then unbonds from the prop like just about any paint Ive tried. When you go to remove the old coating, it takes much work and Propspeed is expensive.

This Lanolin ? grease type "Propshield" is effective and expensive.
http://www.propshield-industrial.com/application.htm

This stuff Lanocote, I use for general dissimilar metal bonding and anodized aluminium preservation and it work on the prop just as well as the dedicated products.
http://www.lanocote.com/

The prop paint from Veniziani is widley used, found in every shipstore , not too expensive ,and you get a good season from it. But you have to strip, prime and coat every year.


http://www.venezianiyacht.it/default.asp?ID=3&IDm=5&LNG=1&IDp=125


Something to consider is that this vessel is very high use. It doesn't sit in still fouling water. Perhaps this type of use is also more suitable to a lanoline grease coating . I can see my prop now, the water is very clear, and it look pretty good after 9 months....

 

Well, dumb nickel, other than you, I have sailed the oceans in the past decades and circumnavigated several times! And that is a proven fact (by other members), where you only can spread your agressive drivel and unproven opinions.

Lanolin can be helpful to some extend on bare metal surfaces, but it disappears pretty soon when the boat is sailed much.

 

if this may help, i am considering blanketing my pontoons. For a cat, i think it is feasable.
Being that most of the time the bigcat is stationnary (but not our prindles and nacras beach cats) , in my case anyway, the membrane confinement creates an equilibrium so that the chemicals don't go into the ocean or lakes or ... food. Then, it is easy to clean or simply remove the tarp and recycle. The anti-foul chemicals (or eco anti-foul) stays longer on the boat.
I would direct rain water into the bag.