prop antifouling paint

06Rinker270

Do any of you guys put prop antifouling paint on your props?  I dont see it on anyones pics they post of their drives.  I know you cant use the same paint that goes on hull bottom.   

Michael T

There are a number of special prop anti-fouling paints available. West Marine sells a few but the really good ones seem hard to apply and very expensive. I think one of the guys on the forum coated his props though. Yes, you are correct you should not use hull anti fouling bottom coat on your props.

LaRea

Good luck getting anything to stick, especially if your props ever touch mud or sand.  I've never heard of anybody finding an effective coating for SS props on a Merc outdrive.  

Dream_Inn

yeah, I don't think you will have much luck.  For the years I had kept my first boat in a wet slip, I had given up on anything for the prop and just took an old rag every now and then (so the barnacles didn't cut my hand) and wipe them off.

06Rinker270

My technician, who I trust, painted the props when I had the out drive painted.  From the invoice it looks like he just used the same paint he did for the drive.  Does it interfere with performance or is there any negative?  Besides the fact it doesn't stick.

Michael T

@06-270 If you mean he actually "painted" them with paint and not anti-fouling prep I would assume your props are aluminum. If your props were aluminum using the Mercury Phantom Black (for drives) on them might work, although I think it will come off pretty fast BUT if your props were SS I would say he was nuts - so I assume they are aluminum. It will be interesting to see how long the paint stays on.

LaRea

I once painted my SS props with leftover Trilux primer and paint.  It was 90% gone after driving the boat only five miles.  So much for that idea.

bella-vita

I clean mine with muriatic acid and brush where rubber gloves safety glasses and long sleeves. Don't get it on the out drives they look brand when finished ,new very little effort.

bella-vita

06Rinker270

how do I know if they are SS or Aluminum? 

06Rinker270

Michael T

Those are SS. Maybe I'm the one who is nuts (been called that before LOL) but from your picture it looks like he has painted your Bravo lll ss props. I can't believe that's good?

Michael T

@bella-vita. So obviously no damage to your prop shaft seals. Did you do anything special like trim the drives all the way down to keep the acid off seals? One thing for sure - they look awesome!

LaRea

Consider it a cosmetic treatment.  It'll be gone in the first week of use.

bella-vita

The drives were all the way down I used very little acid in bucket then dipped small scrub brush in it and than rinsed off with clean water and rag.

Cableguy Greg

@bella-vita, why didn't you just take the props off to clean them?

@06Rinker270, I have never seen B3 props painted. I am wondering what the reasoning is behind it? Less corrosion? I would ask the tech that did it.

06Rinker270

He told me to help with corrosion, but I will get more info.  Why is that a bad thing MT?

Michael T

@06Rinker270 I don't think it is a bad thing just a waste of time and money - unless - he has painted parts that should not be painted for a variety of reasons. I think there is a bearing carrier, inside the gear case towards the aft end of the drive housing that should not be painted and looks like it is. What I don't understand is why your technician did not sand your drive, wipe it down with acetone or some of the OEM Mercury paint sprayed on a rag - that's called a tack rag to get rid of sanding debris, spray the drive with Mercury primer, let it dry 24 hours then spray several coats of Mercury Phantom Black lacquer on it - after taping off the nuts and  ss trim hoses. Did he paint your Mercathode wires and sender?  IMO to be honest this is not a good job, in fact I have never seen anything quite like this in 50 years of boating. 

frenchship

They even paint the trim tabs and there is paint on the trim tabs anodes which is a big no no.
the paint job is really rough and poor quality, and would not be acceptable to me. As to clean the S/S props I do remove them every year since Mercruiser recommend to clean and grease the output shaft, then I clean them with muriatic acid they look new and stay that way for a long time (fresh water) so no danger for the seals.

Handymans342

Boat on a lift will need none of that stuff.

Michael T

Yeah, rub it in Steve! :-)

06Rinker270

MT they did sand the outdrive.  How can you tell they didnt?  Any recommendations on how to reverse the damage that was done?

@Alswagg what do you think?  You all have me worried and PO big time.  My tech did not do the painting, he had someone else do it. 

Handymans342

I dont see anything wrong with your paint job. They painted my 342 the same way except the props which they did not touch. They said there is no viable paint on the market for stainless props. 3 months later I had to pull the boat to clean the props. 

06Rinker270

I have also seen many boats painted this way.  I do agree that there should not be paint on the anodes but isnt the point to cover up as much metal as possible to reduce corrosion?  I agree its not pretty but its in the water for 7+ months.  Depending upon how the props look when I pull in November I may clean them off and also the nuts/bolts.  New Anodes etc.  

Handymans342

I didnt see any paint on the anodes

Michael T

06Rinker270. I did not mean to imply that the tech did not sand your drive, as I can't tell whether or not that happened. 

I was telling you how my friends and I have painted drives, outboards etc. for 50 years. OMCs, Johnsons, Mercs you name it. Sand all loose and/or compromised material off, sometimes with 5 or 6 increasing grit numbers (500, 600. 800. 1000), if necessary compound it, IF necessary use marine fiberglass-based fillers to effect repairs, tack rag it before painting, spray on several light coats of OEM primer let them dry well based on ambient humidity, then several light coats of OEM paint. In the past I owned a painting and construction company so have a bit of an idea how to paint. I have probably painted 30 drives in my time. If anything I painted looked like your picture I would have requested entry into the witness protection program!

I do not mean to offend or be rude, but we are honest with each other on this forum right? We have each others' backs, right?

Okay, then my considered opinion is that this is the worst painting job of a drive that I have ever seen. IMO Painting SS props is idiotic, getting paint on SS trim hoses and anodes is idiotic, painting SS trim tabs is idiotic - as is leaving big noticeable brush strokes on a drive. As for painting right over bolt threads and nuts as well as the joints where the drive sections come together. For goodness sakes, the plastic caps and thread ends of the trim rams are painted over - who does that? IMO I don't have words for that level of stupidity. What the heck kind of paint is that, anyway?  IMO the paint should be a sprayed-on OEM lacquer-based. Geez it looks like tar - if I didn't know better I'd think it was an April Fool's joke.

Is your drive damaged, not likely - as long as you remove any paint that might be on anodes, ss hoses and Mercathode parts. The paint on the props will probably be gone in a few hours at 3400 rpm. 

If you do some clean-up, the worst that will likely happen is that it will look like crap as the "paint" peels off at different rates. But, it looks like crap anyway.

If this were mine I would demand that the paint be stripped-off and then the situation addressed as I have described above. But that's me and I'm ocd as it pertains to my equipment.

   

BellevilleMXZ

Michael T said:

06Rinker270. I did not mean to imply that the tech did not sand your drive, as I can't tell whether or not that happened. 

I was telling you how my friends and I have painted drives, outboards etc. for 50 years. OMCs, Johnsons, Mercs you name it. Sand all loose and/or compromised material off, sometimes with 5 or 6 increasing grit numbers (500, 600. 800. 1000), if necessary compound it, IF necessary use marine fiberglass-based fillers to effect repairs, tack rag it before painting, spray on several light coats of OEM primer let them dry well based on ambient humidity, then several light coats of OEM paint. In the past I owned a painting and construction company so have a bit of an idea how to paint. I have probably painted 30 drives in my time. If anything I painted looked like your picture I would have requested entry into the witness protection program!

I do not mean to offend or be rude, but we are honest with each other on this forum right? We have each others' backs, right?

Okay, then my considered opinion is that this is the worst painting job of a drive that I have ever seen. IMO Painting SS props is idiotic, getting paint on SS trim hoses and anodes is idiotic, painting SS trim tabs is idiotic - as is leaving big noticeable brush strokes on a drive. As for painting right over bolt threads and nuts as well as the joints where the drive sections come together. For goodness sakes, the plastic caps and thread ends of the trim rams are painted over - who does that? IMO I don't have words for that level of stupidity. What the heck kind of paint is that, anyway?  IMO the paint should be a sprayed-on OEM lacquer-based. Geez it looks like tar - if I didn't know better I'd think it was an April Fool's joke.

Is your drive damaged, not likely - as long as you remove any paint that might be on anodes, ss hoses and Mercathode parts. The paint on the props will probably be gone in a few hours at 3400 rpm. 

If you do some clean-up, the worst that will likely happen is that it will look like crap as the "paint" peels off at different rates. But, it looks like crap anyway.

If this were mine I would demand that the paint be stripped-off and then the situation addressed as I have described above. But that's me and I'm ocd as it pertains to my equipment.

   

Agreed

Handymans342

MT, the drives have to be painted with an anti foul paint for those of us in salt water and not painted with Lamborghini black lacquer paint and wax. Good grief it may be ugly but there wont be any barnacles  

Michael T

Really, so you'd take a new Mercruiser drive and do that to it - or any drive for that matter - paint over nuts, thread ends, plastic caps, SS hoses, rubber hoses, SS trim tabs and the SS props? Like that? Interesting! My parents lived in Ft. Lauderdale for 18 years and I never saw anything like that. Must be a new technique? I think you've been sniffing your own diesel fumes, Steve.

Handymans342

Well maybe not the hoses. Does it hurt to cover the nuts? I painted my tabs

06Rinker270

@Michael T I am very much like you, I take care of everything.  And no hard feelings, I want to know what is right and wrong.  Which is why I brought this up because it just didn't look right.  I have asked on here many times the right way to do this as I planned on doing this myself.  Unfortunately, busy life got in the way and to avoid more corrosion problems I paid to have it done the same time I had the bottom paint done.  

So enough of what is right or wrong, I want it corrected and looking right.  It sounds like the drive is not damaged, correct?  I am peace knowing that it's protected, just needs me to do some pretty work.

If this was your drive what would you do?  How do I strip the paint?  What do I do about the painted nuts, hoses, etc?