# Grease on Propeller for Anti Fouling?



## mm2187 (Sep 8, 2011)

This year when I was working on the bottom I put “PETTIT Zinc Coat Barnacle Barrier” on my propeller and shaft and it has not worked well so far. I dove on the boat over the weekend and was unpleasantly surprised by hundreds of little barnacles covering the prop and shaft. I am out sailing at 2-3 times a week so the boat is not exactly sitting there unused for weeks at a time. Which leads me to my next question… I have read people using some sort of grease or even baby diaper rash creams on their props with success. Has anyone here used or had any success with these methods if so what did you use, and can it be allied in the water?


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

mm2187 said:


> I have read people using some sort of grease or even baby diaper rash creams on their props with success. Has anyone here used or had any success with these methods if so what did you use, and can it be allied in the water?


Even if it does work (which I doubt), it is unlikely to last long on a boat that sees as much use as yours. And no, it cannot be applied in the water.

There is a product that claims it can, however I have had no success with it:

LanoCote Prop & Bottom


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## tjvanginkel (Sep 26, 2006)

We had no success with paint on our propeller last time around.
This time we are trying straight up Lanolin. (It is an ingredient of some diaper rash creams and the main ingredient of the Lanocote product previously mentioned)
We applied it two months ago while we were on the hard.
So far so good. There is absolutely no growth on the propeller, while the bottom paint already sports a green fuzz. We just recently put in 75 hours of motoring over a two week period so it will be interesting to see if that has worn it off....
We are in the PNW, so cold water.....I am not sure how an in the water application would go. It might be hard to spread.
I think it is worth a try though. Theres nothing to lose
Lanolin is cheap, can be purchased at the pharmacy, non toxic and renewable product that will not harm anything....including your prop and shaft.
And if it does not work, you can use it to keep your skin soft.


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## Hudsonian (Apr 3, 2008)

When I used Desitin, a baby rash cream, I had a load of barnacles on the prop -- perhaps more than if I hadn't used the Desitin.


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

Regarding the Lanocote product- I was unable to get it to adhere to the prop I was trying to put it on in 50° water. Haven't tried it since although we are now approaching 70° here.


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## justified (Jun 14, 2007)

mm2187

Last yr when we made a stop in Key Largo for anew alternator on our trip north we found a product that they are using on large power boats for anti fouling on the shafts and props. It was a two part system called VELOX PLUS. They swore by it I believe it to be expensive and we have not tried it. It might not be cost effective for the small amount that a sailboat would use. Something to look into tho.

peter


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

I had the same experience with Pettit Barnacle Barrier this year on the northern Chesapeake, yet it has worked for me in the past. I had put two good coats on the prop and splashed the boat at the beginning of April. The boat was hauled for a pre-sale survey in mid/late May and the prop was covered in barnacles. The funny thing was that the worker doing the haul grabbed a can of the Pettit product and told the buyer that she should be using it to prevent that problem. Same advice I would have given in the past. Don't know what to think now.


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

Although not particularly cheap, Propspeed works fine.. just use that and forget about it.


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

Not good news to hear that the Pettit Zinc Banacle Barrier Coat is working anymore, I have always had success with it, as did I with Petit SR 40/60 bottomw paint...but it seems this year on the water line I have a barnacle growth and fuzz after only two months in the water! WTF

Some others have reported the same thing on their hulls, next time out I will check our prop and see how its doing? 

I have heard of using a sharpie on your prop? and Vaseline? I have used Vaseline on my paddle wheel with prety good success


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## dorymate1 (Dec 6, 2011)

have seen great success with propspeed but is pricey and can be finicky and not work if not applied correctly. I always spread the squeeze out from max prop grease over the prop may give it a little time. Also have seen boaters heat up toilet bowl wax & spread it on but can't a test to it's effectiveness. Also mind the west marine advise. their are some great sailors and boat people @ west but I've head some strange advise. A couple weeks ago a client was told to just sand the boat with 600 grit wet dry & his boat would come out shiny again. this is only half advise. They didn't tell him to use a sanding block ,finger markes prevalent and wasn't told about having to buff it either. Make sure your advise is coming from the store pro not hearsay.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

The idea with Lanoline (grease from sheeps wool) is you heat the prop first and then apply the Lanoline. Then you can recoat it whilst in the water.

I havent done it yet, but will thins time as propspeed et al is lousy unless a new prop.


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> The idea with Lanoline (grease from sheeps wool) is you heat the prop first and then apply the Lanoline. Then you can recoat it whilst in the water.
> 
> I havent done it yet, but will thins time as propspeed et al is lousy unless a new prop.


Propspeed goes on to old props just fine, but you do have to clean and buff the prop properly and apply the stuff properly also. I find it also seems to act as an insulator because my anodes have lasted nearly 3 times longer since I started using the stuff.. which at $50 an anode is a bonus. 

It would be nice to know that Lanoline worked just as well (yes, I've heard you have to heat it first also - not too sure how you do that without causing other issues, maybe very careful use of a heat gun) but I suspect it won't last nearly as long.


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## SchockT (May 21, 2012)

I slathered Vaseline on my prop a couple of years ago while it was out of the water and it did keep the prop clear for the better part of the season. It wasn't until the following spring that I had to clean the prop and even then it was only lightly fouled. Unfortunately this year I forgot the Vaseline when the boat was going back in so I wasn't able to treat it.


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## FinallySailing (Feb 12, 2013)

There have been some recent very positive reports about using udder ointment in the UK boating magazines. It is certainly much cheaper than any other lanolin based grease, be it as nipple cream or of course the "proper" overprized maritime products. It does also contain cetrimide, an antiseptic. I do wonder if that might have a certain growth inhibiting role to marine fouling as well.
At £ 7.50 per 500 gram pot I've bought myself a tub for our outboard. It should be enough for many seasons. Lets see if this is going to be a success or an udder disappointment 

http://www.equimins-online.com/359-large/equimins-udder-ointment-.jpg


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

At one point there must have been 20 coats of various antifouling paint on my prop - none of which prevented the critters from attaching. One day, while on the hard, I completely cleaned every speck of paint from the prop, discovered it was bronze, then acting on a tip from a friend, I applied 3 coats of transducer paint, the same stuff that West Marine sells for about $26 for a spray can. The boat has been to the Florida Keys and back, it spent 3 months in Boot Key Harbor, where everything in the water is quickly covered with critters, and then back to the Chesapeake's upper reaches. The prop looks like I just painted it yesterday afternoon. It's clean as a whistle. It's the only thing in 60 years of boating that I found that actually works.

Good Luck,

Gary


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## SoOkay (Nov 27, 2004)

Regarding vaseline, or baby oil (I haven't tried either one), I don't see how they would stay attached on the prop with the forces at play, with a prop spinning at 2000-3000 RPM.

I would think that in short order, it would be all gone. But Just speculating, like I said I've never tried them.


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## SchockT (May 21, 2012)

SoOkay said:


> Regarding vaseline, or baby oil (I haven't tried either one), I don't see how they would stay attached on the prop with the forces at play, with a prop spinning at 2000-3000 RPM.
> 
> I would think that in short order, it would be all gone. But Just speculating, like I said I've never tried them.


vaseline is pretty thick at room temperature, and even thicker at ocean temperatures. it is not water soluble, in fact it repels water. I guess a thin layer is able to stay on the surface of the prop.

All I know is that someone told me it worked, I tried it for myself, and it did!


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## SoOkay (Nov 27, 2004)

Interesting, thanks!

Yea, I wasn't thinking it would dissolve in water, just that the force of the water would wipe it off. 

Learn something every day.


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## FSMike (Jan 15, 2010)

travlineasy said:


> --- I applied 3 coats of transducer paint, the same stuff that West Marine sells for about $26 for a spray can. The boat has been to the Florida Keys and back, it spent 3 months in Boot Key Harbor, where everything in the water is quickly covered with critters, and then back to the Chesapeake's upper reaches. The prop looks like I just painted it yesterday afternoon. It's clean as a whistle. It's the only thing in 60 years of boating that I found that actually works. ---


Having spent a lot of time in Boot Key in the old days, I must say that I find that testimony convincing.
Thanks, Gary.


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## bwindrope (Feb 25, 2007)

I've been using lanolin for a few cycles now and can give a testimonial that it works great here in the PNW. I've always done it at haul out, which I do every two years. I've found that I am getting complete protection for nearly all of that time and our boat is heavily used. Here is a post I did with more detail: Stories of Aeolus- Our Gulf 32 Pilothouse: Lanonlin on prop really works!

And I've used Lanocote as well as generic Lanonlin, and though the Lanocote seems a bit denser, I have had the same results.


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## tjvanginkel (Sep 26, 2006)

Just thought I would add an update.

It is now 8 months since we applied a lanolin coating to our propeller. 
The propeller now has three small barnacles on it but almost no vegetation. 
The lanolin is performing much better than the bottom paint we applied at the previous haulout and better for us than when we left it bare. 
So here in the PNW it seems to be working.
Regards,


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## Alex W (Nov 1, 2012)

Well, for a counterpoint I put nothing on my prop last year (I'm also in the PNW). The boat was used pretty often this year (once or twice a week most of the year, about 7 weeks of cruising this summer). I just had the prop changed (fixed to feathering) and the old prop had 2 small barnacles on it. My friend who dove and installed the prop said the shaft had another couple of small ones.

So that is about the same as what your prop.

How much use does your boat get? Could you still feel lanolin on the prop?


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## christian.hess (Sep 18, 2013)

the best antifouling on a prop is USEAGE

use it and be done with it...


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## aeventyr60 (Jun 29, 2011)

Better still is some thai chili powder mixed with fish sauce. As a binder we use pure 100% virgin olive oil. Rub in well with a scotch brite. This may be illegal in most jurisdictions. Please don't tell the EPA.


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## svHyLyte (Nov 13, 2008)

An alternative coating that seems have good performance is a product known as (click on) "Prop Glop". Can't hurt. Might really help. Worth a try, eh?


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

I,ve used bees wax, applied by melting on to a warmed prop.Frequent use of boat all season helps too.


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## White Knight (Sep 14, 2013)

Max Wax works pretty well in NZ waters-Chris-Tern


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## jppp (Jul 13, 2008)

I wonder if anyone has ever coated a prop with Teflon. Not spray but industrially applied as on frying pan. The barnacles would fling off when prop spins i bet. I always thought that would work on the leading edge of a plane wing as well to avoid icing.


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

Classic30 said:


> Although not particularly cheap, Propspeed works fine.. just use that and forget about it.


I like the understatement about it not being particularly cheap! I'm preparing my boat for splashing and cleaned the prop and strut and decided to try an antifouling and found Propspeed at the store. It consists of a little plastic baggie with 3 bottles of chemicals and instructions and the price tag was, without reading glasses, US$25.000 which looked rather strange, but with reading glasses that changed to US$250.00! Wow, that is indeed not particularly cheap.


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## delan (May 2, 2009)

Lanocote works great, if you put your prop in the oven and get it hot, it sucks the lanocote into the pores as it cools. In Miami, the thing I've found works best is a thick black sharpie, again, I warm the prop up until i just handle it, then then use a big black sharpie and black ou the whole prop, it lasts longer than the lanocote.


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## aeventyr60 (Jun 29, 2011)

Zanshin said:


> I like the understatement about it not being particularly cheap! I'm preparing my boat for splashing and cleaned the prop and strut and decided to try an antifouling and found Propspeed at the store. It consists of a little plastic baggie with 3 bottles of chemicals and instructions and the price tag was, without reading glasses, US$25.000 which looked rather strange, but with reading glasses that changed to US$250.00! Wow, that is indeed not particularly cheap.


The yard in New Zealand applied prop speed free for me to test in Fiji,Vanuatu and on to Australia. It worked OK for 6 months, maybe because we were sailing....once we slowed down it was the usual hard growth. I wouldn't pay for it.


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## tjvanginkel (Sep 26, 2006)

Alex W said:


> Well, for a counterpoint I put nothing on my prop last year (I'm also in the PNW). The boat was used pretty often this year (once or twice a week most of the year, about 7 weeks of cruising this summer). I just had the prop changed (fixed to feathering) and the old prop had 2 small barnacles on it. My friend who dove and installed the prop said the shaft had another couple of small ones.
> 
> So that is about the same as what your prop.
> 
> How much use does your boat get? Could you still feel lanolin on the prop?


We had three weeks of cruising and used our boat approx every second weekend the other months, although it has now been two months since we left the dock...
I am only doing a visual inspection so have not touched the prop to feel if the lanolin is still there. 
When we left our prop bare we had a fair bit of growth, perhaps 10 times what I am seeing now and when we used bottom paint on it we had 50 times more growth! So this is an improvement for us. I don't know why the differences, we have been in the same harbour.

I like the "use it" solution best though and am working towards that!

Happy new year,
Tanya


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm sure people have different experiences, because they are in different conditions. Even floating grasses or dissolved solids are going to be variable enough that one may abrade an oil/grease, when another location doesn't.

I did witness something interesting this past season. Most of us will thoroughly clean our props and shafts before splashing in the spring, even polish them a bit for a smoother finish that growth seems to have a slightly tougher time adhering to. While spring commissioning on the hard last year, a buddy a few boats down, decided to spray petit zinc paint. His prop was scrapped of growth in the previous Fall, but had that winter patina on the blades and was just spraying over it all. No prep. I thought that was a waste of time. He is back on the hard now and not only had virtually no growth, but most of the paint remains. My hypothesis is that the rougher oxidized surface allowed the paint to adhere better than a polished surface. It could have been something else, but as usual, his 5 min half-a$$ed job worked better than those that took all day to clean and polish their props first.


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## capecodda (Oct 6, 2009)

Local conditions are definitely a big factor. When we had a boat on the north shore of MA, we did nothing to the prop and it did pretty good over a season. Peak water temps in the 60's. On the south side of Cape Cod in a small coastal bay the summer water temperature can exceed 80F. Doing nothing will result in a prop that is invisible behind the white coating of barnacles. We've had good luck with prop speed, not the cheap solution but it works here.


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

capecodda said:


> Local conditions are definitely a big factor. When we had a boat on the north shore of MA, we did nothing to the prop and it did pretty good over a season. Peak water temps in the 60's. On the south side of Cape Cod in a small coastal bay the summer water temperature can exceed 80F. Doing nothing will result in a prop that is invisible behind the white coating of barnacles. We've had good luck with prop speed, not the cheap solution but it works here.


My experience in the warm, brackish water of Barnegat Bay has been similar, Prop Speed is more effective than any other solution I've ever tried... It's popular along the Jersey coast among sportfishermen, who tend to use their boats routinely throughout the season. As others have mentioned, regular use is the key, and I suspect a slick treatment like Prop Speed will generally be a bit more effective over the course of a season for powerboaters than for sailors...

Certainly, Prop Speed is pricey, but a little bit of it can go a _long_ way... I'll manage to get 3 treatments out of the smallest quantity they sell, and might have been able to squeeze out 4 if I hadn't mixed more than I needed during my initial application...

Of all the solutions I've ever tried that can be applied underwater, seems to me a surfboard wax such as Sex Wax has been the most effective, and adheres more tenaciously over time than some of the softer lanolins, such as Lanocote...

However, nothing works better than routinely diving on your prop. One of the downsides of a Prop Speed, you have to take care when cleaning, the use of something like a metal scraper can easily damage the coating. Of course, if the coating is intact, any growth should easily slough off with a Scotchbrite pad, or similar...

But, I've mentioned this before, and I'll do it again... Anytime a boat is gonna be sitting still for awhile, there is no better protection against growth than covering your running gear with a black plastic garbage bag...

Just don't forget the 'Reminder' tag clipped to your ignition key...


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## aeventyr60 (Jun 29, 2011)

Sex wax? Which one Jon? Cold water or tropics? Us warm water sailors wax up with the hard!


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## capecodda (Oct 6, 2009)

Jon, I'm going to try the garbage bag next summer. Good tip!


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

Jon ?what do you have on the strut?


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

> At one point there must have been 20 coats of various antifouling paint on my prop - none of which prevented the critters from attaching. One day, while on the hard, I completely cleaned every speck of paint from the prop, discovered it was bronze, then acting on a tip from a friend, I applied 3 coats of transducer paint, the same stuff that West Marine sells for about $26 for a spray can. The boat has been to the Florida Keys and back, it spent 3 months in Boot Key Harbor, where everything in the water is quickly covered with critters, and then back to the Chesapeake's upper reaches. The prop looks like I just painted it yesterday afternoon. It's clean as a whistle. It's the only thing in 60 years of boating that I found that actually works.


Would be interesting to know what the technology is in the products that actually work. Does anyone know if there have been any independent testing done on various DIY ideas?


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## Brewgyver (Dec 31, 2011)

outbound said:


> Jon ?what do you have on the strut?


Not Jon, but looks like a zinc?


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## christian.hess (Sep 18, 2013)

aeventyr60 said:


> Better still is some thai chili powder mixed with fish sauce. As a binder we use pure 100% virgin olive oil. Rub in well with a scotch brite. This may be illegal in most jurisdictions. Please don't tell the EPA.


chili flakes and cayenne in my antifouling this halout....


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## christian.hess (Sep 18, 2013)

I think he is reffering to the color of the strut...some sort of coating?

in any case...guys dont polish your props...really....

do you own an ofrshore racing catamaran with 1500hp worth of outboards? abdsolutely no gain doing that


in effect polsihing a prop melts the top layer of most materials

when people say machine polished or buffed down here especially on magesium, aluminum and some forms of stainless what happens is the top layer gets soo hot that it melts...this closes it all up which is good for stuff like chainplates

mirror polished is what they call it

indeed a rough porous blade is the perfect PRIMER for a simple sprayed on antifouling or nothing at all

again if you have a boat with an inboard and power cruise a lot you will notice less growth than when you only use your inboard to enter ports...

on all the boats I have had with inboards I never did anything to the prop...yes the strut or a arm etc but never the shaft or prop

why? cause you can unbalance a prop quite severely by globbing on antifouling....

youd be surprised how much vibration can come with heavy paint not just barnacles....jejeje

cheers


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

outbound said:


> Jon ?what do you have on the strut?


It looks like the Petit Zinc Barnacle Barrier spray.


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

Fstbttms said:


> It looks like the Petit Zinc Barnacle Barrier spray.


I believe you're correct - to be honest, I can't recall, for certain...

I had definitely coated the strut with West epoxy and copper additive as a primer... but I think I had sprayed it with Barnacle Barrier, having also done so to the wire I ran between my keel and rudder...

In any event, I was definitely underwhelmed by the performance of Barnacle Barrier in my home waters


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## casey1999 (Oct 18, 2010)

I got some of this:
LanoCote Prop & Bottom

Have not gotten a chance to put it on. I got a bad barnacle problem- in 3 weeks prop, strut and shaft are covered.


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