Antifouling

To maintain the performance of any propeller it is essential to keep both faces, and in particular the tips clean.
Barnacles and weed growth will have a serious impact on motoring performance. We recommend painting the whole propeller with
a modern ablative antifouling which can be applied directly to the unit. The Zytel™ and PETP require no special undercoats.

When antifouling the unit be careful not to cover the lubrication points as it will be difficult to subsequently remove the screws
if paint fills the grooves in the heads. Clean the grooves out with a rag and sharp point while the paint is still wet.

Place the Saildrive unit in gear before painting. By holding a blade and simply rotating the unit in either direction,
or the direction which locks the shaft and allows the blades to be opened – the blades will be forced into the open position.
This will expose the rear internal face of the body of the unit for antifouling.

Ensure that both internal faces normally behind the blade root when the blades are closed are antifouled.
This will prevent the growth of marine organisms that could prevent the blades fully closing over time.

Be careful to ensure that paint does not go down onto the flat mounting surface about which the blades rotate,
as this could cause subsequent binding of the blades.

While the paint will slowly erode from the tips of the blades over time this approach will still provide the optimal overall cost effective solution
to the inevitable fouling of the propeller blades from season to season.

If not using a soft ablative paint that will wear away quickly with any contact from a moving blade, then care must be taken to ensure
that there is no interference with the boss from a buildup of antifouling over time which could prevent the blades returning completely to the folded position.

NB: All Saildrives require the use of non copper based paints to avoid serious corrosion with the Aluminium Saildrive housing.
Always use the same antifouling on the Propeller as is used on the Saildrive Leg.

NB: Ensure there are no paint runs on the blade – in particular near the sharp
leading edge that can cause serious vibration problems.

Using the same antifouling paint that you are using on your Saildrive leg which will be specified by the Saildrive manufacturer
avoids generating an electro potential and subsequent corrosion with the Aluminium Saildrive castings.

 

PROP SPEED: Proprietary Product sold around the world

We have found from observations over the years of quite a number of units in service that this type of antifoul is very
effective when applied to the composite sections of the Kiwiprop™.

It shows no tendency to lose it’s adhesion to the Zytel™ and has proved effective over time.