I take the prop off and dip in dilute brick acid. You could probably leave yours in situ by making a mix of wallpaper paste and brick acid and leave it on for half an hour. I think it would do better. The wallpaper paste trick is used for getting rid of rust stains on the hull using oxalic acid. Good video as always. Cheers Stuart
Well you had me going there Stuart, I'd never heard of Brick Acid. I now know it's Hydrochloric acid. I don't know what acid is in the Propeller Cleaner. It didn't smell strongly. I didn't think to look on the bottle. I found it looking lonely on a shelf and going cheap so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm just a bit concerned that repeated abrading, year after year might actually change the shape of the propeller so this was a possible alternative. I coated the prop and shaft with special anti-fouling this year, it will be interesting to see what it looks like when it comes out next spring. Hopefully it will just need a wipe to get rid of any fouling. Dave
@davesailing my formula is a brick acid bath, then a coat of hammerite special metals primer then a couple of coats of trilux. I never use any abrasives. I think the microscopic scratches give the critters a key to hang on to. After the acid bath I can still see loads of hammerite on there so it seems to work.
First year i cleaned my flexofold propeller it was quite covered in stuff. Somone suggested vinegar... I ofcourse bought the strongest one I could find, and got to work.... I did start out with gloves but thay soon got ruined by bits of shells and such. So i ditched the gloves. The vinegar helped a bit but it took quite a bit of scrubbing. After a few hours I was happy. I did have running water to wash the vinegar of my hands as often as possible. The next day i used a screwdriver to undo something, and as I put twisting force on it, the outer layers of skin separated from the sub layers,,, badly . I went to the doctor, and got a long sick leave. Because when i had grown new skin, also this separated, but after that had gone it was fine. I have never heard so many harsh words come out of a doctor before. Vinegar how bad can it be ,,, ve use it in food for crying out loud..... 🙈 i know better now... Best regards from Jarle
OOOERR Jarle, Just shows you how careful you have to be with these "Household Items". I'm gad to hear that you did eventually get better after pickling your hands. Take Care .. Dave
I take the prop off and dip in dilute brick acid. You could probably leave yours in situ by making a mix of wallpaper paste and brick acid and leave it on for half an hour. I think it would do better. The wallpaper paste trick is used for getting rid of rust stains on the hull using oxalic acid. Good video as always. Cheers Stuart
Well you had me going there Stuart, I'd never heard of Brick Acid. I now know it's Hydrochloric acid. I don't know what acid is in the Propeller Cleaner. It didn't smell strongly. I didn't think to look on the bottle. I found it looking lonely on a shelf and going cheap so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm just a bit concerned that repeated abrading, year after year might actually change the shape of the propeller so this was a possible alternative. I coated the prop and shaft with special anti-fouling this year, it will be interesting to see what it looks like when it comes out next spring. Hopefully it will just need a wipe to get rid of any fouling. Dave
@davesailing my formula is a brick acid bath, then a coat of hammerite special metals primer then a couple of coats of trilux. I never use any abrasives. I think the microscopic scratches give the critters a key to hang on to. After the acid bath I can still see loads of hammerite on there so it seems to work.
First year i cleaned my flexofold propeller it was quite covered in stuff. Somone suggested vinegar... I ofcourse bought the strongest one I could find, and got to work.... I did start out with gloves but thay soon got ruined by bits of shells and such. So i ditched the gloves. The vinegar helped a bit but it took quite a bit of scrubbing. After a few hours I was happy. I did have running water to wash the vinegar of my hands as often as possible. The next day i used a screwdriver to undo something, and as I put twisting force on it, the outer layers of skin separated from the sub layers,,, badly . I went to the doctor, and got a long sick leave. Because when i had grown new skin, also this separated, but after that had gone it was fine. I have never heard so many harsh words come out of a doctor before. Vinegar how bad can it be ,,, ve use it in food for crying out loud..... 🙈 i know better now...
Best regards from Jarle
OOOERR Jarle, Just shows you how careful you have to be with these "Household Items". I'm gad to hear that you did eventually get better after pickling your hands. Take Care .. Dave
My hardstand chaps take it off and sandblast it in a little machine. Works perfectly. I guess I am lazy! Best
Sounds like an easy way out :-) I might well have used that at my boatyard but if it had been offered...