Bottom Paint near rudder/ Prop Strut Bottom paint

[tomsoyer]

Hi all. First hall out and bottom paint which I am doing. I have a question about the area near the rudder. How are you all prepping/painting the area between the rudder and the hull. It is tight. I would guess most are not dropping the rudder and just getting in the and handing sanding and painting? Any help on this would be great.

Second question is about the strut. The previous owner put bottom paint on the lower and up section of the struct but not near the zinc. Is it ok to paint the struct or will that generate issues?

[waughoo]

As for the rudder... I just got in there what I could with a bristle brush.

[Ed Shankle]

Scrap with a 1" flexible putty knife and spray the hard to reach area with a barnacle protection paint (Petit).

[scgunner]

tomsoyer,

In pic #1) paint everything; strut, prop shaft, prop. The only thing you don't paint is the zinc and a small bare spot behind the zinc so there's good metal to metal contact between zinc and strut. Several coats if you have the time.

In pic #2) nice clean up of that difficult area. By using a small bush and moving the rudder back and forth you should be able to reach just about all bare spots. Again you want to use your bottom paint liberally with a number of coats.   

[Noah]

Coincidentally, I just did mine this week. Below are two before and one after. Very warm water here lately so growth on running gear is particularly bad, even if you use a diver monthly. The strut should be painted with an epoxy barrier coat type paint (Interprotect 2000 or similar) then bottom paint EXCEPT where zinc makes contact. Prop and shaft get cleaned-up with a rotary drill/polisher/grinder—whatever you have to get it back to as close to "clean as new" smooth. The space between the rudder and skeg; use hand tools and wire brush to clean (moving the rudder right and left) to get all of the growth as best you can, then bottom paint with a brush.

[tomsoyer]

Thank you all for weighing in. Your feedback is very helpful. Nice job Noah getting your prop and shaft looking new. Noah, my home town is San Diego. I grew up in Poway.

Tomorrow is paint day!

[scgunner]

Noah,

How long was your boat in the water? Do you put the boat back in the water with the prop and shaft just bare like that?

[Noah]

Kevin- Yes, I keep the prop shaft and prop unpainted. I haul every three years to paint the bottom. I have a diver "clean" the bottom monthly. That much growth on the metal  occurred in 30-days (according to my diver). The water temp here has been 71+ degrees. It is possible my diver just did a cursory cleaning job as he knew the boat was going to be hauled the following month but he says "no" and said he is seeing that much hard growth monthly over this Summer. I had considered applying PropSpeed coating during this haul out, but talked myself out of it, due to PIA application and cost. I will just pressure my diver to work harder ;-)

[Ron Hill]

Noah : I'd at least spray galvanize paint on it!!

A thought

[Noah]

Ron-
Paint galvanizing paint on what?

[scgunner]

Noah,

I'm in Long Beach (Alamitos Bay) about 100mi north of you. I too have a dive service every four weeks and paint every 3 or 4 years. Up here 71 degrees for the late summer months is not particularly warm we're usually at least 72 or 73 degrees normally. I normally get under the boat with a mask a few times a year just to keep an eye on things. I've never seen an encrustation of those hard white worms that bad and certainly never seen it happen in a month, no way unless there's something in the water. I think your diver might be pulling your leg.

In the last several months before hall out when things are starting to get bare I'll start to see those "worms" but nothing close to what you have. In my experience they start to form on bare or neglected areas but it takes time a lot more than a month. Underwater you need a scraper to remove them and I think if they can't remove it with a scrub pad a lot of divers just won't bother. That's why I cover everything with bottom paint, while it's not an ideal solution I've never pulled a boat out of the water that looked like that.

One more thing as I'm sure you're aware you're losing a lot of performance with a prop that badly encrusted.

[Ron Hill]

Noah : I've had luck with galvanized paint on the prop, strut and shaft (except where the Zn attaches)

A thought

[Noah]

I prefer not to paint a prop, especially not a folding one, as well as not painting the shaft. I have put my diver "on notice" that he needs to do whatever it takes to keep them clean and smooth going forward.
Edit: Ron— why would "Galvanized spray Paint" attract less growth than a bare metal stainless steel prop shaft or a bronze prop, and/or be easier to clean than bare metal? My strut has epoxy primer and bottom paint on it.