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!