Sounders/Running Gear/

[Gina Marie]

I am pulling Gina Marie in October to have her hull cleaned, maintained and painted. Two question come to mind.

1- I currently have my hull cleaned and zincs replaced(when needed) every 6 to eigth weeks by a professional diver at the dock. My running gear is not painted. What are the advantages and disadvantages of either painting(my running gear) it or leaving it maintained by my diver.

2-I currently have a furuno 561 sounder and although old I have not thought of updating it. It currently has a 50 Hurtz transducer. The unit goes to 1000 M. Now would be the time to change out the transducer. If I was to change it out what units would you recommend.

Thanks Gina Marie/Tom

 

[captddis]

Unless the boat is run every week, PAINT the running gear. Pettit Vivid works well on the gear. Done properly it will last 18 months+, even on the wheels. I am hauling my 46 tommorrow after 28 months. The running gear paint is spent, the Micron 66 is still fine on the hull. If the running gear is prepped and painted properly it WILL stick.
As for the recorder I would go with a dual frequency Furuno.

 

[Fanfare]

If the sounder is working satisfactorily I would keep it. I just use mine for depth and don't need the ability to have a fish finder. My oldest sounder, a Datamarine International Offshore, must be 25 or 30 years old by now and still works fine. The plastic case is turning yellow. It's a lot cheaper to paint it than to replace it. This sounder drives a remote on the flying bridge, so I get two for the price of one.

I do have a complete independent second sounder on the bridge, with a remote below, and an alarm and readout by my bunk in case of anchor dragging. Therefore I do not have to worry much about one unit going out and leaving me stuck. If one breaks I'll go for a new one (if the old can't be repaired). Maybe you should keep the old one (1000 M is great!) and add another.

As to the running gear, I can keep about 75% of the antifouling on the shafts, but props and rudders just don't adhere if I run much. This is my first year with Micron on the hull (forgot what is on the props, sorry) so I will have to give this more time.

 

[jim rosenthal]

If you want to replace the transducer, probably a dual frequency 50/200 would be best. However, if what you have works, maybe you don't need to replace it. All of them seem to be made by Airmar, and GEM Electronics in SC can sell you a cable which will connect most Airmars to anything you choose except your microwave oven.

I have tried a lot of things to keep fouling off the running gear, including that whole Interprotect routine, which fell off. Nothing seems to work up here in the Chesapeake. I just try to run the boat every week at least for an hour or two. If you find something that works, please let us all know. I'm thinking about buying a bunch of piranhas and keeping them tied up under the boat. What do you guys think?

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

If you have only one sounder that's working fine, than I would consider a new one and use the old one as a back-up. Also, if you have a Datamarine you can send it off to the mfg. and they will check it out and correct any abnormalies free (http://www.sea-dmi.com/).

As for the metal anti-fowling, I had a boat yard tell me two years ago that non of them are worth the money (a BOAT YARD telling me this!). They had everything opportunity to take (more of) my $$$. So,
1. It seems (to me) that non moving pieces like rudders and plainers benefit from metal anti fowling coatings, however props, due to rotation motion, eventually shed the coatings and go back to fowling.
2. The response by captddis has really cought my attention and I hope we may hear more about the Petis product.

Good Luck,
Capt'n Bill

 

[Genesis]

I've found that its worth painting the shafts. The rudders, less so. The props, forgetaboutit. Even when using a specific metal-intended primer and paint, it doesn't stay on for more than a month or so, and when it starts to come off the prop fouls unevenly, which means even MORE vibration than you'd otherwise get!

 

[doc g]

One thing that does work on the rudders is to coat them with epoxy and then paint them with your normal antifouling paint. This also works on struts . When the PO had my bottom peeled and epoxied they did the rudders and struts also and its been on there about seven years now. Last haul we used Barnicle Barrier (Pettit?) on the props and shafts it worked OK in ChesBay . When I dove it a month ago there was some stuff growing on the shafts and wheels but it came off easy , along with the BB coating though the struts and rudders were spotless........................Pat

 

[Capten]

Propspeed for the running gear. The stuff is awesome and certainly works well for me. See my previous posts and www.propspeed.com.

RMAHER: Rob, I owe you info on where to get Propspeed on the Bay and cost. I'll look it up and get back to you.

As for sounders, I also agree with Captddis on the Furuno dual frequency sounders. But depending on how you will be using the unit and the space you have for mounting, you may want to consider using a wet box for the new transducer and leave the old unit/xducer in place as a back up. Or remove the old xducer and plug the hole and use the wet box. Just a thought.

 

[bobk]

If you spend much time on the ICW, consider a Humminbird Matrix 37 with a Quadra Beam. It has the capability to look sideways and I find it valuable to locate the deeper part of the narrow channels. I just put one one the 48MY for just this purpose.

Bob

 

[captddis]

All you naysayers, I just hauled after 27 months. 75% of the paint was still on the running gear INCLUDING the props. Find a yard that knows how to do it right and get the gear painted.

 

[captddis]

Nimrod,
I have a couple of boats with the propspeed{ not mine}. It has failed miserably. I have been told that for the propspeed to work the boat needs to be run regularly. The boats mentioned sit for a month or more at at a time. What have you found to be the secret? Dave

 

[Capten]

Nimrod,
I have a couple of boats with the propspeed{ not mine}. It has failed miserably. I have been told that for the propspeed to work the boat needs to be run regularly. The boats mentioned sit for a month or more at at a time. What have you found to be the secret? Dave

Dave,

I am not sure I know any secrets but for me the Propspeed has worked very well. I do not recall hearing anything about having to run the boat regulary for the stuff to work. In fact, our boat often does not leave the slip for weeks on end while in the Chesapeake.

Here is one of my experiences from an earlier post:

'Well, I am officially convinced that PropSpeed antifouling for metal works! We applied it to our shafts in the spring of 2005. We had no barnacle growth on the shafts all season – but I didn’t notice much on any of the other running gear either so I figured it was a mild year for barnacles. Note - We have not hauled the boat since last spring and have not reapplied the PropSpeed.

Well this year on the Chesapeake Bay is a totally different story. Over the July 4th weekend we ran the boat for the first time after having changed wheels, having 3 new turbos installed and after having sat idle in the slip for three weeks. What a mess – lost 400 rpms of top end, could hardly get on plane and lots of black smoke and vibration. It was late in the day and I did not have a chance to dive to take a look at the bottom until the following day. When I did, I was appalled but not surprised at what I found. The props, struts and rudders were covered with small barnacles – it looked like Berber carpet! This was after only 3 weeks after installing new wheels and making sure everything was clean. The interesting part was that the shafts had NO barnacle growth!! The Prop Speed that I applied over 14 months prior was working perfectly. I consulted with neighbors on the dock and they are all experiencing similar performance/barnacle probelms.

Even though the PropSpeed is very pricey, a little difficult to work with, and once it is on you can’t touch it or will be forced to re-apply, it WORKS! After seeing this I am planning on adding PropSpeed to our struts and rudders at next haul out (maybe sooner than later). I will still keep the props untreated (fisherman’s superstition and ease of changing wheels). I am confident that this stuff is doing the job.'

I do recall hearing that the Propspeed has to be applied very carefully and the directions followed exactly. I put it on myself so I know the job was done right. The Propspeed is the only thing that I have been able to keep on the shafts. I applied an expensive multi-step antifouling paint some years ago with poor results.

Not sure why it works for me and possibly not for others but I do know that I will be using it again this spring. I believe I bought the Propspeed from a guy in the Baltimore area named Dave with MYD Mid-Atlantic 443-848-2571. It was about $300.00 for enough to do the shafts, struts, rudders and possibly the props.

 

[Paul45c]

I'll ditto that last comment about having to follow instructions carefully. I've had it on twice (boat's in the water 12 mos. of the year in S Florida). First time, it only went on shafts, struts and rudders. The stuff worked incredibly well. I'd say it had GOOD antifouling properties for about 8 mos., which is outstanding down here. That made me want to do the props next time, because as the name implies, that's what it's for. It's literally supposed to give you more speed when applied to props.

The second application? Bad news. Somebody must have not followed instructions, because in one month I had good growth on wheels and all other underwater metal treated with the stuff.

Based on the first experience I had with it, I'm going to give it a shot next haulout, but this time I'm doing it myself. If I'm still not happy with it then, I'm not bothering with it anymore.

My bottom cleaning diver guy is also my prop tuner, and given that he doesn't like to spend any more time in the water than he has to, he strongly recommends the stuff. But, he's also seen it applied incorrectly with the kind of results I got last time. FWIW, he also says it really does give you at least some extra speed.