Up here in the North East at least, some boats have already been pulled for the season and others will not be far behind. This is just a friendly reminder that one of the chores with the boat out of the water is to change the anodes on the boat. I like to change mine at the end of the season at the same time as I service the engine at the end of the year ready for the coming winter and also it is one less thing to worry about come the next season. Remember that for a zinc to work it needs to make good electrical contact unlike a boat that I looked at recently where the shaft anode was the wrong size for the shaft and someone, presumably the owner had wrapped plastic electrical tape around the shaft to make it larger so the anode would fit!
Actually this year I found that my zincs did not get eaten up as much as the previous couple of years. I am not sure why that is but none the less you can see here the difference between the old and the new. No guesses for which is which.
Hi Mark, How come safety wire instead of a cotter pin through the prop nut?
Posted by: Bill Parks | September 17, 2011 at 11:26 PM
Bill
When the shaft and prop was delivered to me it was wrong and there should have either been a castelated nut or a half nut and full not. Frankly all props push themselves onto the taper so hard with use that you need a prop puller to get them off again anyway and although I would not advising it you could probably motor thousands of miles without a prop nut at all.
So the short answer is that the manufacturer that made the shaft for me did not do what I asked or what is common practice. All this from a well known manufacturer of shafts and running gear.
Posted by: Mark | September 20, 2011 at 07:28 PM
It looks like your prop had quite a few barnacles at some point.
Is it OK to paint the prop AND the shaft with anti-fouling bottom paint, and if so, is this effective. I think my boat has alot of barnacles on both my prop and shaft, but right now the water is murky and chilly so I won't be goin' down to have a closer look!
Thanks,
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Becker | December 14, 2011 at 07:10 PM
I do not advise painting the prop and shaft with copper based paint. If you do you are effectively creating a recipe of galvanic corrosion between the copper in the paint and the SS shaft. A far better method is to use a product such as prop speed which although expensive seems to work very well and will not give problems with corrosion.
Posted by: Mark | December 15, 2011 at 06:38 AM