Battling Barnacles

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Rick D

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Hey all.

Down today trying to clean up my Alpha 1 Gen 2 stern drives to get them ready for paint: What a mess... they have heavy barnacle growth all over them.

Last year I was on a post/stake right at the opening of a narrow inlet where the water was always racing by the boat depending upon the tide. I was warned about the growth in that area and really covered my drives well last year with trilux. You would have thought I used finger paint... that's how bad they were. They had no problem adhering to my drives, the bellows, the props and trim and every little nook and cranny no matter how small....although not one single barnacle on my hull... thank you petit paint.

I've cleaned my props and trim tabs and will probably use prop speed on them this year. But the stern drives are a different story. I simply do not have the time or money to clean them properly which would mean removal of drives and the gimbal housing to have them bead blasted, properly prepped and painted. I've knocked all the barnacles off with a plastic putty knife, but there is plenty of white pad covering my drives and inside gimbal housing. I tried the Zep Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner today as recommended by a fellow working on this boat but that did nothing.

Here's the question, can I get away with brush painting over the little white nightmares with trilux and spraying trilux inside the gimbal housing just covering everything (except anodes of course) including the pads and barnacle residue? Does doing so pose any sort of corrosion risk to the drives? I'm keeping the boat at a slip this year up a river in brackish water. In the fall, I intend to pull the stern drives and gimbal housings off and send them out to get bead blasted and prepped... but for this season, can I just paint over them to get through the season or does that pose some sort on inherit risk to the drives?

Thanks for any input.

--Rick

Bye the way, my next boat will be either trailerable or have inboards.
 
As you have noted, barnacles are a "two-step" problem.

You can remove the calcium based housing ( shell ) with muriatic acid or white vinegar, followed by some scraping.

The "white pad" as you describe it is one of natures very finest organic polymer glues. AFAIK, it is impervious to just about everything. Abrasion is the only "solution" that I know of, and that is not an attractive solution.

For the "short term" ( the single year you describe ) I would just paint over the pads then properly deal with the drives at haul out.

---

There is a very good reason why I prefer O/B's to I/Os: You can lift the drive clear of barnacle infestations...
 
Rick,

I have dealt with this problem for a few years and actually have gotten it down to a routine, although I'm not sure if I'm treating the drive finish properly. Like you, I use a good toliet bowl cleaner afetr I knock off the shells. I treat it a few times and use a Scotch Brite Pad which gets any remaining calcium off the drive. I then use a Dremel tool and a grinding bit and carefully and slowly remove what remains. It is tedious but effective. For areas that are hard to reach, plenty of scraping, with copius amounts of toilet bowl cleaner are in order. I fashioned a scraper form an old shelf support. It has a wide end, a narrow end and a hook to reach most crevices. Although you would hope that proper preparation would prevent the build up, this will probably be an annual event.
 
I would work on your outdrive the way I work on all of the running gear on my boat.

First I use a multi-tool (any brand is good. I just happen to have a Craftsman. This is like the Fien Multi-tool you see advertised, but much less expensive.) to take off the large pieces and the majority of the growth.

This I use my 4 1/2" grinder fitted with a "Stripper Pad." This is a heavy duty pad that is designed to remove paint from wood. The one I use is blue and works great. It can be bought from either Lowes or Home Depot. You have to be careful not to get a different brand because they do not last as well.

Of course, when you finish this cleanup on the outdrive you have to repaint. On my props I just look at the bright shine for a few minutes and then put the boat back in the water.

George
 
I have a similar issue. Two seasons ago the saltline moved far up the Bay and the water at our dock became very brackish. My Alpha I had loads of the little buggers on it. I scraped the off and cleaned up the pads as best as I could with light sanding. Then I painted with Outdrive Spray from WM. By the end of last season my Alpha looked had serious corrosion issues. Never had an OD that I left in the water before so I'm not sure where I went wrong. I need to get this resolved before I launch this year so any advice would be appreciated,

Liz, I've been shopping for a jet dock but its not in the budget.
 
Rick i've used muriatic acid on mine as well. Let it stil for a minute then hose it down. You may have to do it a few times, but it will work.
 
If you're going to remove and blast later why risk damage by trying to scrape it off, it's not causing any harm and the shells are off so speed shouldn't be reduced.
 
Mike, I scraped and removed them prior to "giving up" on them, so they are basically removed already. I have bare scratches down to aluminum so I will have to treat and paint those areas like I did last year which involved scuffing the scratches/bare areas with sandpaper and immediately hitting with primocon. Worked great... the antifoul did not.

Frosh, I used toilet bowl stuff, let it sit for a minute and then hosed it off and hit it with scotchbrite. It seemed to be more effective at removing the antifoul paint on the gimbal housing than the barnacles.

Imac, next year after my newly sanded, prepped and paint drives and gimbal housing go back on the boat after the winter, I will coat with antifoul paint and probably pay to have my boat hauled midway through the summer where I will spend sometime using a powerwasher followed by a fresh coats of antifoul paint. I think the trick is more regular maintenance rather than once a year maintenance.

Liz, cool! I'll send you my shipping address so you can send one out to me! :)
--Rick
 
Prior to last year we never had a Barnacle problem in my marina. We are in true Brackish water about a 1/2 mile in the Tuckerton Creek from Little Egg Bay the Creek is freshwater fed the Bay is Saltwater. Last season I had to be hauled 3/4 through because the boat would not get up on plane. I will admit the boat got very little cruising hours on it last season. I couldn't believe how bad looked when hauled and scraped/cleaned. Everyone in the marina had the same problem if they ran inboards or I/O's.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by MikeeH

Liz, I've been shopping for a jet dock but its not in the budget.
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Mike & Rick
I have no idea what the prices are in today's market, but I bought my Air Dock in 2000 and it cost me $3k which included installation and a five yr warranty. Before I bought it, I had to haul and clean the bottom at least 3 times each summer. And my Alpha 1 Gen 2 took a real beating!

After I started using the Air Dock, I would just make a run from the fresh/brackish water downstream to the salty estuary and run it around for about an hour. When I returned, any slime, etc which had developed from the boat sitting in the water---mostly weekends---would be gone. Then I would hose off any salt spray with the fresh dock water and the boat was good to go again!

I saved a lot of money in no longer having to bottom paint the boat and no more corrosion on my outdrive. It really is well worth it in time saved as well as money saved.

If I ever get back into boating, an Air Dock will the next purchase!

Good luck guys.
 
Been there done that on my old boat. My outdrive were covered in barnacles every winter. The short answer to your question is yes, you can paint over the pads. Obviously it's not ideal but the process of getting those outdrives cleaned with no residue anywhere is not a realistic thing to do every season unless you have a LOT of free time and are willing to pull the drive. My policy was to get them as clean as one weekend on scraping would get me then hit them with trilux spray paint, two coats. I also used Mary Kate On/off for outdrives. Worked reasonable well and is not as harsh on aluminum as Muriatic acid would be. Generally in the end I had a pretty smooth finish and didn't have any real problems with paint adhesion failure.
 
My problem with an airdock is the lack of electric at the dock. It says you can fill it with an inverter and battery but I'm don't think a battery will hold up that long.

As for my OD, I'm going to clean up the pitting with my Dremel and sandpaper, hit the spots with Interlux Primocon and then overspray the entire OD with Trilux. I hope that will get me through the season and then I'll do "Greg's Full Court Press" treatment next winter.
 
is there now way to run a low volt current through metal to keep them off? like from a 9 volt battery or something?
 
Whoa! Don't let muriatic acid get anywhere near those sterndrives. As much as I like muriatic acid it is not to be used on alloys.
 
I tried that Lanocote stuff this year on my running gear as I haven't had much luck with Trilux - I have my fingers crossed...
 
quote:
Originally posted by rblochli

I tried that Lanocote stuff this year on my running gear as I haven't had much luck with Trilux - I have my fingers crossed...

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Good luck with that. I applied it to the outdrives on my old boat one year. It didn't work at all. I hope your results are different!
 
That looks interesting but I'd really love to get the boat up and out of the water at the dock when not in use.
 
mike, use a product called barnical buster to clean the mineral based part off. it wont eat the housing like acid does. much safer to work with too.
 
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