External sea strainer fouling

Mine hold up pretty well with just bottom paint. Maybe try some of that newish prop coating?

x2 on bottom paint.

I have them sand blasted, then hit them with a good aerosal primer and aerosal bottom paint inside and out and it seems to work really good.

Egg Harbor used the same strainers. I use bottom paint and frequent running of the boat helps with them not building up and growth.

I use Pettit Hydro-coat eco it has worked better than anything else. Last year we did one with anti fouling primer and one with eco , the one with eco was like new. If you use the eco on the bottom as well you won't get that ugly green water line.

3-4 coats of cold galv inside and out.

I have been using the zinc spray on them. Both sides. End of the season they still look pretty good. Though I move my boat often.

Keep both. Cabo (and others) used the screens and some customers added sea strainers. The screen strainers are pretty effective at keeping grass and stuff like that out. BUT, they don't allow sand and silt to drop out and this is where the swirling effect of the sea strainer shines. There is NO harm in having both. Generally on boats with sea strainers, they'll still have a slotted clamshell on the thru-hull.

I have both.

I've been using CRC "Zinc it" on strainers rudders and tabs. I may want to try it on the props to this season. Prop speed worked well on the shafts, but not great on the wheels last year.. Although a butter knife and mask cleared the wheels in under 10 minutes. So I guess it worked.

Prep is everything with prop speed. If you need to scrape stuff off prop speed, use only plastic putty knives. Prop speed is very soft and a butter knife or metal scraper will peel it right off. Also check and see if you have any galvanic corrosion and that all your running gear is bonded correctly. Galvanic corrosion will boil off any paint or coating you put on running gear.

Grounding system is working good. The boat just received low use for two month with the family using it as home base. while we ran the contender to the canyon. What I was saying was I was not impressed with what I expected to be a lack of barnacle growth. Shafts were clean props were not. They popped right off and they were clear through September late November. When I was able to run it weekly. That being said the tabs strainers and rudders were clear as zinc exfoliates itself making it hard for anything to take a good foothold.

Gotta send a diver down if you're going to sit dockside for 2 months in the NE.

HA ha. I am the diver and with 2 feet of water below the props at low tide and zero visibility. I think Ill I'll be running this one a little more in June and July this season.

That's more fun!

Ralph, on the internal and external strainers, I have both. I agree with Cap J; keep them both. In the Bahamas we kick up a little sand once in a while and I find a crab or two on the inside as well. I use prop speed on the external when I have some of the kit left over from the rest of the running gear and it works pretty good if you keep them wiped off. Does anybody have any experience in So. Florida with the Pettit Hydro coat eco on the bottom?