What is the best media to blast Stainless Bravo 3 props?

Mar 16, 2007
327
Darnestown, Maryland
Boat Info
290 AJ
Engines
Twin Mercruiser 300 hp Bravo III
2006 AJ 290
Longest season in the water since I bought the boat new in 2007.
We pulled and blocked the boat yesterday. Pulled off the outdrives and brought them home.
I spent a lot of time last year trying to get traces of barnacles off the props.
I think it will be much quicker to use my sand blaster.
What's the best media?
Sand, ceramic, shells ?
There's no sense to get a polished finish..
So same question for drives to prep for new coat of etching primer and Trilux33...

Thanks!
 
If you have barnacles on the OD, try a better OD paint. I use this, never get barnacles.
EA72722D-A31F-46C0-8EAE-2F53B12C893B.jpeg
 
I've only done a little blasting over the years so I'll let others chime in on that - but I can't imagine any of those items being an issue to SS. BUT, another way to do it is to use something like MaryKate's On & Off which is HCl (and some other stuff). That will disolve the remanants of the little critters. If you find HCl or Muriatic Acid at a local hardware store, that will work, too. If you have decent blasting tools already, though, then I guess either way would be good.
 
Do not blast the props!
Do not under any circumstances!

Blasting will stress relieve the metal and that in turn will cause the thin metal of the blades to distort. Blasting can also roughen the surface and degrade the performance of the props.

The better choice would be to send them to a prop shop that can clean, tune and balance the props. They can chemically clean the props so they come back all shiny.

For the future you should use a prop specific product like Prop Coat, rather than metal bottom paint. BoatTest did a nice write just recently. It’s well worth a read.
 
7F63ADD3-B531-42E9-A4A9-23715F822CDE.jpeg
Here is my OD after painting with the stuff above, seriously, I may have chipped away a couple barnacles over the years but never felt the need to blast it.
PS. that’s a 30yo (1991) Bravo 1. No corrosion, no pits, it’s a beautiful thing. Well maintained. OD don’t have to be sacrificial parts.
 
Last edited:
If you cannot get Muriatic acid, Believe it or not, grout cleaner (from home depot) will dissolve the barnacles easily. Just wear some very good rubber gloves and goggles.
Scrub with a 3m Blue or Green pad and done!

I have heard of some folks using prop speed to protect against growth. Expensive and requires priming and several coats.
 
As stated above - I always used muriatic acid from Home Depot and scotch bright pads with good rubber gloves. I used a throw-away paint brush and put the props in a pan/bucket. I used to paint them with cold galvanizing compound paint but after getting them tuned, prop shop recommended not painting.
 
If you put them in a tub with barnacle buster covering them, everything will dissolve off them overnight. Then literally just rinse them off with water. I put the the barnacle buster back into the gallon jugs after each use. Use a paint strainer to keep the debris from going into the gallon each.
 
Thanks.
No barnacles on the outdrives, just the props. Most came off with the pressure washer but have lots of little ones on inside area of the hubs.

A lot of last years Trilux is worn down to the yellow primer I use plus it's hard to get at a lot of nooks and crannies.

I'm not sure painting the props is good on an outdrive.

I'll try the acid / barnacle buster.
 
Muriatic acid from Lowes will clean that all up in 30 seconds.
Acid, and old cookie sheet and a 99 cent chip brush.

Placing the prop on the sheet slows you to collect and reuse the acid as it drips off the prop.
 
View attachment 117673 Here is my OD after painting with the stuff above, seriously, I may have chipped away a couple barnacles over the years but never felt the need to blast it.
PS. that’s a 30yo (1991) Bravo 1. No corrosion, no pits, it’s a beautiful thing. Well maintained. OD don’t have to be sacrificial parts.
What is the black line at the top of the prop? It looks like a crack but could be paint? Is there an imperfection in the prop there?
 
I bought and tried the toilet cleaner last year by putting it straight on the props.
Ordered Barnacle Buster.
While waiting I tried again.
It took about 5 gal of water to cover the prop.
Poured in what was left of the toilet cleaner. Checked back in about 10-12 hours and cleaned off the residue with green scotch Brite sponge.

This is the forth one in the bucket tonight. Will check in the morning.
Very happy how cheap and easy compaired to what I did last year.

So will polishing the blades keep them cleaner longer?
20220104_173822.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,946
Messages
1,422,783
Members
60,930
Latest member
Ebrown69
Back
Top