Paint your props?

摘要

Following the IMO ban on TBT-SPC antifouling paints, research and development has tended to concentrate on hull protection, and the propeller has been largely ignored. Although propeller condition is less important than hull conditions in absolute terms, in energy lost per unit area it is significantly more important. To date the leading method of propeller maintenance has been regular underwater cleaning, an expensive and time consuming process that in some areas of the world has to be repeated every six months (see also the Recognising the alien article which appears elsewhere in this section). Propeller coatings have therefore been suggested as a possible antidote to this method, but most studies have centred on the fouling prevention abilities of the coatings and their susceptibility to cavita-tion damage, not on how the coating affects the propeller performance.