Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq. wrote:
Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:17:47 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote in message
...
Boater wrote:
...little place for them here, eh?

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...s/ce0a1de9.jpg



Anyway, here's a snap of Yo Ho's business end. I'm waiting for the
shrinkwrap guy to show up this week. Wrapping the exhaust after the
motor drains is part of the winterizing process. I've got to spend
a few minutes removing the rust from the prop and repainting it.
One of these days I'll find a prop paint that actually stays on the
blade tips. :)
What surprised me was the rust on the aluminum prop. My props (much
older than yours) have lost half of the black paint, I have had some
dings removed, and it has touched the bottom a time or two, but has
never shown a hint of rust. Is rust on aluminum props common in
salt water?

As far as painting the props, my props started to lose their paint
in the first year, and I asked the mechanic if I should touch them
up. His comment was that the new paint would "spin off" as soon as
i put the boat back in the water. Don't know if that is true, but
it sure has save me the trouble of repainting the prop. Based upon
your experience repainting props, he was correct. When I have had
the prop dings smoothed out and balanced, the prop shop never
bothers to repaint the props for the same reason.
That's not rust. It's probably a primer paint for aluminum.

I've had stainless props for a long time - never quite understood the
need to paint them.

Unless it's a less expensive type of stainless - then I could
understand it, but why go cheap on the prop?

It is the less expensive SS prop. It is called "Brushed SS". I had
never heard of them, but they do have a tendency to rust, as Harry has
highlighted from his photo. I for one would only buy the non rusting
version of SS prop.

PS - I think they use the Brushed SS on the LT boats.