For the first time ever last summer, my boat had a ton of zebra mussels
attached to the outdrives of my boat when I pulled it out in October. I keep
it in Lake Erie for the summer.

I use VC-17M anti fouling paint on the bottom of my boat and love it but I
don't want to paint my outdrives - the boat's a 1993 and the outdrives (Volvo
DuoProps) look like new. I'd hate to ruin their appearance with a paint.

Does anyone know of a clear product - spray or brush - that would protect the
outdrives from zebra mussels?

Except for this last summer, I've had great success spraying the cleaner called
"On / Off" (some kind of acid) and brushing the outdrives clean easily. Those
darn zebra mussels were tough as nails to remove. I had to use a plastic paint
scrapper and then scrub with the acid to clean the outdrives.

Any ideas? A guy at work suggested "Scat". I never heard of it.

Thanks!

One old suggestion - so I don't know if it's still considered valid - was to
use your boat regularly. The early life cycle stage of the organism doesn't
attach very strongly, so moving the boat through the water at a few knots of
speed dislodges them. A brochure from the MNR years ago said to operate your
boat every week in warm water and every two weeks in cooler water.

I haven't heard of anyone with big engine problems, but that's also a
concern - the little critters blocking up your cooling water flow. Regular
running should work for that too.

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

"Wklkj" wrote in message
...
For the first time ever last summer, my boat had a ton of zebra mussels
attached to the outdrives of my boat when I pulled it out in October. I
keep
it in Lake Erie for the summer...