Raritan Electric Toilets Distributors Share Great Tip for Removing Barnacles
Raritan Engineering your electric toilets experts would like to share with you this week some amazing information regarding a new use for diaper cream that you might not be expecting.
Some of my favorite tests are those that pit ordinary dime-store products against gold-plated “marine-grade” stuff. This month’s test of prop antifouling paints called to mind an investigation into the antifouling properties of diaper cream that took place in 1995.
Diaper cream contains zinc oxide, a known biocide that is found in many eco-friendly paints. But it does not control the release of the biocide the way bottom paint does. Nevertheless, you’ll find many bulletin-board posts that recommend diaper cream for depth-sounder transducers, props, and dinghies. My take-away from our 1995 report is that the product worked (sort of) for a limited period, but it is an impractical solution for hulls, and it can’t compete with antifouling paint over the long haul … but I think it’s better to let you read the article and decide for yourself:
As you may recall, in 1992, a can of Penaten-Creme was brought back to the United States by Robert C. Alley, who had read in a British boating magazine that German sailors were using the white stuff to keep the bottoms of their boats free of both animal and vegetable growth. In March 1993, Alley smeared the cream on half of his fiberglass dinghy bottom, left an untreated strip down the middle and painted the other half with Woolsey Neptune bottom paint. Alley also reported that, as translated by his brother, a university professor in California, the PenatenCreme was mostly lanolin, zinc oxide, talc, and petroleum distillates, with a bit of ‘Panthenol, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Cetylpyridinium Chloride, Witch Hazel, and perfume.’
In the meantime, we started a test of our own. Having been supplied by Alley with a can of Penaten-Creme, we applied it to one quartered-off section on both sides of a clear piece of fiberglass. On corresponding sections, one on each side, we applied a coating of an American diaper ointment called Desitin. (Adjoining quarters were left uncoated.)
Your Electric Toilets Manufacturers Continue Discussion on This Great Use for Diaper Cream
Your electric marine toilets professionals share how the Desitin tube states that the white cream is 40-percent zinc oxide. It also boasts that it is “effective in sealing out wetness.
The foot-square panel spent the summer suspended from a dock at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, R.I. Retrieved in October, the panel displayed the usual fouling on the uncoated fiberglass surfaces and on the wooden mounting strips. The sections coated with Penaten-Creme or Desitin were almost entirely free of growth.
The dinghy had been towed for two years, and the cream had not worn off. A conservative researcher, Alley said he might try the Penaten Creme on his Alberg 30’s rudder and see how it performed before coating the entire bottom.
The bottom line: Both Penaten-Creme and Desitin seem to prevent fouling. However, because both of these clingy, creamy products are messy, we would not apply it to a dinghy (or any other small boat) that gets handled, trailered, or taken aboard.
These creams would surely be a problem when the boat is launched or hauled. The bottom would be slippery and messy. The creams can be applied relatively smoothly, but we’re not sure they will remain so.
Visit us here at Raritan Engineering and see how we always have what you need in regards to electric toilets and all of your marine sanitation needs.