Propellers, PropSpeed, etc

[Dude 0]

Just on this topic...

 

What about these plastic prop's that are popping up. What does one do to them?

 

This may be a silly question....

 

As i know very little about props, why not use other metals like stainless?

[Island Time 1,235]

I did wonder about that wheels, but never looked it up. I did suspect that that might be the case, but as I wasn't going to try it, never researched it..

Thanks for the info.

[Guest]

[quote name="Chrisc"Hanging out the washing I thought to cut the toe ends off my wife's tights and slide them over the prop blades' date=' removing them at the start of summer.

[/quote]

That's just sick dude. You hang out your wife's washing??? I sure hope she'a an ultra rich, hot babe with her own yacht and a controlling share in a brewery. Only then is it acceptable to post your laundry habits on the internet in a sailing forum.

[idlerboat 116]

like several other posts.....

I only say what has worked for me.

My replys on this stuff is not theory or google......

It is what I do and what works for me.

(Why would I say stuff about something I have never tried, or promote something that dosnt work for me ? )

If the lanolin aplication turns out to be nothing more than a "ritual to merlin" so be it....but .....

whatever it is that I do works !!!

I have no interest in bullshiting about this, and obviously dont have shares in lanolin production.

So I propose the opposite question.....

why...given what I have described as a method in detail....does it work ?

To add some further data.

Boat hauled...all the usual stuff.

Marina bound for a few months, perhaps ten short runs.

Then big trip for three and a half months.

now three months back...maybee five runs....

This marina is "nutrient rich"....no question about that.

If it is as simple as a fine polish, why am I the only one in the universe to have this degree of succsess?

If it is polish only, is the grade that marine life find hard to attach too?

So many questions......

The fact is that we have a bunch of "enquiring minds" here and do stuff like poke underwater cameras under our boats...(less than a hundred bucks / USB direct connect to a lap top / on ebay)...Pluss we have (not me) some top shelf ones too.

Unlike some other posts...this is NOT a fight....its a challenge. I want to know why......NOT why not.

[wheels 543]

Certainly not saying you are BSing anyone IB. As you say, it works for you and I can't say it doesn't and would be a fool to try to say so. But in a true scientific way of finding out, it really needs testing with several props in the same environment, same period of time, one not coated, one coated cold, one coated after being heated, yadda yadda and results studied. There may or may not be a difference. Personally I suggest heating won't change the end result, but who knows without a real A/B test.

Interestingly, back in the days of me being on CF, someone said they hauled out and found that where someone had written on the prop in marker pen, no growth had occured. We all found that interesting and wondered if someone had stumbled across a simple yet effective cure for fouling. Someone covered their entire prop in marker pen and a year later, found their prop was covered in growth. So from that we wondered, was it that it didn't work after all, or was it the type of pen used or??? .

[Steve Pope 243]

Good Question!!

[tuffyluffy 76]

That's venturing into the urban legend realms. Someone has said they did it that way and now we have "recommended practice".

There is only one Bronze, called bearing bronze or Cintered Bronze which has "pores" in it to take up oil for self lub bearings. Ordinary Bronze does not have those pores, unless it has dezincified

To put it all into perspective, the Lanocote is just a water resistant grease that happens to be nontoxic to the environment. But if you want to use the prop, the coating does not stay on for long.

 

Wheels, Im not someone saying its recommended practise, its the recommended application instructions of at least 3 suppliers of the product.

 

See here for a start,

 

http://www.lanoguard.co.nz/userguide.html

 

http://lanoprotect.com/wp-content/uploa ... ersml1.pdf

 

http://www.lanolene.com/application_inf ... eller.html

 

 

If its in the realms of urban legend, then so be it. I just buy the stuff and follow the instructions.

 

As i mentioned, i havent used anything else, hence have nothing to compare against, and im not the guy who cleans my undersides therefore i cant speak of the fouling levels on the prop.

[Guest]

You are far from alone Tuffy.

 

One of the dude that use to help me on my barge always used Lano on his prop. He put the prop in a tin with the Lano and then brought it to the boil over a camp stove. He then let it cool, wiped off the worse of the excess and fitted it to the boat again. No idea if it's good bad or whatever but he swears by it. The boat lives in Algies bay and it's a low speed fizz nasty.

[courageous 0]

Here's one for the sceptics out there..I'm told that in the Med charter boat op's use marker pen ink. Yep they brake open a black permanent marker pen and coat the bronze blades with the ink. They swear it works like a dream..I'm yet to try it... I had the prop & markers all ready to go a couple of weeks ago when asked if I would like try prop speed for $70.00..yeah another first... I couldn't help myself...

[L'escale 0]

Never got more than a year out of propspeed. Tried it twice, within last 2 years - accept others have had good results but not me. Prop spins about 200 hours per year. Now back on Lanoline based grease (Lanocote) and get similar result for fraction of cost.

Never tried heating - as a retired engineer I know that 'sintered bronze' is an accepted lubricating bronze (when heated and immersed in oil) but correct me here - never known of 'sintered bronze' props? - but if you are heating then beware folding/feathering props. Most have a requirement to add grease on a regular basis. Do this after you have heated as not doing so may cause huge damage due to buggered or disapeared grease.

I always maintain a 6 month drydock regime for checks on all things underneath so now figure even it it does last, why pay a lot of $$ for propspeed if I am able to give the prop a once over every 6 months anyway?

[Guest]

I use Lift on my props and haven't needed to clean either one in over 5 years.

 

I always wondered if the cooking in Lano actually works. It appears technically it shouldn't but then more than a few think it works for them so I suppose it does in a weird round-about way.

 

Is there more than one sort of prop material used??