RichardS
N/A
My two 2-blade Flex-O-Folds arrived today as mentioned in the other recent threads. These are for twin Yanmar SD20 saildrives with 3YM30 engines.
The first thing that struck me when I opened the outer packaging from Darglow was the set of assembly instructions for the 3-blade Flex-O-Folds. My first thought was that they've sent me the wrong instructions (not good) ..... my second thought was that they've sent me the wrong prop (very good).
However, when I opened the box containing the props, I began to see the light, I think.
I might be wrong, but this was not the design I was expecting. I was sure that the end conical anode and the enclosed gearbox were features of the 3-blade rather than the 2-blade. If so, it looks as if the design of the 2B has been changed but they haven't yet got around to writing the new assembly instructions.
I don't know whether this design change is a good or bad thing, but it's certainly the case that I can now fill the gearbox with waterproof grease, as is my usual practice, and with the end cover on it should stay in place for a long time.
One other thing I had not realised is that these props are so heavy. Each one is 9kg whereas the alloy Radice's they are replacing are probably around 1 kg. Now, I'm not a physicist but, as long as the props are well balanced there must surely be a signifiicant flywheel / momentum effect from having this extra weight spinning around on the end of the propshaft. If so, perhaps I can look forward to an even smoother motoring experience than I currently enjoy.
(although, if so, why have I never read about this advantage before?)
Richard
The first thing that struck me when I opened the outer packaging from Darglow was the set of assembly instructions for the 3-blade Flex-O-Folds. My first thought was that they've sent me the wrong instructions (not good) ..... my second thought was that they've sent me the wrong prop (very good).
However, when I opened the box containing the props, I began to see the light, I think.
I might be wrong, but this was not the design I was expecting. I was sure that the end conical anode and the enclosed gearbox were features of the 3-blade rather than the 2-blade. If so, it looks as if the design of the 2B has been changed but they haven't yet got around to writing the new assembly instructions.
I don't know whether this design change is a good or bad thing, but it's certainly the case that I can now fill the gearbox with waterproof grease, as is my usual practice, and with the end cover on it should stay in place for a long time.
One other thing I had not realised is that these props are so heavy. Each one is 9kg whereas the alloy Radice's they are replacing are probably around 1 kg. Now, I'm not a physicist but, as long as the props are well balanced there must surely be a signifiicant flywheel / momentum effect from having this extra weight spinning around on the end of the propshaft. If so, perhaps I can look forward to an even smoother motoring experience than I currently enjoy.
(although, if so, why have I never read about this advantage before?)Richard
