Ambassador rope cutter?

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dom

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Thought I'd start a new thread to avoid hijacking the lobster pot one running over on pbo. I currently have a circular cutter type gadget fitted to the prop shaft, but doubt it's much use.

Many people speak highly of Ambassador and it certainly seems an impressive piece of kit when demonstrated at boat-shows.

I am just wondering if anyone has personal experience of one of these actually doing the deed. Also, is anyone concerned about the dangers such a cutter poses to gearbox, engine mounts, etc if it comes into contact with a wire rope; or does one simply hope that the shaft coupling performs its designed function?
 
I had one on the previous boat and it earned its keep on 2 or 3 occasions that I know about and probably a few more that I didn't notice. The ones I noticed the engine revs dropped suddenly and there was a loud clunking noise then the revs recovered and a couple of pieces of thick rope emerged from under the stern.

I doubt that a wire rope in the cutter would do any more damage to the engine mounts than a rope round the prop stalling the engine if the cutter wasn't there!

Fitted an Ambassador stripper to the new boat along with a feathering prop last year. This one is on a saildrive leg.
 
I've had one on Angele for the 12 years I have owned her. No idea whether it has ever needed to do anything. If it has, then it has done the job so efficiently that I've not noticed.

I did incur some unexpected expenditure one year to get the fixed part repaired - the lug that holds it in place had broken. (Likely explanation is that it did indeed have to do some work, but can't be certain of that).

Not much help. Sorry!!
 
Once chewed our way through a vast mat of weed off the lighthouse at the top of the Le Four Channel.

Didn't see the patch until we were in it and the engine note changed. But importantly, it kept going and we came out the other side and all was well.

We now have, on the new boat a simple circular cutter, and permanently wish we had the Ambassador still.

I was told the Stripper will cut through typical lobster-pot wire and I do not doubt it.
 
Angele said:
I've had one on Angele for the 12 years I have owned her. No idea whether it has ever needed to do anything. If it has, then it has done the job so efficiently that I've not noticed.

I did incur some unexpected expenditure one year to get the fixed part repaired - the lug that holds it in place had broken. (Likely explanation is that it did indeed have to do some work, but can't be certain of that).

+1. Our stripper has worked on a number of occasions and quite likely on a number we did not notice. Had to replace the fixed part once.
Got caught on something nasty last year crossing the channel and found water in the sail drive leg when we reached Guernsey
Had to lift out and replace the lower seals. May have been due to the shaking as the 'nasty stuff' was cut but just as easily caused by the horrible creek mud in which we berth.
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dom said:
Thought I'd start a new thread to avoid hijacking the lobster pot one running over on pbo. I currently have a circular cutter type gadget fitted to the prop shaft, but doubt it's much use.

Many people speak highly of Ambassador and it certainly seems an impressive piece of kit when demonstrated at boat-shows.

I am just wondering if anyone has personal experience of one of these actually doing the deed. Also, is anyone concerned about the dangers such a cutter poses to gearbox, engine mounts, etc if it comes into contact with a wire rope; or does one simply hope that the shaft coupling performs its designed function?
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Yes we have one. We LOVE it.
On at least four ocassions it has done the business....
It has chewed through some seriously big nets and ropes, It can cause the engine to stall and in those situations we have been grateful for the aquadrive unit that we have fitted.
Would not be without it- highly recommended.
 
Hi Dom
Had one on my Bav ... Had a few occasions when the engine note changed before fitting , never noticed a thing after fitting it .... I would have fitted again to this boat but already had one fitted ...
 
We caught a pot off Calshot in the dark and it cut through the rope but we still ended up with a huge fur ball on the end of the prop and were able to limp back to the Hamble, three hours later and a significantly lighter wallet we set off again. RS divers did their job and at short notice.
 
I also have an Ambassador and it's excellent - the first time we were approaching a mooring buoy with the idling engine in gear - it suddenly stopped and one genoa sheet was 2 metres shorter! The second time was crossing the North sea on the way to Holland, flat calm so we were motoring at 2500 rpm and the engine suddenly stopped in the middle of the shipping channel - we had collected a large sheet of blue plastic. The engine restarted in neutral but stopped immediately put in gear. By judicious juggling forward and reverse I managed to get it going with shreds of plastic drifting away and we continued on our way. At the earliest opportunity I inspected the stern gear and it was fine. Highly recommended.
 
Budgieboy said:
Yes it is ... But as far as I know they have very good copyright protection and use it quite heavily on intruders :)
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Not true. There are indeed competitors with similar devices (at least for shaft drive) but they have not made any impression on the market.
 
Have one on my saildrive (the only one that fits, I think). No idea if it has done any work down there yet or not, not that I noticed, but that doesn't mean it didn't. Am glad it's there and treated it to a new plastic bearing disc last year. Only annoying thing is I have to pay twice the price for an anode with a hole in it, or drill a hole in myself.

YM did a test, and a video of them in action:

 
Had one on the previous 3 boats and the current one.
Have witnessed it 7 times in all doing its job. The first sign is the drop in engine revs, then you look over the stern to see whatever its chomped through. In my case it has been 3 massive clumps of weed that forever seem to go backwards and forwards between the channel islands -one of which had a lot of rope in. One case of a plastic bag and 3 cases of nets of various sizes.
In all cases it was on the French side of the channel never on the english side!

As for the comment about price, when those engine revs drop suddenly and your adrenaline is running awol, thats when your glad you bought the Rolls Royce of cutters.
 
Tranona said:
Not true. There are indeed competitors with similar devices (at least for shaft drive) but they have not made any impression on the market.
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Indeed it's not true, not least because you can't copyright a 'thing', although you can register a design and may be able to patent one. I doubt the (Ambassador) Stripper is protected by patents since it post-dates an earlier design of similar concept.

My understanding is that the US-made Spurs was the first of the scissor-type rope cutters. The Stripper's market pre-eminence in the UK may be because they're UK-based, but availability will no doubt vary from country to country. As I think has already been pointed out, the Stripper is also marketed as the only one suitable for saildrives.

UK yachting mags test cutters every few years and scissor-type invariably prove more effective than the cheaper disc-type. There's a precis of a recent YM test here: http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/gear/propeller-rope-cutter-test-30012
As usual, scissors exceeded discs in performance. However, none were very effective against multi-strand steel wire, although both Spurs and Stripper chomped through 1.5mm single-strand.

I happen to have bought boats fitted with Spurs and Stripper. I knowingly encountered only one line, with the Stripper: it chomped through it, but left a tail of rope wrapped around the shaft which flogged the hull noisily, but at least kept me under way. Luckily I was already in a harbour with not far to go. I would not for an instant suggest this offers a meaningful comparison between the two.

Also video from a rather older MBM test here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImiuemabIY
 
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Many thanks for all of the replies; it's got to be a decent piece of kit that receives a full house of complements on here !! And you all seem to have been able to procure the spare bits and pieces as required which is good.

I'm loving the idea of the engine tone dropping, then gradually speeding up with a trail of debris behind .....as opposed to dropping and dropping ....kaput ....then wetsuit, goggles and all that jazz.

Will measure up and fit when the boat comes ashore.
 
dom said:
....then wetsuit, goggles and...
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...a serrated bread knife works best. Unless, of course, you're dealing with wire.

(Unlike the charter boat that drifted gently into us whilst at anchor earlier this year, it's also wise to switch off the engine before putting anyone in the oggin.
We also suggested to them that, when towing a tender on a long painter, you should shorten it before reversing :rolleyes:)
 
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