I now know what rope cutters do !!

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Alrob

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Managed to pick up a rope around a prop this weekend - thank god I have rope cutters and twin screws as I continued to a sheltered bay and managed to free the offending rope from the bathing paltform - we were lucky.

Makes me wonder ! - who carries wet suit & mask/snotkel for such emergencies or do people just limp home on one engine
 
Alrob said:
Managed to pick up a rope around a prop this weekend - thank god I have rope cutters and twin screws as I continued to a sheltered bay and managed to free the offending rope from the bathing paltform - we were lucky.

Makes me wonder ! - who carries wet suit & mask/snotkel for such emergencies or do people just limp home on one engine
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I carry wet suit and loads of gear.

I am a little perplexed by your account.
Do I understand you have rope cutters fitted which you think cut the rope 2-3 foot from the end and you still needed to hang over the back of the bathing platform ?

How can you even be certain you ran over a long rope, you might have just caught a 2-3 foot length of rope which your cutter failed to cope with ?

Genuine interest as I hooked a fishing net mid channel a few years back which I understand a cutter would not have removed either.
 
Also carry mask and flippers, but like others I am intrigued to know what you fished out from your BP. Was it a long tail and still hooked something?

Anyway, just fitted a set to mine. Ummd and arrd a bit as someone mentioned they create a disturbance for the props and can cause performance loss?? But decided to put up with that (even if it is true) for the peace of mind they give. Particularly as I am in Torbay/South Devon mainly and there are plenty of loose bits floating about!
 
the offending rope was a submerged pick up buoy attached to a mooring buoy !!!!
whether I was to close to a mooring or not it will certainly teach me a lesson to steer well clear
(pick up buoy was returned to owners mooring)
 
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I have always had single engined boats. I carry wetsuit, mask, snorkle, flippers, assorted dive knives and dive torches, I've always been a bit of a boy scout !!

But the only time we have had a problem was crossing the channel with Nautorious. He picked up a rope and having tried all the (smooth blade) dive knives ended up using the biggest serated bread knife he could find in the galley, that did the trick.
 
Divemaster1 said:
Full scuba kit onboard ... both wet & dry suit.
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Ditto... but only about a hundred dives :(

We snagged and cut a rope in Bayona last August - IIRC it was a lazy line which hadnt sunk, or did we pull it up prematurely.... cant remember. Anywya, we tied it back together again, and all seemed fine.

However, the engine rattled quite severely after the event, so I went down with the serrated kitchen knife, and cut away a few inches of rope that had remained jammed so, whilst the cutter did it's job, it may still be necessary to hold your breath and get wet. There's no way I could hold my breath long enough to do what I did, so the scuba stuff is worth it's weight.....
 
DAKA;2459959 Genuine interest as I hooked a fishing net mid channel a few years back which I understand a cutter would not have removed either.[/QUOTE said:
Scissors type cutters will deal with nets. Usual technique is to put engine in forward then reverse until it is chopped up. A boat with your sort of horsepower would make short work of it. Either punches a hole or more commonly chews it all up and it comes out the back like a shredder!
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I carry a junior hack as well as telescopic tree lopper* and bolt croppers.
Which would hopefully deal with the OP situation.
BUT
If you hooked up a pot line I think the line would be pulled tight by your boat in the tide putting the rope out of reach and anchoring you stern on to the race :eek:




* I digress, who remembers GC1, I had a bet with another forum member after a few beers that I could get GC1 to carry a load of gardening equipment on his boat :D
Then I realized it would be handy to catch a submerged pot line so it stayed, joke on me ;)
 
Thinking outside the box the shaver cutter does not have an effect on performance as it has no moving parts and is streamlined presenting little surface area to the water flow.

Any cutter, despite what people will tell you can be overwhelmed by ropes or nets, the difference is that some stand a good chance of being broken others remain able to protect the shaft from the forces that build up as debris wraps between the prop and the bearing carrier.

I believe a cutter is there to limit the damage to the drive in these situations. There are many commercial boats that have had their gearboxes removed or engines pulled off mounts. Fishing boats suffer far more than liesure boats and most are single screw, they risk catching nets or lines every time they fish.

The really damaging wrap is one that is winding up on the shaft aft of the cutter, this can exert extreme pressure on th edrive train. Many yachts don't see the damage as they don't have enough hp to pull things to bits, motor boats however need a very robust cutting system. The shaver cutters only cut debris that is winding on the shaft (spool) and not rope that is passing by or could be washed through.
 
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