Propeller Rope Cutter

[Close hauled]

I don't have any experience of propeller rope cutters, but they seem like a good idea. I was thinking of fitting a Stripper Rope Cutter to my sail drive. They are not cheap so I would be very grateful to hear of anyone's experiences or comments about their effectiveness, good points and bad before I go any further.

 

[Daedelus]

Stripper is appallingly effective. Keep fingers well clear and take care when fitting the darn thing, the teeth along the cutting edge are sharp. I've had one for 10 years plus and it's still so sharp I'm really careful around it.

I used to have a Spur and in pitch black of 2am managed to foul an unlit racing mark that someone had put in the main channel out of Chichester harbour. I found one of the arms broken off at the end of the season but we didn't get the rope wrapped round the prop.

Stripper is made from (I think 316 stainless) and they claim doesn't need a separate anode. (Mine is ok and hasn't got one) whereas the Spur did and whilst cheaper at the start it needed a new anode every year or every other year so cost mounted. Stripper will occasionally need new bearings (Kevlar I think). All spares for both aren't cheap but getting a prop wrap sorted when you don't havea cutter is worse.

 

[Close hauled]

Thanks, sounds good. Any downsides ?

 

[Twister_Ken]

I have a Stripper on a saildrive. Last year, on lifting, I found that there was damage to the Coppercoat on the rudder, consistent with something having flailed it. I can only assume that at some point I picked up a rope, which whizzed around the prop a couple of times, thumping the rudder, before the Stripper got rid of it. I was totally unaware of any problem at the time, so I'd say the device is pretty effective.

 

[Daedelus]

http://www.azmi-marin.com/Rope stripper report.pdf

review conducted by ........................................ Sailing Today (wash my mouth out).

 

[duncan99210]

I think that the Stripper is the only type of rope cutter available for Saildrives. I have one fitted and on the one occasion we got rope round the Salildrive it reduced it to little bits with no noticeable effort. It is protected by the Saildrive anode.

Only downside is it needs an adapted anode for the Saildrive, which costs a bit more than the standard Volvo one. Or you can buy a standard one and adapt it yourself with a 13mm drill and a Dremel to cut it down a bit.

 

[Close hauled]

Thanks, that's a very helpful article and a persuasive argument for fitting one.

 

[nimbusgb]

Sami in Greece, 1 am. Wet and 45kt's plus. Moored stern too. Anchor started to drag/slowly lowering us back to a very rough concrete wall. Into gear to keep us off the jetty while we ran out 2 100m warps to the far side of the harbour. Someone screwed up and a 16mm warp went into the water and got pulled straight into the prop, the only thing holding us, pitching about 2', from hitting the concrete.

There was a mild double 'clunk' and the rope parted, the motor never hesitated and the gearbox suffered no damage. We made fast, took up tension, held her off and settled down for hot chocolate.

Stripper turned a near disaster into a non event.

 

[Sybarite]

I don't have any experience of propeller rope cutters, but they seem like a good idea. I was thinking of fitting a Stripper Rope Cutter to my sail drive. They are not cheap so I would be very grateful to hear of anyone's experiences or comments about their effectiveness, good points and bad before I go any further.

I was looking at the specification of a French boat : the Integral 43. They have an access well just above the propellor which means you can attack a line around the propellor from the cockpit without having to get into the water.

Another idea was to have a door spyhole in the bottom to view the propellor.

 

[Quandary]

I think that the Stripper is the only type of rope cutter available for Saildrives. I have one fitted and on the one occasion we got rope round the Salildrive it reduced it to little bits with no noticeable effort. It is protected by the Saildrive anode.

Only downside is it needs an adapted anode for the Saildrive, which costs a bit more than the standard Volvo one. Or you can buy a standard one and adapt it yourself with a 13mm drill and a Dremel to cut it down a bit.

I fitted one five years ago and so far I am not aware of it cutting anything but then most of my sailing is in pristine W. Scottish waters.
Costs a bit more = twice the price for half the weight of zinc and I suspect one would need considerable time and patience to remove that much zinc with a Dremel, anybody tried it ?

 

[Close hauled]

Nice result!

 

[Close hauled]

Nice result!

 

[Close hauled]

They have this on narrow boats and often on racers so you can see if get pro is longed up.

 

[DaveS]

I fitted one five years ago and so far I am not aware of it cutting anything but then most of my sailing is in pristine W. Scottish waters.
Costs a bit more = twice the price for half the weight of zinc and I suspect one would need considerable time and patience to remove that much zinc with a Dremel, anybody tried it ?

I have a cutter which looks like a Spurs on my saildrive (yes, I know they're not supposed to make a saildrive model) and I part off a 10mm ring from a standard VP anode using a lathe. 5 minute job. The ring gets added to my collection of half eaten anodes and rings on a length of stainless wire as an additional hanging anode.

 

[snooks]

Ym/MBM's test of rope cutters

 

[dulcibella]

Even the excellent Stripper can be overwhelmed by quantity. We picked up about a wheelbarrow-load of fishing net one night off Land's End and had to sit rolling in the swell for eight hours until the breeze came in so that we could continue our sail to Ireland. We alerted an Irish coast radio station that we would be entering Crosshaven without engine power, whereupon they sent out the Crosshaven Inshore Lifeboat to pick us up at the harbour entrance and tow us to a pontoon mooring. Not only this, but one of the LB crew was a diver who nipped home for his kit and, for a modest sum, cleaned all the net off our prop.