Reasonably priced rope cutters

T

Tranona

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Better than nothing but limited by the lack of scissors action. Imagine trying to cut a flailing rope with a serrated kitchen knife compared with a pair of pinking shears. The latter will grasp the rope and progressively cut it. There is a reason why the scissors cutters have been so successful over the last 40 years, but the relative complexity comes at a price.
 
Refueler

Refueler

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I had a two part cutter ... Ambassador Stripper ..... reckoned to be one of the best due to the tapered castellated serated cutting blades. I can say honestly that the cutting edges are sharp ! My hands were cut a few times during install.

Unfortunately - its most likely I picked up a cable of something that was too great for it to cut and the fixed guide plate on the shaft tube ripped out .. causing the most awful noise !! The 'fixed' blade was then loose to spin and bang against the other blade ...

jiZOYehl.jpg


You can see the V tab of the blade is also bent ..... as well as the studs ripped out and even snapped off.

I could drill tap new position for mount - but decided not to ... I removed the inner blade and left just the outer against the prop boss. The force of the event had pushed the blade hard up to the prop boss ...

OK - do I recc'd the Stripper - yes I do. Even though I will not be replacing mine.

Have I had any 'events' after with just one blade in place ? Yes I have and needed a dive under boat to clear the serious weed and rope that had got wound onto prop. This says to me that single blade cutters are likely a waste of money ... if that super sharp half of a stripper cannot do it - then I don't see any disc blade etc doing any better.
 
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Daydream believer

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I have had an amabassador, which wore out. As a result I made my own clone - at a considerable cost saving-. I have cut through lots of things & found nets difficult due to the large number of strings. This has meant a lift out for one in Dover ( if I had persisted just a few more minutes it would have come off) & a dive underneath in Middleburgh( This one just needed a quick pull as almost off). The worse item was a large piece of polythene which totally clogged the cutter & jammed the blades of the prop so I could only go in reverse.
That required the services of a diver in Boulogne & was a real clog.
However, I cut numerous pots plus the sort thick weed stem that one encounters off the coast of France from the CIs to Brest that have been displaced by trawlers. I doubt that a disc cutter would cut the weed stem as it quickly waps around the prop having nothing to pull against. Unlike the rope of a pot
I now have a new engine so have made a new cutter for the 130 sail drive to replace the old 120 one.
I think one needs to ask oneself. Do i pay for something that works but costs a lot. Or do I cut costs for something that probably will not work, leave me needing help & involve a costly haul out.
 
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vyv_cox

vyv_cox

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Similar to Refueler, when we picked up a relatively heavy rope it was too much for the fixed blade fixings of our Ambassador. The threads pulled out of the P-bracket and exactly the same a second time.

One solution is to drill and tap right through the cutless bearing, doubling (or more) the thickness of brass. Or you can purchase a collar that straps around the cutless bearing housing.
 
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