Ropes round props

[doris]

As we pottered down the Hamble river yesterday morning, not a breath of wind, suddenly there was a huge grinding from below.One person on board though we were pushing through shingle, it sounded like that, but we had 5 metres under the keel. Bad place to have no power, right in the entrance, just past Hamble Point marina.

I have a stripper fitted and after a few very anxious gentle forward and reverse operations, whatever it was cleared.

This is the 5th time I have had something serious round the prop with this boat, my first with a saildrive, in 6 seasons. All boats before had ordinary shafts.

Question for you chaps. Are sail drives much more susceptible to this or am I just unlucky.The stripper has proved itself time and again but last season it was seriously damaged, as was the drive casing and lower gear shaft. I am starting to get paranoid!

 

[Sans Bateau]

3 years boat with shaft drive, got rope around prop, big damage. 10 years and two boats with sail drive, no ropes around props.

 

[Neil_Y]

Just unlucky I guess.

As boat types go the modern fast fishing cats seem more prone as the prop is quite close to the edge of the hull and when you apply power water us sucked down and under, so any debris beside the hull can get sucked into the prop.

Yachts with saildrives generally have quite a flat hull bottom so they don't push the water (debris) aside as much as a deep V hull so they may be more at risk than something like a sadler which has a finer entrance and some V to the under side.

My only incident was with a saildrive though when I came across some old fishing net, but going by our enquiries I'd say rope/debris round props happens mostly to commercial vessels, then to fast power boats who's drives are near the surface when planing and lastly to yachts who mostly have time to take action as they are travelling slower. At the helm on a power boat of 40' or more you are a long way from where pots will appear.

 

[Tranona]

There are so many factors affecting whether you pick up debris - and many different kinds of debris. Bilge keels and P bracket stern gear would seem to be the most vulnerable to floating debris and long keels with props in apertures arguably the best protected. Saildrives are usually positioned aft of deep fin keels so intuitively they would not seem to be so vulnerable. I have picked up pot lines twice while sailing (no motor) and in both cases they caught on the rudder. However, if the engine had been on, suspect they would have been caught by the prop.

Obviously if you sail in areas where pots and debris are common - and the Solent particularly the western end is one of those - your chances of picking up debris when motoring are increased. While you can avoid most well marked pots, there is lttle you can do about floating debris as once it gets sucked under the hull while motoring the chances are that the prop will pick it up.

 

[VO5]

From all the information I have gleaned over the years, it seems no boat is exempt from picking up rope, nets or debris that will foul the prop and rudder. My last boat had a fixed prop. It picked up nets and rubbish regularly. I fitted a stripper and that cured it. This current one has a Bruntons. It did foul once when the knot at the end of the genoa sheet came undone and it trailed over the side and got caught, stopping the engine suddenly. I have not picked up anything else otherwise. I am watching it. If I do pick up anything I would lift her and fit a stripper straight away.

 

[aslabend]

.........Bilge keels and P bracket stern gear would seem to be the most vulnerable to floating debris and long keels with props in apertures arguably the best protected.........

I thought that but then this year my long keeler picked up some fishing net in Cornwall and a red nylon mesh sack (like an old onion sack) in Portsmouth harbour (that was a royal PITA getting it clear). I've concluded that, if it's got your name on it, detritus will get you. I think Long keelers with props in apertures are less susceptible to ropes anchoring objects to the sea bed as there's nothing protruding to catch them but floating crud is just as easily sucked in.

Even though I've been got twice this year, I still think of it as a freak occurrence. I'd have to go back to 2005 for the previous time (plastic bag). Does anyone have anything unusual found wrapped round their prop?

 

[Tranona]

Agree it is random. I picked up a piece of discarded net off Cherbourg many years ago in a long keel yacht. Temporarily jammed the rudder as well as stopping the engine. Sailed back to UK and anchored in Sandown Bay to get over the side and clear it. Wrote up the experience for PBO and earned enough to pay for a stripper! Although the chances of picking up something on a protected prop are arguably lower, the consequences can be worse.

 

[richardbayle]

Even though I've been got twice this year, I still think of it as a freak occurrence. I'd have to go back to 2005 for the previous time (plastic bag). Does anyone have anything unusual found wrapped round their prop?[/QUOTE]

Chicken wire now that was a right royal PITA

 

[prv]

Wrote up the experience for PBO and earned enough to pay for a stripper!

Stag party coming up, was it?

Pete

 

[AIDY]

only ever had a fishing line round the prop in 10 years. (touch wood)

I think the fact is

a) your very unlucky...

b) you do more miles than anyone else...

 

[chrisedwards]

To my amazement - I have a 30' long keeler - I found I can just perch on my stern ladder and cut off a rope round my prop without getting my head wet.

Puts a completely different light on the problem. Should this be a design feature?

I am of normal proportions

 

[Tranona]

To my amazement - I have a 30' long keeler - I found I can just perch on my stern ladder and cut off a rope round my prop without getting my head wet.

Puts a completely different light on the problem. Should this be a design feature?

I am of normal proportions

Just a matter of luck! Perhaps you would not want to do it if there were any sea running and the boat bouncing all over the place. Many long keel boats have counter sterns which puts the prop way down and well forward. Many modern flat bottomed boats also have the prop well forward of the transom, and saildrives can be as much as 1/3 length of the boat forward of the transom.

 

[rotrax]

Even though I've been got twice this year, I still think of it as a freak occurrence. I'd have to go back to 2005 for the previous time (plastic bag). Does anyone have anything unusual found wrapped round their prop?

Chicken wire now that was a right royal PITA[/QUOTE]

Hi, We once saw a Narrowboat on the North Stratford with its prop totaly siezed in both directions. Now, Narrowboats often have issues with this type of thing and very properly have a weedhatch just above the prop to give easy access to this area. We found by feeling in the ink black water that there was something between the upper blade of the 20 inch prop and the hull. I found the blade was not quite vertical and so took the mooring spike hammer-a substantial club-and a mooring spike to it. By whacking it against the direction it went in. I got it to come out again. It proved to by a piece of elm bottom plank from a very old boat about 6 by 3 inches and about a foot long. It had been in the cut so long it had negative boyancy and must have been drawn into the prop after being disturbed by the deep hull of the boat. I made sure I had the engine start key in my pocket while working around the prop! Worst I heard of was an old spring bed frame that had been chucked in the Grand Union at Leighton Buzzard.This got picked up by a boat and required a haul out and a cutting torch as the spring steel just blunted hacksaws. Took a long time and ruined a families holiday.

 

[xyachtdave]

Did anyone notice the Robin KJ piece in Yachting World this month about not being afraid of the water and jumping in with a bread knife between your teeth?

Sharks, he said, apparently take some while before they notice you when cutting your prop free......

 

[doris]

Have just heard from the divers. After motoring gently from the Hamble back to Gossie with maybe a bit of vibration, couldn't decide if it was real or my paranoia, found that there was still stuff for the divers to remove.

Moral.....despite the stripper doing its job an inspection is still always necessary.

 

[Robin]

We picked up a polythene sheet at Poole Quay over 25 years ago that had arrived courtesy of the tide. When we cast off and tried to reverse clear we had no drive and the sheet was now a ball jamming the prop solid.

Picked up a plastic (hessian like) bag under engine in a W33 off Chenal Du Four, engine stalled but restarted and Ambassador Stripper removed it after multiple fore/aheads, left enough bits in place to see what it was when I dived on it later in Camaret.

Picked up a pot or net line off Cherbourg under sail in F7, jammed between rudder and hull but broke under the boat's momentum. The steering cable chain jumped teeth on the sprocket so that what was straight ahead became 3 O'clock on the wheel. Once in we found a length of line with two white floats still there to show what had happened.

Otherwise we shredded umpteen chunks of weed, bits of net etc over many years and two boats with Strippers, heard the clunks and saw the bits spat out astern.

Our new boat in the USA is a twin engined shaft driven mobo, with no cutters fitted, yet. Cost of cutters for 2.5" dia shafts is horrendous and there is an argument that says two engines gives one spare engine and prop to get home with, jury is still out.