The Power Of The Press!

[epervier]

MBY's May issue, Our boats, Jack Haines's Monte Carlo 37 and prop damage/erosion, VP faffed about for a year over their choice to refund or not,
until it was mentioned that Jack had a deadline to meet as regards writing a piece in MBY's Our Boat section,

Guess the outcome

Well done Jack, it's nice to hear of a good result for a change, we hear of so many stories where it's just out of warranty, it's not their fault, it's something the owner has done, etc etc.

And well done Hugo for having the gonads to print it.

 

[nicho]

Well done indeed. A friend has exactly the same engine/drive set up, albeit in a different make of boat. He's had exactly the same problem with corrosion, with the props having to be changed literally every year. I think he's on his fourth set now, though Volvo did. I believe, pay for the 2nd and 3rd sets, but not the last ones.

Must surely be something wrong with the set matching of props/outdrives somewhere down the line?

 

[[2068]]

I'm puzzled as to what's going on with the props on the DP-H drives: Nibral is used in other application without problems. Is it the shape of the props causing the cavitation/pitting, the material, some sort of interaction with the drive, or does Nibral not like being used for smaller props operating at higher speeds?

My supposedly "soft" Aluminium props have lasted since 2003 and 500hrs+ (well most of them: two are good, one is a bit dodgy (pitted), and one had to be replaced after a incident with an uncharted lump of mud )

dv.

 

[Geoffs]

Well Volvo Penta, you've had your chance. You've not responded to my complaints nearly a year ago. It seems the threat of publishing has an effect, so here we are, a photo showing what absolute rubbish G series props are.

 

[epervier]

On a personal note of my own, and I have no axe to grind with VP, my duo props are eroding at the root of the blades on the 4 blade prop, my best guess for this is the big 3 blade in front creates cavitation (air bubbles) which in turn cut into the soft ally at the root of the 4 blade prop, which is turning in the opposite direction, but the blade surface of the props remain in excellent condition, even most of the paint stays on, no evidence of pitting.

but it's only my theory, I can't prove it with hard facts, the problem is, at 1400 quid a set of 4 they ain't chips

 

[Nautical]

Common issue, I think I kept the prop manufacturer for a green engine co in business.

 

[[2068]]

On a personal note of my own, and I have no axe to grind with VP, my duo props are eroding at the root of the blades on the 4 blade prop, my best guess for this is the big 3 blade in front creates cavitation (air bubbles) which in turn cut into the soft ally at the root of the 4 blade prop, which is turning in the opposite direction, but the blade surface of the props remain in excellent condition, even most of the paint stays on, no evidence of pitting.

but it's only my theory, I can't prove it with hard facts, the problem is, at 1400 quid a set of 4 they ain't chips

Sounds plausible, except that Nibral is harder than Aluminium, and the supposedly softer Alumiunium props never suffered in the same way, but then again, they never had to deliver the sort of torque produced by a D6-370.

Time to revert to SS, maybe? DP-R uses SS: I reckon it's a matter of time before VP (or someone else) launches SS props for DP-H.

dv.