Next message: Rosalie B.: "Re: [world-cruising] To Fold Or To Feather?"
Rosalie:
You're confusing fouling with fouling. A fixed prop that is fouled to the point that it is unusable is certainly an "indictment of your friend and how well he
kept his boat than of the prop.". However, one barnacle in the wrong place can render a feathering/folding prop inoperable and unuseable: a fixed prop would have its' efficency reduced, but would still work. As far as speedometers: they can be removed from inside the boat and cleaned. Depthsounder transducers will have to be dove on, but may still work until totally fouled.
I believe in Murphy's Law. Having something that you can't see, with lots of moving parts, whirlling around underneath your boat is inviting disaster - based on Murphy's Law. It is not for me.
--
"Sailing isn't a sport. Sailing
is a way to get somewhere. Riding
the bus isn't a sport. Why the
F#*K is sailing a sport?"
George Carlin, 2001
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Rosalie B. <>
On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:55:57 +0000, you wrote:
>I've heard the argument before about how efficient the folding/feathering props are in reverse, in fact the sales literature are full of that statement. One of the manufactures has a movie clip on its web site of a vessel backing around its marina. I don't know about you, but I spend very little time in reverse to warrant a +/- $2000 prop that "backs up" well. Like wise, 12 miles a day aren't worth $2000 to me either. I Annapolis many years ago I went sailing with a friend who had to dive over the side to scrape the growth off of his folding prop before he could get out of the marina. To me that would be a back breaker.
>
>LO
The reason that the props back better is that the fixed props are
'cupped' a little bit in the forward direction and the feathering prop
is not. So it is equally good in both directions. People also used
to tell you to cup your hands when you swim, but the most efficient
use of your hand when swimming is a flat paddle. When the Wright
Brothers started building their airplanes, they assumed (wrongly) that
they could use boat props because they thought the engineering had
already been done. But it hadn't. They had to do it over again.
If you mostly sail, and use the engine for maneuvering in marinas and
to an anchorage, then backing is really important. You can't do
without a reliable ability to back. Else someday you will smash
someone's expensive, but lightly built boat against the side of the
dock.
The barnacles are more an indictment of your friend and how well he
kept his boat than of the prop. I periodically go over the side to
see how the bottom is doing, and we clean it off - that also includes
the prop and the transducer.
Some folks in our marina started off down the ICW for the winter, and
had to stop and get a diver to clean the underside of the boat because
the FIXED prop was so full of barnacles that they couldn't get any
farther than the gas dock.
BTW when we started down the ICW for the second year, we found the
transducer window for the depth sounder completely covered with
barnacles and I had to go down and scrape them off so that we'd have a
depth sounder. They sometimes foul up the speed log too if we forget
to take it out of the water between trips. Would you say that we
should just forget about having a depth sounder or speed log because
barnacles will grow there?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/world-cruising/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
