Thoughts on one of these.

[Nightwatch]

Any thoughts on these gadgets please. Any good? Useless? Unnecessary?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marine-Rope-Cutter-25mm-Leisure-Commercial-Canal-Boat-Yacht-Narrow-Boat/253404283292?hash=item3b0012819c:g:NgoAAOSw8w1X2p6l

[Hudds Lad]

will it take your finger to the bone if you're wrestling with something it didn't cut and accidentally brush against it?

[Nightwatch]

2 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

will it take your finger to the bone if you're wrestling with something it didn't cut and accidentally brush against it?

Good point.

[Kudzucraft]

Recently watched a video testing several of these in a tank.  Most were surprisingly good and chewed up the rope.

 

Seems to me that rope is less of a problem on a canal boat than old sleeping bags, clothing, shopping trolleys, etc.  I guess it depends on where you cruise and what you get tangled in your prop shaft.

[Hudds Lad]

@Kudzucraft do you have a link?

 

i've often thought that when we eventually leave shared ownership for our own boat i'd like some sort of weed cutter near the prop.

Hate to tempt fate here (touches wood of desk) but personally never had anything worse than reeds and a plastic bag wrapped round, but it's surely only a matter of time. 

[Sea Dog]

9 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Hate to tempt fate here (touches wood of desk) but personally never had anything worse than reeds and a plastic bag wrapped round, but it's surely only a matter of time. 

I had about a metre of concrete reinforcing bar wrapped around my prop shaft like  a pigs tail at the entrance to  top lock of Garrison Locks - that was a fun 2 or 3 hours with a junior hacksaw!  It wouldn't have coped with that, but I wonder if it might have coped with the woven nylon bag I picked on leaving the same lock and spent another hour on? This on a boat that rarely sees me in the weedhatch - thank goodness, as it's  under the steerer's step! 

 

I'm as curious as @Nightwatch though: it would be good to hear from anyone does have one of these fitted on a narrowboat.

 

 

 

[dmr]

We have had a few prop foulings that a device like this would never fix so you then have the problem of cutting your hand on this, not good in mucky water.

Have only ever had one rope round the prop and it was my own, it took ages to get it off but it came off unscathed and is still in use today.

 

..........Dave

[Nightwatch]

Like others, I can’t see it coping very well. I recently got a quilt cover around the prop, I think it would have overwhelmed the cutter. We had a woven bag strap around the prop since the quilt cover it may have at least assisted in its removal.

 

I have managed for 17+ years without the investment, so maybe I will manage in the future.

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I had about a metre of concrete reinforcing bar wrapped around my prop shaft like  a pigs tail at the entrance to  top lock of Garrison Locks - that was a fun 2 or 3 hours with a junior hacksaw!  It wouldn't have coped with that, but I wonder if it might have coped with the woven nylon bag I picked on leaving the same lock and spent another hour on? This on a boat that rarely sees me in the weedhatch - thank goodness, as it's  under the steerer's step! 

 

I'm as curious as @Nightwatch though: it would be good to hear from anyone does have one of these fitted on a narrowboat.

 

 

 

It's the sort of thing that might be worthwhile sailing the med and other  places where there are nets and suchlike, but the idea of severing a tendon, nope. It's not something I would fit

Edited November 18, 2020 by LadyG

[Kudzucraft]

4 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

@Kudzucraft do you have a link?

I didn't save the link but a quick search and I found it.

 

 

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

It's the sort of thing that might be worthwhile sailing the med and other  places where there are nets and suchlike, but the idea of severing a tendon, nope. It's not something I would fit

Hmm, you may have a point in boats with a weedhatch. Mind you, as a yachtie, you must've been over the arse end a time or two, eh? Did you ever get up close and personal with 9ne of these under water?

[cuthound]

On 18/11/2020 at 11:49, Nightwatch said:

Any thoughts on these gadgets please. Any good? Useless? Unnecessary?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marine-Rope-Cutter-25mm-Leisure-Commercial-Canal-Boat-Yacht-Narrow-Boat/253404283292?hash=item3b0012819c:g:NgoAAOSw8w1X2p6l

 

When I bought my boat it was fitted with a "Prop Protector", which looks similar to the device in your link but has finer teeth, rather like those on a hacksaw. It is sharp, so care is needed when delving into the weedhatch.

 

I thought it was a gimmick, but on an early trip, I collected something serious round the prop going through a bridgehole. Black smoke from the exhaust, diffused wash and loss of steering.

 

I limped through the bridge, tied up and went down tne weedhatch to find... nothing. Whatever it was the "Prop Protector" had cleared it.

 

Since then, over 6 years ago,  I have covered many hours cruising, including the BCN, and have only had to go down the weedhatch once. 

 

On that occasion someone's discarded cratch cover wrapped itself around my prop and stalled the engine, rendering the "Prop Protector" useless. Damn thing took me a couple of hours to remove.

[LadyG]

16 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Hmm, you may have a point in boats with a weedhatch. Mind you, as a yachtie, you must've been over the arse end a time or two, eh? Did you ever get up close and personal with 9ne of these under water?

Nope, lobster pots tend to be set near rocks, those sharp pointy bits that are best avoided imho, I seem ro remember holding someone's ankles, as he dangled over the side with the bread knife, but it was, after all, his yacht!

Edited November 19, 2020 by LadyG

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, LadyG said:

Nope, lobster pots tend to be set near rocks,

Did you not ever go down the East coast ?

As you go past Cromer the Crab & Lobster pots are several miles offshore and in 100 feet of water. They are layed out in huge 'mats' covering several 100 yard square (I always thought they were just in 'strings').

There has been so many problems that there is propsed new legislation that pots must be properly marked and lit, currently milk bottles, pop-bottles etc are used with MAYBE the 1st and last marked with a Dahn buoy.

 

From the RYA

 

Fishing gear which poses a hazard to navigation because it cannot be readily seen has been a concern to boaters for many years and it has been on the RYA’s agenda for as long.  If there was a simple solution to the problem, we would have fixed it a long time ago. 

Legislation focuses on the marking of fishing gear for identification purposes and not for collision avoidance - which is of course our main concern. There is a general marking requirement in UK legislation that  in effect states that within UK Territorial Waters “Marker buoys and similar objects floating on the surface and intended to indicate the location of fishing gear shall be clearly marked at all times with the letter(s) and number(s) of the vessel to which they belong”. Even if this legislation was adequately enforced, the problem would remain that gear needs to be marked so that it can be seen.

The Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009 gives Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) the express power to introduce byelaws “requiring specified items, or items of a specified description, that are used in the exploitation of sea fisheries resources to be marked in such manner as may be specified”. The RYA considers that such a specification must ensure that not only can the owner of the gear be identified but also that it can be seen; we are working to achieve this.

Data on entanglements is poor and lacks detail.  The assumption that RNLI callouts to fouled propellers are all because of poorly marked gear is simply not supported by the records.

The RYA is aware that there is currently a petition urging the Minister of State (DEFRA) to improve the way static fishing gear is marked for the safety of small craft at sea