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QuicKutter propeller rope cutter


IanD

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57 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

My boat has a hinged section above the weed hatch, it's basically the width of the back doors and the cill the doors close against are part of the hinged section, it has never leaked and gives full access to the weed hatch, no acrobatics for me, tbh I've never understood why builders make access so difficult.

I can take the propeller off through the weed hatch which can be handy very handy

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On 11/11/2022 at 17:57, IanD said:

 

lockers stern.jpg

What’s the two blanked off fittings for on the plate? Raw water cooling or other form of cooling/water? As I see there’s a normal fitted skin tank, Generator cooling?

As the electric motor usually sits on the bearers above.

6D4A1DDF-9902-4A44-B07A-1653798063D9.jpeg.ba0ee403fe2aa15c8a04fb277d6d2f28.jpeg

 

 

Edited by PD1964
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22 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

What’s the two blanked off fittings for on the plate? Raw water cooling or other form of cooling/water? As I see there’s a normal fitted skin tank, Generator cooling?

As the electric motor usually sits on the bearers above.

6D4A1DDF-9902-4A44-B07A-1653798063D9.jpeg.ba0ee403fe2aa15c8a04fb277d6d2f28.jpeg

 

 

Small skin cooling tank for the (water-cooled) electric motor -- the big skin tank on the side of the hull is for the generator. 

Edited by IanD
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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Yup that's the one. It came with my boat and at first I thought it was a gimmick, but 9 years later and only one prop foul that required me to intervene has changed my mind.

Just fitted a similar one this year. (eBay lot cheaper very similar spec) so far been a great improvement. 

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Am considering some sort of device like this. Its not for ropes and general man made rubbish but the weed that is a real problem, we can struggle into a lock, clear the weed, move out of the lock and before we have done a couple of boats lengths the prop is a spinning ball of weed and the boat can barely move itself. The more weed there is the less boats, the less boats the clearer the water, the clearer the water the more light = more weed and the warmer the water the more weed. This is a real problem on the smaller French canals but could well be the same on the UK system soon. It's terrible stuff.

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1 hour ago, Bee said:

Am considering some sort of device like this. Its not for ropes and general man made rubbish but the weed that is a real problem, we can struggle into a lock, clear the weed, move out of the lock and before we have done a couple of boats lengths the prop is a spinning ball of weed and the boat can barely move itself. The more weed there is the less boats, the less boats the clearer the water, the clearer the water the more light = more weed and the warmer the water the more weed. This is a real problem on the smaller French canals but could well be the same on the UK system soon. It's terrible stuff.

Its true this year going and coming back from Sheffield was the worst ever

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On 13/11/2022 at 16:00, IanD said:

Small skin cooling tank for the (water-cooled) electric motor -- the big skin tank on the side of the hull is for the generator. 

  I can see the principal, but may question the efficiency of the positioning on the skin tank, may of been better to add another skin tank on the opposite swim for the motor?? also with the base plate being 10mm as opposed to the side plate 6mm.  Then again a nice looking large copper rad would look good, with a car type air duct, maybe Ricky could develop a radiator and an air duct system with his car tuning background. 

22 hours ago, peterboat said:

Its true this year going and coming back from Sheffield was the worst ever

If you went a bit faster, maybe your prop would of sliced through the weed like a hot knife through butter👍😂

Edited by PD1964
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10 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

  I can see the principal, but may question the efficiency of the positioning on the skin tank, may of been better to add another skin tank on the opposite swim for the motor?? also with the base plate being 10mm as opposed to the side plate 6mm.  Then again a nice looking large copper rad would look good, with a car type air duct, maybe Ricky could develop a radiator and an air duct system with his car tuning background. 

If you went a bit faster, maybe your prop would of sliced through the weed like a hot knife through butter👍😂

I always find the faster you go the worse the weed tangles are!

I think the skin tank for Ian's boat is big enough, I can run my motor for hours and it only gets hand hot, the bilge blower keeps it cool. Running at high efficiency produces little heat just motion 

Edited by peterboat
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22 minutes ago, peterboat said:

I always find the faster you go the worse the weed tangles are!

I think the skin tank for Ian's boat is big enough, I can run my motor for hours and it only gets hand hot, the bilge blower keeps it cool. Running at high efficiency produces little heat just motion 

 Probably but just thought, why not put it on the swim, as thinner steel for heat transfer and could have a bigger surface area for cooling. Then again would a radiator with an air blower be more efficient then a skin tank, as enough space to fit one? All new tech to think about to make electric propulsion more efficient.

Edited by PD1964
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1 hour ago, PD1964 said:

 Probably but just thought, why not put it on the swim, as thinner steel for heat transfer and could have a bigger surface area for cooling. Then again would a radiator with an air blower be more efficient then a skin tank, as enough space to fit one? All new tech to think about to make electric propulsion more efficient.

The motor skin tank is tiny because it doesn't have to get rid of much heat. A typical diesel skin tank is about a square foot per 4hp engine output, so about 3kW heat into the tank. A 15kW motor will only need to get rid of about 1kW of heat, meaning 1/3 of a square foot if it was on the swim not the baseplate. So that small tank is plenty big enough, and having it under the motor helps with filling, bleeding, pumping and so on.

 

Radiator with an air blower is not a good idea, more noise and the heat is dumped into the air space -- which also has all the other electrics in which like to be cool -- instead of the water. Blowing enough air also takes more power than pumping a small water flow.

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On 13/11/2022 at 14:08, peterboat said:

I had tracksuit bottoms around mine on the Leeds liverpool, turned prop and gradually unwrapped them! The worst is a tyre, just coming out of a lock and that was it for the day!!!

One part day, sheeze, it was a four day job for me and the duvet 

 @noddyboater brought his pike, and I used every tool at my disposal, including the junior hacksaw to cut the melted plastic.

 

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Generally the faster you go the bigger, deeper and wider the catchment area becomes, sucking rubbish like plastic bags off the bottom ect. Leaving a lock especially the top I always get a bit of speed on in the lock and then drift well past exit in neutral to avoid the crap build up before re engaging gear.

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20 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Generally the faster you go the bigger, deeper and wider the catchment area becomes, sucking rubbish like plastic bags off the bottom ect. Leaving a lock especially the top I always get a bit of speed on in the lock and then drift well past exit in neutral to avoid the crap build up before re engaging gear.

Doing the same in bridge holes also reduces the chances of picking crap up there, which is quite common in my experience... 😞

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2 hours ago, bizzard said:

Generally the faster you go the bigger, deeper and wider the catchment area becomes, sucking rubbish like plastic bags off the bottom ect. Leaving a lock especially the top I always get a bit of speed on in the lock and then drift well past exit in neutral to avoid the crap build up before re engaging gear.

Our locks are very large and often full of the rubbish in the first place! However I do try to clear the rubbish with prop not spinning in the hope of never ever getting s tyre on my prop again!!!

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On 13/11/2022 at 18:57, Bee said:

Am considering some sort of device like this. Its not for ropes and general man made rubbish but the weed that is a real problem, we can struggle into a lock, clear the weed, move out of the lock and before we have done a couple of boats lengths the prop is a spinning ball of weed and the boat can barely move itself. The more weed there is the less boats, the less boats the clearer the water, the clearer the water the more light = more weed and the warmer the water the more weed. This is a real problem on the smaller French canals but could well be the same on the UK system soon. It's terrible stuff.

That was my first thought. Quite happy removing rare tarps and coats myself, and at least you tend to know about it instantly.

 

Weed on the other hand builds up slowly on the prop (generally in areas where you're going slowly anyway so it's less noticeable) and in extreme cases (Middle Level in late summer) you can find yourself down there five times in a mile removing duckweed that keeps slowing you down. Something that shredded most of that would be very handy...

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On a vaguely related note- whilst perusing the 'brolly-mate' device, I came across this from the same company:

https://www.miracleleisureproducts.co.uk/prop-mate-p717.html

I haven't yet got one but I'm going to, more for winter really.

My thinking is that you can use the 'prop-mate' device to cut up and loosen anything that's fouling the prop, and thus minimise the amount of time that your arm and hand must spend in the cold water.

Even with my full-length arm glove on, it got very uncomfortable after a few minutes of my hand in the freezing water, trying to pull away the rubbish from the prop after it was fouled last january. 

 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 27/11/2022 at 22:52, Tony1 said:

 

On a vaguely related note- whilst perusing the 'brolly-mate' device, I came across this from the same company:

https://www.miracleleisureproducts.co.uk/prop-mate-p717.html

I haven't yet got one but I'm going to, more for winter really.

 

 

I have one and guess what, never had to use it since purchase. A quick blip of reverse works for me.  Been lucky so far.

 

On a general note if you buy one they will need a good sharpening as they are delivered pretty blunt. Heath and Safety rears it's head again, can't trust an adult with a sharp object 😆🤣

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35 minutes ago, Mike H said:

 

I have one and guess what, never had to use it since purchase. A quick blip of reverse works for me.  Been lucky so far.

 

On a general note if you buy one they will need a good sharpening as they are delivered pretty blunt. Heath and Safety rears it's head again, can't trust an adult with a sharp object 😆🤣

Never found them any use at all on a canal boat.  Seen a couple and they had been knocked back by rubbish in the cut, now useless.

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