Propellors and seaweed

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cyberbadger
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Propellors and seaweed

Post by cyberbadger » Tue May 02, 2017 3:51 am

My trip this weekend with Nyitra will probably be my last at Wingfoot lake for now because of the seaweed.

I'm still refining and dialing in the whole ballet of a 1/2 day trailing+excursion operating Nyitra and it's too much to also deal with tons of seaweed wrapping around the propeller shaft. Next time I'm going to take Nyitra to Chippewa lake - which is where I've been sailing with my buddy and his 22ft Catalina sailboat. Much deeper lake and the seaweed isn't really an issue.

I feel like since the props are generally larger and slower rpm on a steamboat it makes it hard for the prop to fling off or cut up the seaweed.

I spent a lot of my youth on Lake Chautauqua - and they actually had seaweed eater service boats that ground up and gathered seaweed when it was really bad.

My friend Steve and I were brain storming and thought of maching and installing a plate that could hopefully cut the seaweed. Like a shear - It would be positioned in parallel with the prop shaft and say 1/4" or so above the prop shaft to cut the seaweed - but we think this could also clog up and exacerbate the problem.

How do you guys deal with seaweed and your props?

-CB
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DetroiTug
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by DetroiTug » Tue May 02, 2017 3:39 pm

"Much deeper lake and the seaweed isn't really an issue."

That is the best thing to do about it, especially with your setup. Typically when I get in to that milfoil, a quick reverse clears it out pretty good. The strut is very close to the prop - a happy miscalculation, it acts to hold the weeds while the prop chops it away. But having the pulley and timing belt submerged is going to be an issue with weeds. One thing that could be done to prevent it fouling mechanically is to build a steel box/cage of expanded metal around the pulley and belt to allow water to flow through but not induce much drag.

A better fix would be to suspend a longer prop shaft under the floor with conventional strut at the rear and a pillow block on the front end and then belt to it on the forward end. That would get the belt out of the water.

They really need to crack down on these overpopulated small shoreline lakes and the home' septic systems, which is a major contributor causing accelerated vegetation growth on small lakes. Along with the farmers herbicides, fertilizers etc running off as well. Michigan has 11,000 inland lakes and the majority are loaded with houses all the way around - seeping human waste in to the lake 24 hours a day. I've fished all my life, I just bass-fished a big beautiful lake down south for two solid days and didn't catch a thing, another inland lake in serious trouble. Water temp was right, time of year, spawn should be on, every good known lure I tried resulted in zip.

Just west of here is a small lake which I've had pretty good success on and sometimes I sneak over there for a few hours in the afternoon. One day last summer, I went back up in a dead-end canal lined with million dollar cottages, it smelled just like a septic tank. EPA needs to address situations like that.

Now, get off my lawn.. :lol: I'm sounding just like one of those guys.

-Ron
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cyberbadger
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by cyberbadger » Tue May 02, 2017 6:14 pm

Thanks Ron. Definitely going to try Chippewa next. It's also like 2-3 miles from my first mates house and he wouldn't mind if I left Nyitra at his property for a while - because his truck is my trailering vehicle. :)
DetroiTug wrote:"Along with the farmers herbicides, fertilizers etc running off as well.
I agree. I'm also not really a big fan of manicured lawns. There was neighbor on my street who was selling their house and wanted the grass to look REALLY GREEN and put way too much fertilizer which resulted in brown chemically burned grass instead.

This bothered me - and it wasn't that the grass was brown. I mentioned to another neighbor, "Everyone in our area has their own water well - where do you think all those chemicals go?" He stared at me slack jawed as it mentally clicked...

-CB
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by PeteThePen1 » Sun May 07, 2017 1:04 pm

Hi CB

Weed is an issue on UK canals so weed cutting props are an old idea. Having had a little dig for you I thought you might like these links.

The first one is a Yachting World test of a variety of rope cutters while the other two are a couple of vendors that happen to come up in my search.

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/gear/pro ... test-30012

http://www.ropestripper.com/

http://www.prop-protector.co.uk/

I cannot offer you any personal experience as Frances Anne did not suffer from weed problems on Coniston. It may, of course, be different when the overhaul is complete and we try her on some canals.

Quite a number of SBA boats incorporate some form of weed hatch which can be opened when one is stuck. The clogging material, be it weed rope of other stuff, can then be attacked from the comfort of one's boat. I have a pair of shoulder length gloves (a gift from my wife) which actually have seen most action in pond maintenance. They are basically waterproof work gloves with a very long cuff and would be ideal for use in a weed hatch. The hatch has to have its top above the waterline of the boat when the operator is curled up over it. OK, obvious I know, but in our small boats a grown man's weight can change the position of the waterline at the stern significantly which one might forget at the plan drawing stage.

Regards

Pete
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cyberbadger
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by cyberbadger » Mon May 08, 2017 1:26 am

Pete,

Great info thanks! I love test videos.

Just got back from sailing again at Chippewa Lake today. Nyitra should be making a debut there this week!

-CB
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by Lopez Mike » Wed May 10, 2017 3:19 am

Just a short safety reminder.

Before getting anywhere near your prop with your hand or even a stick please take care of a few things:

Turn off the steam valve between your boiler and your throttle. If you don' have one you are a dolt. Read no further.

Open all of your cylinder cocks.

Perhaps put your reverse lever in a central position. Does not apply to slip eccentric engines and probably doesn't help anyway.

For further entertainment watch Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen and learn from the scene where the jacking gear slips.

As to why I am a bug on this, I goofed once. I was lucky and I heal rapidly.
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.
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cyberbadger
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by cyberbadger » Wed May 10, 2017 5:00 am

Mike,

That's exactly what was done.
1) Main valve off
2) open throttle valve
3) Open petcocks
4) Jiggled the stephenson linkage forward and reverse to allow remaining steam to vent
5) Throttle valve off, stephenson linkage in the center
6) Only then we poked at the prop - right now from the deck you can't touch the prop directly unless you swim underneath - so not even hands were near the meatgrinder.

Boiler -----"Main valve" ------ "Throttle valve" ----- Engine

-CB
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cyberbadger
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by cyberbadger » Wed May 10, 2017 5:07 am

Lopez Mike wrote:As to why I am a bug on this, I goofed once. I was lucky and I heal rapidly.
Yeah, I lucked out and only had my hand smashed from a slip eccentric on my J Winn engine going backwards. Luckily it was only temporary pain.

But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
If you make a slip in handling us you die!
We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-
Our touch can alter all created things,


-CB
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Lopez Mike
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Re: Propellors and seaweed

Post by Lopez Mike » Wed May 10, 2017 5:08 am

I used to have a sign in my shop that made people stop and look thoughtful.

"He was a good man but he didn't know about flywheels."
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.
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