Prop problems

[thewavehumper]

Originally posted by Ribald
Complete with roof rack I hope

Just out of interest have you ever seen one of these being trailed on the road - saw one a while ago - bl**dy massive - almost the height of a s/d bus. Not for the faint hearted or low bridges.

Correct, During the Round Ireland Rib challenge , which I completed mostly on Land, I trailed one for 2300 miles in 10 days.
anybody ever driven on Irish Roads.

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally posted by jackeen
Yes ya did

"I can't understand why anyone would buy what is a cheap prop to use in"

Nicely edited bit of a quote there, but come on, you can't be that stupid, or think that I am, I seem to remember that I said "I can't understand why anyone would buy what is a cheap prop to use in High Perf applications.

Sounds a bit different when you quote me properly doesn't it!

As for a Lazer two, not cheap, but an excellent prop, proven itself over many years in both pleasure boating and racing!

Any way RichB, Dickie, Pepper or whatever you call yourself this week, don't stop posting on Boatmad, they enjoy a good laugh!

[Dirk Diggler]

Hey Humper, you do realise your subscription to my fan club is up soon don't you, and by the way, we're holding the next meeting in a phonebox!!

[Louise]

Hey Dirk, how about coming out of the closet and letting us know who you really are? You hide behind your dubious nom de plume here and on Boatmad and give false details about yourself. Isn't it about time you told us who you are? You seem to be well-respected by some members here and you are fond of giving us your opinions but until you are a bit more honest and up-front I have no way of knowing whether I can believe a word you say.

Richard B may not be perfect (and as his other half I am fully qualified to comment!) but at least he doesn't hide his identity; he stands up to be counted. I know who I trust (and I trust those I know).

[The Jackeens]

Maybe he's the twin of Manos.

I think he choses to hear only what he wants and forgets the rest conveniently.

Still good for a giggle and a a1 wind up artist

Worthy to be an Honorary member of the ??????

BTW must have missed your referance to the laser 2 or was it in your mind



Anyway back to the real world -

[Dirk Diggler]

Originally posted by Louise
until you are a bit more honest and up-front I have no way of knowing whether I can believe a word you say.

Richard B may not be perfect (and as his other half I am fully qualified to comment!) but at least he doesn't hide his identity; he stands up to be counted. I know who I trust (and I trust those I know).

"Whether I can believe a word that you say",

No problem with that from my end, it's only my opinion, believe it if you like, it don't really matter to me.

"Richard B may not be perfect"

Not going to argue with that one!!!

I'm a little concerned that this thread about dickie buying the wrong prop could run into several pages, and so I'm going to try and avoid replying to any more comments on the subject, it may not be easy, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

[thewavehumper]

I think Dirks real name is mark Wahlberg

[jwalker]

Richard, I know a man who has got a really high quality prop for sale.

[Richard B]

Torqueshift?

[jwalker]

How did you guess?

[thewavehumper]

Originally posted by jwalker
Richard, I know a man who has got a really high quality prop for sale.

would you consider leasing?

[Daniel]

Wow while i've been busy updating progress on my new toy you girls have been having fun

For what it's worth as the only person on the boat for the whole day i can say this had absolutly nothing to do with 'pilot error', although both Richard and myself were pilots rather then helmsmen on Saturday!

Anyway, back to constructiveness, Richard you know Merc. Laser II's can be fitted to Yam's don't you? Just a different washer or two i think. Also if you want to borrow that book i mentioned let me know and i'll send it up friday evening with Michael.

[jwalker]

Originally posted by thewavehumper
would you consider leasing?

I'll consider anything! Almost.

[jwalker]

What you guys need to do is, go and visit the Cromarty Firth with Kieth(I love Scotland)Hart, collect the prop on the way up and pay me on the way back down. You won't want to let it go after you've mastered it. Guaranteed.

[Pete7]

Blimey, Richard blows a £25 prop bush and the forum goes mad. Just accept it, it happens especially if it was the wrong bush to start with.

Richard at least its only a prop and not a Bravo stern drive thats gone put! you were carrying a spare prop now weren't you ?
and yes they can be changed at sea although I would rather not if possible. Someone recently recommended a plastic bag to catch the bits if you do try it at sea. Sounds like a top tip.

Pete

[Steel Dev]

I have recently had an email which has brought comments to my attention regarding your propeller problem. Firstly I would like to say that we, Steel Developments, take any complaint seriously and do our utmost to rectify any problems experienced by our customers. However if we are not made aware of any complaint we can not give an opinion and it seems unfair that our good name and reputation which has been built up over many years trading is slurred in this manner. I do not understand why this problem with the complete facts has not been brought to our attention so we could at least have the opportunity of putting our side of the story.

After reading the numerous comments I would like to state the following;

1. With regard to our company. We have been trading since 1958 and specialize in the field of propellers. We repair and sell new propellers suitable for most of the leading brand of outboard and sterndrive. We are the UK agents for Solas propellers but we also supply and are agents of many other brands of propellers including, Mercury, Mariner, Volvo, Powertech, Austral, Suzuki and Yamaha to name a few. When we give advice on a propeller selection we do so on the type and use of the boat and the budget of the customer.

2. Solas propellers--- The Solas range offers a good quality all round propeller for a very reasonable price. The rubber bushes fitted to the propellers will stand the same power as an original part and to state that a "Solas propeller bush is only rated to 130hp or not up to the job" is simply not true. Solas propellers suffer very few problems with bush failure but if is the case then we need to be made aware so we can take the problem up with the manufacturer, if people don't tell us the problems we can't correct them. You may also be interested to know that several leading engine manufacturers actually fit Solas propellers on their engines as standard, i.e. Honda, Suzuki, Selva etc, surely this must say something ?- companies such as these would not fit substandard equipment on their products as there reputation is at stake I'm sure you would agree.

3. Rubber bushes are fitted to propellers to protect the lower unit drive train and are designed to sacrifice themselves in the case of excessive loading. Excessive loading can be as the result of the propeller hitting an obstruction or general overloading. If the propeller leaves the water when it re-enters the bush is put under a huge amount of strain, even more so if the revs have risen while out of the water, if this regularly happens without suitable throttle adjustment especially with a big heavy powerful boat and/or heavy sea conditions any bush will be weakened to the point that it will eventually fail, this is the reason why race boats which do come out of the water a lot very rarely use rubber bushes in their propellers, they use solid hubs, this is fine if you accept the much higher risk of damage to the lower unit in the event of an impact. Any rubber bush will always be a compromise between protection for the lower unit and performance, whilst I do realise that it is not always practical to reduce rpm when airborne you must realise that it is a simple fact that this will always put the rubber bush under strain. Based on the story of your journey to Alderney which by your own words sounded pretty extreme maybe you should consider a solid hub racing type prop as you have a big RIB with a big engine in almost racing conditions.
I do not know where you took the propeller to be rebushed but I can assure you that Solas only make one type of bush for their props, they don't make a "heavy duty" version nor as far as I know do any other manufacturer for their own products. All manufacturers specify a type and size for a replacement rubber bush for their propellers and if the correct bush is not fitted then you may experience other problems with the prop e.g. splitting of the hub etc. If we undertake to rebush a propeller we will fit a genuine item that the manufacturer of the propeller recommends. We do not use inferior or sub standard parts, there is no point as it will only fail with the resulting unhappy customer and unpaid warranty work for us. Just for the record Solas rate the Titan range to 300HP and all re-bushes carried out by us are with genuine Solas bushes fitted with Solas supplied bush fitting lubricant.

4. I have inspected the pictures you have posted on the site and can quite clearly see a repair number on the propeller so why you were sold it as new I do not know and will not comment on this time as we do not know it's full history but from what we can see of the repair code it was not re-bushed. If you want to contact me with more information I will gladly look into this further,our email address is mail@steeldevelopments.co.uk . As for the shape of the bush this is not uncommon and is mainly due to the high level of compression needed to insert it in the hub.

5. With regard to mistakes, yes we are humans here at Steel Developments and like the everyone else we do occasionally make an error. However I have done a search myself on this site as you suggested using "Steel Developments" as the search criteria and or problems relating to our company and can only come up with this situation and one other in which we did make a genuine mistake and swapped the propeller immediately that the problem was brought to our attention with all postage costs paid for by ourselves. We do our best not to make errors as we prefer our customers not be inconvenienced but if we do we have no hesitation whatsoever in putting the situation right for all concerned. I would like to say that I was very pleased to see so many people were very pleased with our service and knowledge, it is nice to hear this, thank you.

In conclusion, I find it very disturbing that a propeller has been sold that quite clearly is not new as a new propeller, someone has then told the purchaser that we have rebushed it when we have not and we have not been contacted in any way by the related parties in this instance, it has been left to another totally unrelated person to let us know of the problem. It is very frustrating to find that our name has been publicly condemned by someone without giving us the courtesy of giving our side of the story or even bothering to contact us in the first place to let us know of any problem, it seems you are quite prepared to take one persons view without any evidence, this seems very unfair. I would state for the record, that if anyone has a problem with any service or goods supplied by us to contact us directly, we always do our best to rectify any problems as quickly as possible, it is in our interest after to keep our good name and client base so we can continue trading for another 45 years.

Julie Hale
Managing Director

[thewavehumper]

Wow good reply, I am interested has the proprieter of the Charter company been in touch!

Welcome to the Forum oh Steel one!

[Steel Dev]

The charter company has not contacted us the only reason I have been made aware of this situation is by another forum member.

[gavin]

Excellent reply Steel Dev, was most impressed at the stand at Southampton, and samples ie weld on skegs etc your business card is on my desk here and would have no hesitation in sending our props to yourselves if the need ever arises, you gave us advice before bassed on photos mailed, keep up the excellent work cheers gavin

[Louise]

Darn it... logged in as the Mrs again!