Flexofold - Comments ?

[Heinous]

That's good to hear. I had just decided to pick up a 2 blade folder from flexofold and now I'm glad I did.

[Weyalan]

We have taken delivery of the prop It looks great. We are scheduled to come out of the water later in the week, for fitting. Because the taper on our current prop and shaft is non-standard (some sort of modified morse taper), but we had to specify a "standard" taper for the new prop, we have decided to get a new shaft as well.

I have chosen SAF 2205 duplex for the shaft material (Aquamet 22 would have been better, but not available easily). Any comments?

[Weyalan]

For the record:

The new shaft and prop are fitted and look great. I got the new shaft manufactured locally in 2205, for $500 (which is pretty cheap for down here). I did most of the installation myself, with some assistance from a prefessional shirpwright / marine engineer ($100). We replaced the glad packing while we were at it and tied up the stern gland and shaft flange at the gearbox (all included in the $500).

The new prop amazing compared to the old one. Our motoring performance is night and day, especially into a headwind or against chop. Significantly less vibration too. And no noticeable reduction in sailing performance either.

All in all we are, thus far, extremely happy with the new gear. Obviously it wasn't a cheap exercise, but on balance, money well spent. I did consider upgrading to a dripless gland, but the budget wouldn't stretch. Other than that, very happy.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Patrick,

Told ya so! Glad that it suits you and the Impostor Insatiable.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II still lying Trinity Inlet, Cairns, Qld,awaiting the ephemeral NE winds of October

[Fiddlerman]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

Well. The order is placed. Yay! I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it (or words to that effect). If there has been one major bugbear about Insatiable, ever since I got her (nearly 5 years ago now - boggle - where did that time go?), it has been the performance under motor:

In flat water, with no breeze and a clean botton, we could hit 6 knots... just. But as soon as a little chop was introduced, and a head wind we would be down to 4, or even 3 knots. Against 25 knots of headwind and 3 or 4' of wind-chop, we would be doing 2.5 knots, or less. Anyway, thank you all for your input.

Add to that the "reverse roulette" factor - the boat would reverse just fine, but sometimes, when you put it into reverse, the blades wouldnt feather properly, and the boat would actually accelerate in forwards instead of reversing - not exactly ideal when you are coming into a marina berth and want to pull-up (hence the shiny new pulpit on the boat).

The only downside to this exercise is that, coupled with the new anchor winch, we are gonna be so skint for a couple of months that its gonna be rice n bean, not rice n beans! A small price to pay, nonetheless.

Was that an update or issues that occurred that brought you to purchasing the Flexifold props?
How do you like the new props?
2 or 3 blade option?
When talking about not feathering in reverse, which feathering props are you referring to?

Thanks

[AiniA]

Have installed a 3 blade Flex-O-Fold and will splash on Saturday. It is replacing a 2 blade fixed so expecting a major improvement in performance. A Max Prop would have been nice but it is hugely more expensive.