The stuff of true nightmares

[El Pinguino]

20 miles south of Punta Santa Elena , Ecuador, drifting slowly north in the Humbolt 9 days ago. Diameter of the propellor estimated at 2 metres, beam 13/15 metres so length maybe 30/40 metres? 'Modern' transom stern.

Bin upside down for some time as only traces of antifouling remain. Note :- despite a substantial skeg the rudder has gone

Maybe from the Talcahuano tsunami of 2010 in which case maybe already done a few South Pacific circuits.
Reported to Ecuador armada. Dunno if they sunk it or not. If not then she is off to the Gulf of Panama or maybe French Polynesia.

Came through the same bit of water again last night, that's where the tuna boat scared seven sorts of tripe out of me.

Sleep tight Pacific Voyagers

[Calif.Ted]

Yeah, that could ruin your day couldn't it, hope someone sinks it or hangs a light on it.
Looks pretty clean, anything floating around here gets colonized PDQ.

[Marathon1150]

arghhhhh!

[JPA Cate]

Why do you think it is still afloat? What is inside that keeps it up?

Sorry about the troubles with your batteries and drag generator.

Ann

[Greatest Lakes]

Maybe needs to be seek and destroy target practice for the Ecuadorian navy.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Why do you think it is still afloat? What is inside that keeps it up?

Sorry about the troubles with your batteries and drag generator.

Ann

Air trapped in the double bottoms and the engine room.

[Fore and Aft]

Ping my bower bird mate would have been in his dinghy with a collection of tools and trying to salvage that prop. It would make a great souvenir.
Cheers

[Alan Mighty]

Nice find, El Ping!

You get a koala stamp in your log book for that one.

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Ping my bower bird mate would have been in his dinghy with a collection of tools and trying to salvage that prop. It would make a great souvenir.

Mr Bower Bird would have needed a jolly big dinghy, F&A.

Dave Gerr only gives estimates for 3- and 4-blade props in his Propeller Handbook. His chart suggests that El Ping's lost prop has to be in the order of 0.5 tonne or more. See attached jpg.

High blade-area props on the newer container ships, props with diameters of 9 to 10 metres and so leading to claims of efficient motoring to produce low carbon emissions, range up to and over 100 tonnes.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Air trapped in the double bottoms and the engine room.

Yeah but...it's a mono so it sinks

[Fore and Aft]

Alan Mighty that's even worse. Now it's worth more than just being a souvenir. Bronze is $6.60 a kg so that's a 3g find. I can see his gas axe cutting those blades of first then the hub last. He's got some massive tear drop fenders on board and I wonder if they would support 500kg. Then it's just a matter of putting a hole in the prop blade, attach the fenders, tow it over to the boat and using his hydraulic winch to get it onboard.
The thing with this Bower bird is logic goes out the window when there's something free being offered.
Cheers