probably not really titanium

How the heck did they lift the prop, with a crane?

Largest one I ever did underwater was on a Jefferson 56. PITA, but luckly since the boat was new it came right off. Thankfully it was low tide and a sandy bottom so you could kind of stand to get some leverage. We put a rope around the freaken thing and used the hydraulic dingy crane to lift it.

PITA, next time its going on the lift. Owner didn't want to spend the money.

Hell yes they used a crane. IIRC the prop was about $40K in 1990.


Ya'll don't have warm enough water, but down South you see a lot of people diving on props and shafts, cleaning off critters that throw things out of balance and cause stuffing boxes to get leaky. Not a big deal on a powerboat, but on a sailboat with a 12ft. shaft.....you know what I mean.

A lot of people dive and clean them, the water gets into the 70's in the summer so its plenty warm enough. We just don't get anywhere near the kind of growth you guys do.

That is mainly what I did, but if something was bent or a blade missing, I would take one off occasionally.

I am going to varnish the feathering 2 blade brass prop on my sailboat this year to see if I can keep it from jarring my teeth out.

Just use antifouling paint. Pettit makes that gray stuff that works pretty good up here.

http://z.about.com/d/sanfrancisco/1/.../-/parprop.jpg


Bling

Well, my watch cost $30, so like Hattie, I doubt those crow bars were really titanium...

Too thick.

What's as strong as steel and light as aluminum if it ain't titanium? I've used one of the crow bars and it's definitely not aluminum.
Currently available
http://www.materials.com/Titanium_tools.HTML

Thing One's 65' icebreaker managed to shed its rudder in the Kennebec river one winter. The CG towed her back to Camden with a 44' MLB and when the contractor had fabbed a new rudder, they hung her in the slings at Wayfarer Marine, replaced the rudder and installed a new wheel. At the time, USCGC Tackle weighed a paltry 72 tons.

They have used it in Race cars for suspension parts, IIRC. Maybe there are different alloys of it with different properties.

Then again it may depend on what you mean when you say "soft as hell"....:)

To thick, what's it going on? The stuff you spray is very thin.


http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...s/00006131.jpg

Platinum on suspension components............care to show where that might be???

I think Goldfinger is sponsoring a private Formula One team this year.

Magnesium and aluminum are as exotic as I heard on street car suspensions. The ZR1 uses a magnesium engine cradle, and I think BMW uses some in the front end of its new M cars.

I think C6's have a titanium exhaust. It sounds kind of funky I think because the metal is so thin that all the pipes hum and resonate.

VW uses magnesium for the transmission cases in the ACVW's

they burn nice in fire pits

Titanium, not platinum.:P

Oh, I see you switched metals in the middle of the post!:eek:

..........trouble with reading tonight?............;)


Yes, I'm sure some racers would use titanium if money is no object. Very strong and tough material.

I just googled Harvey Aluminum special. They were indy cars built and raced by Mickey Thompson in 1963 carrying this name.

At least one had a titanium frame. They were technologically interesting, they looked like unlimited hydroplane boats with places cut out for the wheels, had 13" rims and low profile Allstate (Montgomery ward's brand) tires when every body else was running 16 and 18" rims. He actually started the move to very low profile tires at least at INdy. The cars ran pushrod Buick v8s and were fairly fast.

In 1964 so many other car owners *****ed about the 13" tires that Indy outlawed them and he had to run 15" rims and it upset the handling of the cars making them very squirrelly. It was in one of these that Dave McDonald crashed to his death in the big race on sunday taking Eddie Sachs with him.

I was there that day with my dad and little brother standing in the infield inside the third turn. It was a pretty sick feeling when Jimmy Clark came around with nobody behind him and we looked over in turn four and could see this enormous black cloud rising above the accident scene.

Gasoline was outlawed after that race at Indy.

I think metals in F1 which is the most advanced racing are kind of the past. I'm sure they use titanium and magnesium, since cost really is no object. Probably some gold for heat sheilding and conducting to.

But composits and carbon fiber make up most of the car. Metal is heavy. I think even parts of the suspension are some type of carbon based material.

BMW has been using magnesium engine blocks in its new cars.

Yep.

Around here we use stainless props on all of our boats except the 2 with Go-Devils and the airboats, which have composite props. We have about 20 boats in our fleet that vary from 20 hp to about 150 or so. Mostly Evinrudes and Johnsons. We've been using stainless since the early 1990's. I have not heard of a need for a lower unit replacement yet. Oh yeah, there was the whaler with the twin I/O's that we converted to outboards. But IIRC that was due to a maintenance issue not mechanical damage.

Not saying that stainless props don't have the problem, just that we haven't seen it.

My s-in-law swears by bronze on his Chriscraft. There are repair shops around here that rebuild props and I guess bronze are good for that. What do they use on offshore workboats and shrimp boats? Anybody know?

Because stainless is stronger than aluminum, stainless props can have a thinner cross section so they take less hp to turn a given rpm.

In another life, I was an production inspector and boat test assistant for Robert R. Hammond and Associates. That was about the time stainless props were appearing on higher-end runabouts as a 'performance' option. For example, our 19' models powered with a 350ci Chevrolet MerCruiser would run about 4-6 mph faster with a stainless wheel.

They weren't without issues back then. With startling frequency they'd spin out the rubber shock absorbing material in the hub. Since we did most of our engine and boat testing in the dead of winter, I became pretty good at craning off the back of the boat while someone held onto my ankles and I changed out a dead prop without actually getting totally wet.

I can testify that when you tag soft bottom with one of those stainless props, it would just fold the blade back a bit and not break it off.

Bronze props actualy suck, nibral is what you want. My grandfathers Chris Craft had nibral props and monel shafts.

Those are what good boats use, but they cost more. Nibral is nickle, brass, and I think aluminum, something like that. Holds up very well.

Stainless props are fine, but if you hit something the risk of doing damage is higher. They make composit props for larger motors that you plan on running around rocks. The blades are cheap and can be replace on the water for about $40 each. They just share right off.

I have seen the entire lower units ripped off stern drives and outboards, they share right off! The worst was on a Skater go fast with a Merc racing drive, he ripped the entire lower half off...its a $50k drive, not counting the prop...:eek: We saw it right as he was pulling it out on the lift, puking gear oil still. That was an expensive mistake.

Wasn't familiar with that. Its a brass feathering 2 blade prop on my Van der Staadt.

Use that or the gray stuff from Pettit, should work well on your prop. When I worked at the marina thats what we used on the boats we painted, usualy about 200 every spring.


I think they might even offer clear now. When the EPA outlawed TBT they had to take all the clear antifouling off the market. I think some manufactures are offering clear again, they figured out how to make it work.

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The tips are coated with titanium carbide. If the turbo fans were pure titanium, the engine would destroy itself in minutes!! :eek:

If I used anything but stainless, I'd twist them to pieces. Well, other than titanium. These are expensive enough! If I hit something in the water, well, I'll probably breal the outdrive off.

So, what's the best prop wash to buy?

Pretty!

One of the guys at the marina last year ripped the lower part of the drive off of his Skater. Whats a Merc racing drive go for these days?:D Two monts later he threw a blade off the new prop...expensive year:eek:.

Stainless labbed cleavers - about 3k each. A new #6 dry sump drive and gimble, around 60k, I think.

I've got two 4s and a 3. I can get these for around 10k each without gimbles, rebuilt correctly.

Props, I just scored one each RH and LH cleavers, on ebay, the correct ones no less, for a TOTAL of $300 bucks! The guy had the ad spelled wrong - "Clever Props". The score of the century for me!

Nice score! $300 for those props is literaly stealing them!:D

http://www.mercuryracing.com/_media/...umpsix_med.png
Yep thats the drive, the nice shiney stainless part is still on the bottom somewhere!:eek:

Could probably get Paris Hilton or some NaSScar driver to sponsor props on the pink chop boat.

Well that’s a far cry from any Bass Boat though, isn’t it ?! :D

Dang dude - I start bleeding and loosing body parts just looking at that set-up sitting still. :eek:

I'll stick to spinning airplane props.

Can you say “Frappe’ please”….??

- Shelby

Well, that's all over my head...:(

But-

Hey, Joe...Trade ya a ride in a go-fast-spin-around-upside-down airplane, for a ride in that boat ?
Just how nasty is that thing ?

- Shelby

You wanna trade a ride in a go fast for a ride in an Aerobatic? How could I say no?

Nasty - nope. It is a 18,000 pound when fully fueled and 5 people. Made of Kevlar, and a deep Vee ocean race boat built by Cougar in England. Dominated offshore for about 5 or 6 years late 80s.

Then the Cats and stepped hulls took over. But those are really not to safe in big water or in turns. Cats tend to take off, and have no control surfaces. Stepped hulls do not handle turns well at all. In both cases, death usually occurs when something goes wrong.

My boat drives like it is on rollercoaster rails. I love going out in 6-8 footers. It's usually only me on the lake then, even the sailboaters stay away. So the lake is mine when it is horrible on the water. I just love coming off of wave crests and flying for a while.

I've ridden in Fountains, Cigarettes, Active Thunders, etc. Mine rides like a Benz; theirs rides like a Chevette.

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Shelby, Waybomb if this happens we need photos....