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Griffin Update #13: Props, Ivana Trump, and Moonbeam the Pet Pig
Tuesday, April 28th, Griffin Inport, Saltponds Marina, Hampton, Virginia,
Absentee Pennant Flying.
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This photo is from Gert Jongeneel in Holland. Fun with friends on
Haringvkliet, one of the big sea arms in Holland. |
You may have noticed that we have yet to get underway for the final leg of our epic 2,500 mile journey from Annapolis to Miami and return. When we last updated you, Griffin was waiting patiently for new props at Saltponds Marina in Hampton. Here is where we are now:
Joe and Jeff from Hampton Marine Services packed up the two loaner props along with the broken prop as a template, and shipped everything down to Mike at Jacksonville Propeller. I had canvassed the world in search of advice on what size new props I should put on Griffin. I talked with Mike, the Fairline factory, a new internet friend in Holland who has a Fairline Corniche like mine, and anybody else I could find who might have a knowledgeable opinion about prop size. I was in search of the holy grail. The magic elixir. The one perfect prop for my boat/engine combination.
After much thought, pondering, sifting of information, speculation, guessing and generally total confusion, I finally came to a conclusion. You are probably wondering what took me so long to make a decision. Well, a new set of props costs between $750 and $1,200 for my boat. I didn't want to guess wrong and get props that didn't work and end up with some nice dock ornaments. Based on what I've read, Griffin should be capable of cruising 4 or 5 mph faster than what I am currently doing. I've been thinking that it is the prop that is holding me back. Fred Riedel, a boating/flying buddy for the last 20 years, and I spent an entire day at the Miami boat show in February talking to every prop manufacturer, prop dealer, and expert we could find down there. Everybody had a different solution. "Three blade." "Four blade." "Go down in pitch." "Go up in pitch and down in diameter." "Go up in diameter, add a blade, decrease the pitch." "Do the opposite of all of that." I couldn't believe the difference in opinions. Everybody had their own unique spin on the solution.
Last week an issue of one of my boating magazines arrived in the mail. On the cover: "In this issue - Prop Mystery Solved! The Secret Revealed" I tore through the magazine. The solution was at hand. I devoured every word in the article, and finally got to the Pearl. The nugget of truth I was seeking. Here it is. The big secret. The solution to finding the ideal prop for my boat. "Trial and error". Try something and if it doesn't work, change the prop and try something else. Are these guys made of money? Apparently that is even what the boat manufacturers do, when they introduce a new model.
Science in the late 20th century is not far enough advanced to develop the perfect formulas, computer programs, or models to accurately predict performance of different propellers. They can get close, but there are just too many unknown variables to be able to nail down the perfect solution.
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This is Gert's Fairline Corniche, on its way to Hellevoetsluis, a
nice old village in Holland |
One of my unknown variables revolves around the engines. Are they running at peak efficiency? Are the tachs calibrated? If not, it would be crazy to start changing props without getting the engines sorted out first.
I finally came to a solution. I have ordered replacement props identical to the ones that were on the boat. Joe and Jeff are working on the engines to get them in peak condition. Tony Morgan from Fairline in England had suggested that I "de-coke" the heat exchangers as they might be causing some of the overheating and coolant loss problems that we experienced on the way to Florida and back. When the heat exchangers were removed in Hampton, they were pretty gunked up with seaweed, mud, etc. They look like shinny new pennies now so that will help the heat transfer and allow me to run the engines a bit harder, and hence faster.
Back to the props in Florida. Mike was getting ready to bore out the two brand new 3 bladed bronze 18 X 20 props when he discovered another "little problem". Somewhere in the past, somebody had installed non-standard prop shafts in Griffin. The diameter of Griffin's shafts are standard 1-1/2". At the end where the prop fits on, the shaft tapers down like a pointed ice cream cone. The prop slides on the shaft and the tapered propeller hub fits snuggly on to the tapered shaft like the top ice cream cone on the stack of cones at Baskin Robbins. The only problem we have is that somebody, somewhere, decided to use their own personal custom taper. Not the standard taper for all the rest of the 1-1/2" prop shafts on the planet.
Trying to get standard taper props on to our unique shafts is like trying to fit one of the long pointy ice cream cones on to the top of the stack of the short fat cones. It sort of fits, but wobbles around on the end and may fall off!
So, do we taper the new props to the unique shaft taper, or pull the boat out of the water, yank the shafts, take them to a machine shop and cut them down to size. The answer, pull the boat and do it right. Unless I am going to sell Griffin in the next two weeks, I may need to replace props at some point in the future and I don't want to go through this again!
We have been getting some interesting e-mail. Here are two little clips from some other Mariners that we pass along for your enjoyment.
From Gert Jongeneel in Holland:
"Jon & Tom, I discovered your website with the Griffin adventures and appreciated your story very much. I am the proud owner of a 1990 Fairline Corniche, named "Mon Desir". My ship is used in the estuary of the river Rhine and the Northsea off the coast of Holland. The props are the original three bladed one's. I broke both on an underwater breakwater in the early spring. They looked like Dutch tulips after the collision, but were repaired fine. You have to know that for sport here in Holland we have navigation buoys only in summer and not in early spring!"
You can see photos of Gert's Fairline Corniche at
http://www.coile.com/griffin/photos13.html
From Mike Gallager in Florida:
"My wife and I own a Cummins powered Regal 402 (42' Express) and live in Palm Coast, just south of Matanzas. Local knowledge goes a long way to traversing the area, especially when your draft exceeds three or four inches. Next time, regardless of where the markers are, hug the West shore North of Rattlesnake Island (Rattlesnake Island is where Fort Matanzas is.)
"On any given day when cleaning my boat and the radio is on, distress calls can be heard from that spot. I believe Ivana Trump's Captain grounded her boat there last year. I know many, many folks who have bought props from that spot. Mike Kilcoin has rebuilt mine twice, not from there but all of Florida can be treacherous."
Thanks for all the other e-mail we have gotten. We enjoy reading about your Adventures at Sea, too. This has gotten a little longer than I intended so I will save the story of Tom's brother, Ed Harner's, pet pig Moonbeam until the next update.
Warm Regards,
The Griffin Crew