At Yard Engineering we also service all Autoprop, Variprop and Varifold propellers sold by us. Our staff are specially trained and certified by the manufacturers.We only use genuine spares to service your prop.
We carry an extensive range of spares and anodes for immediate delivery to our customers.
All Autoprops serviced will incurr the following costs:
- Costs of Spares & consumables
- Labour Costs at costs of AS$75.00/hour
- Costs of return freight
- Costs of packaging AS$15.00/propeller
Estimated labour hours for rebuiilding of your Autoprops-- includes disassembly, cleaning and re-assembly:
- H5 Autorops---4 hours
- H6 Autoprops--5 hours
- H9 Autoprops--8 hours
Costs of consumables, includes cleaning material and greasing after final assembly - AS$26.00/Autoprop.
As an added service we also recommend to have your Autoprop/Varifold coated with Velux Antifouling Paint. Following surface preparation we apply one coat of primer followed by 2 coats of Top coat. Each coats of paint is appiled at 8 hour intervals. This multi-layer coating system is found to be effective in preventing marine growth on submerged items like marine propellers.
By keeping your propeller surface clean helps maintains it's propulsion efficiency and thus better speed.
Please allow AS$ 120-$200 per propeller to cover the costs of Antifouling.
All prices are subject to GST.
SOME IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT AUTOPROP SERVICING.
Here are some observations based on my experience of repairing Autoprops over the last 10 years. I have serviced almost 100 Autoprops in this period.
A. Routine Service: Each Blade is attached to it's own Blade Post and rotates freely with the support of the bearings, which are filled with grease. Each chamber is sealed with the help of a Seal fitted to the blade and held pressed to the Hub, thus preventing water to get into the hub. However as the blade rotates at fast speed during operation the grease will gradually get thinner and increase in volume thus forcing out some grease through the seal surface.
This phenomenon can take place in the 3 blades slightly differently. Hence very often we find that while one hub portion ( say Blade No. 1) is full of grease, in Blade nos. 2 and 3 the amount of grease is relatively lower. Hence it is important to do the following at every opportunity i.e at every slipping of the yacht.
- Clean your Autoprop with high pressure water, while wet and if necessary rub it throughly with cloth until the surface is perfectly clean of any marine growth.
- Check that all blades rotates freely at ease
- Re-grease all blades, by removing both grease screws for each blade. Pump grease at the centre of Cap, and grease until old grease and water if any comes out of the hole in the blade. At this point it is recommended to change the grease screws with the new ones -- always keep some spare screws on board.
- Check the condition of your Autoprop anode, if it is half the original size, it is the time to replace it with a new one. Otherwise just clean your Zinc Anode with a wire brush -- a rough anode surface is desirable and effective. Never paint your propeller anode. The anode could be easily removed or covered with a musking tape while your hull or the propeller is painted with anti-fouling.
B. Major Service: Each Autoprop should be internally serviced at every 1000 ~ 1500 hours of engine operation unless some abmormallities are noticed earlier. At each internal servicng we recommend to change internal moving parts including the seals. Some times the seals might appear o.k but very often they will become hard and non-flexible which can let water into the Hub and thus making the grease thinner accelerating the loss of grease. Hence in every major service we choose to change all the three seals from the blades without exceptions.
In some cases we have found that the Ball bearing halfs get stuck in the blades or in the hub. This is a very tricky situation and often needs time to clear all the grease. We use high powered magnet in addition to high pressure air. Some time it helps if you can put the hub and the blades immersed in de-greasing thinners over night, time permitting. Often you would find that the bearings are a bit pitted due to corrosion or high loading, hence it is necessary to remove all bearings.
Once the bearings are out, the hub and the blades needs to be cleaned internally with a screw driver and or scrapper of all rusts and dirts from the Hub, decreased throughly and then sprayed with high pressure air to remove any liquid or dusty particle. Be generous in cleaning the internal surfaces throughly. Time permitting you can leave the clean Hub and the blades on a piece of cloth to dry up. Otherwise you can clean the Hub and Blades with a cloth fixed around the tip of a screw driver and turning it around the machined grooves in the Hub and in the blades. This is to ensure the internal machined passages are fully cleaned so that the seals and the Bearings can sit on properly in their places.
