Hello Reudi;

Sorry for the late response.

The underwater installation was fairly straight forward with a bit of planning. The step on the keel acts as a great work bench to store the required tools. The main consideration is obviously, how not to lose any parts in the process. If possible, it is best to be tied to a dock somewhere, so if you happen to drop an important part, there is a fair chance of recovery. We were lucky that the first anchorage that we selected on the first day of the season, happened to be right outside an ACI marina in Croatia. So we gently motored to the dock which was less than a 1000 yards away. It also helped that my wife Aty, who is excellent at keeping contact with almost everyone we meet along the way, happened to have the information of a boat that winters in the same marina. A British couple that hooked us up with a diver that happened to be an ex Croatian Special forces with heavy underwater diving and repair experience. Having an additional set of hands underwater, definitely helps.

We took the fixed prop, that was never used,  to a another marina with a yard and had them apply speed prop anti-fouling. We then applied some grease to the shaft and the fixed prop slid on without issues. With the help of a rubber mallet and a piece of wood, we hammered the fixed prop as far as it would go and inspected the distance to the line cutter to be sure it had seated properly. A large spanner was used to tighten the nut and then it was further extended with a 3 foot PVC pipe so that we could be sure we had sufficient torque applied underwater. The key on the washer that we had with the prop was a bit different than the picture Bill R had attached. The washer itself had to be bent back at the flat part of the nut, rather being inserted.

It took us about 30 minutes to take the prop off and about 1 hour to put back on. We have not taken the fixed prop yet, so I cannot comment on the removal yet. We will remove this coming season when we haul out. Porter’s solution sounds like a good one. I do have some underwater video, if interested.

Hi Amelias

Does anyone experienced the performance of the Original Fixed Prop delivered by AMEL, compared to the Pruntons Autoprop?

@ Mohammad, et all

I have seen you installed the fix prop last year. How was the installation? Exactly as Bill believed?

How do you removed afterwards without puller? Was it easy to take it off?

Best regards and thanks

Wintering in Almerimar

Hi Bill;

Just completed this install under water. Confirm that your depiction is the correct way of installing the fixed prop. Attached please find some pictures of our final installation. Sorry for the blank screens in the screen shots. I have 4 monitors, so that’s how it comes out. But it is easy to zoom in and get a clear picture.

Respectfully;

Mohammad and Aty

B&B Kokomo

Amel 54 #099