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New Propeller for Customer Prompts Praise for Clements Service

The supply of a new propeller prompted a delighted customer to explain his experience when he recently used the services at Clements Marine.

Here he details his experience with a much loved boat and his service with Clements.

We have owned Kiki which is a Turkish built Viki Sedan 32 built by Viking Marin in Istanbul for 6.5 years. She is a Semi Displacement Motor Boat weighing around 7.5 tonnes; initially she was based on the Norfolk Broads where we had forays to sea normally heading down the East Coast for holidays to places such as the Blackwater and Orwell. In year three we had a couple of nights at Shotley Marina near Harwich and liked it so much we stayed and have been based there since. The boat is used most weekends where we commute from our home in Derbyshire to Shotley a round trip of around 340 miles. Most of her time is spent on the East Coast which is a rich boating area; in 2010 we went to Belgium in her.

Just a week prior to our Belgium foray we had a ‘ding’ in the prop and our yard sought someone locally to repair it urgently before we went. Since that time the prop has never been quite right (no fault of the yard) we lost speed and were burning more fuel. I resolved at the back end of 2011 to sort the problem and contacted a number of propeller manufacturers following web searches giving them all the details of the issue and specifications of the boat and drive train. Clement Marine’s response was exemplary with Paul giving me guidance in addition to seeking more in depth details on our ‘symptoms’. I decided to visit Paul and take my old propeller to him, I was amazed at the time he spared and the genuine ‘non sell’ approach he had. The propeller was scanned so Paul knew exactly what he was dealing with this revealed the cause of our issues, the diagnosis sounded technically perfect and he recommended a specification with much more blade area to give thrust. Paul also offered to check our prop shaft and make a slight adjustment to ensure it was true, another example of not leaving any aspect of the drive train to chance.

It really is a leap of faith purchasing a propeller as you really do not know for sure if it is going to work until it is tested. If it does not work it is an expensive lift out, chock the boat, send the propeller away for alteration and lift in again so getting it ‘right first time’ is critical. How ‘cheap’ is the price of a propeller that has the associated costs of having to lift out and alter?

I can report that on testing our boat achieved a higher top speed but more importantly cruises now at lower revs and burns less fuel; we are delighted with the result. She hit just under 20 knots WOT (3300 RPM) with cruising weight and an additional two persons on board to the normal two. More importantly for me she will cruise very happily at 15 knots pulling 2900-3000 revs.

I am a firm believe in overall ‘value’ given the quality of the prop (class 1) the technical support and a work first time product I would say they deliver value in spades; I would heartily recommend Clement Marine.

Clements Marine supply Safehaven Marine Catamaran

Clements Marine has supplied all the stern gear and propellers to one of the latest launches to emerge from Safehaven Marine, the successful boat builder based in Ireland.

Orca III is the third of Safehaven built Wildcat 53/ 16m catamarans.   The vessel has been built for a customer who is based on the Isles of Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, which provide some of the most challenging sea conditions for any vessel operating in these waters. Safehaven's Wildcat 53 has a high buoyancy bow, twin chine symmetrical hull catamaran form that has proved very successful providing exceptional levels of sea keeping and performance. The design is 16m moulded (17m LOA) with a 6.1m / 20ft beam.

The vessel will have multiple operational uses from long range offshore work going out in the North Atlantic as well as being windfarm support, hydrographic survey and long range passenger and dive support, and for each role she has been specifically adapted.  The conditions regularly mean facing waves of 6m and it is important for as well as standing up to the test in reliability and efficiency the propellers also have to provide comfort for passengers. For this purpose Clements Hyperform blades were used.  These unique blade profiles allow for optimum speed and acceleration providing vibration free performance.

Clements Marine work closely with their customers and gain a good understanding of the day to day use of the vessel so that they can tailor the propellers and stern gear to the specific requirements.  Having worked with Safehaven Marine for many years, Clements have built up knowledge of their boats and were very pleased when the sea trials were completed successfully with their equipment onboard.  Orca III is powered by twin Scania D16 700hp engines and Twin Disc MG 5135 quick shift gearboxes driving conventional stern gear:  762mm (30”) propellers on 88.9mm (3.5”) diameter shaft and large balanced stainless steel rudders.

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