Folder 7. . . . . Rudder and Prop.
I'When the boat arrived I found that the rudder blade had been neatly sliced off, leaving just the stock shaft in place. This meant that I had to make a new one with no pattern. The one on HMS Belfast is an after-fitment and does not resemble the spec drawings. So I knocked uo a wooden one to start the fabrication in marine quality stainless steel. The new stock was supplied by Clement Marine, and Andrew and I did the rest
Of course the propeller was missing too. I had the Admiralty specifications to hand and thought it would be easy to find a good second-hand one on ebay or chandleries. Of course , as a complete beginner I didn't have a clue about the ;black art of propellers ! I found eventually this new one in Seattle.! It seemed very close to spec so I bought it. In hindsight I should just have ordered a new one in England. When it arrived I soon discovered that the size stamped on the hub as an inch and an eighth, did not relate to it's inch and a sixteenth tapered hole !! So it had to be opened out to fit the original propshaft which had come with the boat, as the Americans refused to take it back. . . ( hmmm). . . .and this brings me to my near-death experience in a french machine shop..
I took the shaft and prop to a well recommended machine shop in Angouleme, and persuaded them to open out the taper in the prop, and at the same time just check the shaft for true in one of their large lathes..
A week later I went back to collect. The price for the machining ws eye-watering! and then I was taken to a large lathe where my shaft was fitted. I was told that there was a very slight amount out of true. To demonstrate,the man turned on the lathe and spun it up to 2000rpm which is what I told him the engine runs at. Almost immediately I saw the shaft start to oscillate, then wildly. . . . .I dived to the floor taking the man with me, as the shaft snapped at one end and flew out of the lathe flailing at high speed. It hit my shoulder a glancing blow and went on to smash against a wall about 30 yards away! Of course they were very apologetic, and offered to make me a replacement. . ." at half price " !! We had several months of debate and in the end they decided that they just couldn't make me one anyway! So I went back to the marvellous Clement Marine who made me a state-of-the-art shaft. The French finally came up with a cheque for half, and then wanted to keep my old shaft ! what a cheek !
That afternoon of the accident, as I drove home, I had a huge chill run through me as I realised that, if I had not dived to the side when I did, my wife would suddenly have become a widow without even knowing it.
The event did NOTHING for my opinion of the French way of doing things I'm afraid!!
Now, does this look out of line to you ??
The bonus was that I got to live, and now have a great source of naval brass to make things with !
Talking of -"out-of-line" here is the support bracket I mentioned earlier
Luckily it gave up the ghost on the bench and not at speed somewhere out on the ocean ! Good old Clement Marine again !
As a treat to both of us. . me and Dragonfly that is. . .I had a lovely new prop made by Clement again.
The box is a reflection of her stay in France . . . A decent Medoc from Potensac. . . and why not ??
