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19/08/2016
Extra protection for your seals: wire winders and net cutters
Seals are available in all types and sizes. The seal can be supplied as either a fwd or aft seal. There’s a wide range of options you can add to your seal. Several options can be applied to give you extra peace of mind and customise your seal (even) further. We’ll take a more detailed look at these options over time, beginning in this first blog with wire winders and net cutters. These are particularly useful for vessels sailing in waters where there’s a lot of fishing, or where rubbish floats on the surface. A frequent problem in these waters is fishing lines, nets or ropes which could damage the seal.
Wire winders
One of the options Lagersmit offers with its aft seal is a stainless steel wire winder (see illustration 1 position 3). The wire winder has an L-shaped cross-section and is mounted on the propeller hub. The space between the rope guard and the wire winder is kept as minimal as possible, so that no lines can slip in-between. The wire winder consists of two halves, so that it can be installed at any time without needing to extract the shaft or dismantle the hub.
If a fishing line does get under the rope guard, the line will ultimately wind around the smallest diameter, i.e. around the liner, if no preventative measures have been taken. There’s a serious possibility that the lip seals will be damaged as a result, causing oil leaks. Using a wire winder prevents fishing lines from inflicting any damage because the line winds itself around the wire winder.
Net cutters
As well as the wire winder, Lagersmit also supplies stainless steel net cutters (see illustration 1 position 4), which can be included as an option in the overall solution. Any fishing lines, nets or ropes which stick are severed. A set of four net cutters, with sharpened edges on both sides, is either welded or bolted onto the rope guard.
Matching your application
The wire winders are mounted on the propeller hub. And the net cutters are mounted on the rope guard. This is to protect your aft seal (Supreme), of whatever type. Get in touch with us if you’d like to learn more about how you can protect your seal further for a longer lifespan.
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