Rarely in life do things gobetter than expected, and often times WORSE as the case when I recently hauled out my boat to have initially just the bottom painted and zincs replaced. Imagine the HORROR seeing my props literally crumbling apart as my boat was being hauled out. I was the victim of “Stray Current” at my Marina. My boat is a Rodman 870, built in Spain with NO dealers left in the U.S…..everything is metric on the boat including the props & shafts. So now I have a foreign built vessel in need of 2 “Custom Metric” props with NO U.S. dealers. Compound this with the fact I’m paying the boat yard $30.00 a day for my vessel to be on blocks…..WHAT TO DO???!!!!….
I make numerous calls to boating friends/experts & the same name in Quality Workmanship, Pricing, Turn-a-Round Time keeps getting repeated…..Thomas Marine Propeller. So I make a call & talk to the owner Steve.I have a very pleasant, informative,educational conversation with Steve…agree on a “Very” fair price….a “Very” quick manufacturing/ turn-around time….& submit my order.
Like a kid at Christmas time, I am “Jumping with JOY!!!”….when the UPS driver arrives with my props….open up the boxes & am almost BLINDED by the SHINY brass propellers, I’ve seen Japanese Sushi knives that weren’t as sharp as the edges of my propellers.
Installation was a breeze as well as the fit & sizing…..now for the BEST PART!!!!…..the props are Soooooooo WELL engineered & balanced….I’ve picked up 3knts at 300 LESS rpms at 20 knots with my twin Volvo 150 HP diesels….So…I’m going FASTER , using LESS rpms, &, LESS fuel!!!!…..which is HUGE, considering diesel is $4.00 a gallon.
I DON’T KNOW….what kind of Voodoo, Black Magic is taking place in the laboratory of Thomas Marine Propellers….but whatever it is…..I’m a “TRUE BELIEVER”!!!!!!…….
Mark Alexander