Michael Kobler, circumnavigator & owner of a Cyclades 43.4

The seller of our boat gave us lots of useful tips back in 2019. However, he said that a folding propeller was about the last thing he’d fit, as it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. Well, he had other motives. Certainly not the aim of circumnavigating the globe comfortably, and perhaps even 10-15 per cent faster, without the constant noise from the shaft and gearbox.

The arguments in favour even led us to consider a feathering propeller, particularly as the mechanism is housed internally rather than externally, as is the case with most folding propellers. A folding propeller clogged with barnacles could lead to engine failure and, with a bit of bad luck in the wrong place at the wrong time, the total loss of the boat. That struck me as rather unappealing, as the planned route took us through the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) and, in Asia, even ran alongside it. On top of that, the North-East Atlantic summer high over Alaska and Canada led to an unexpectedly high number of engine hours, at times against tidal currents of up to 6 knots.

Today, after 41,500 miles, I’m convinced that the propeller not only looks almost as good as new, but is also still in very good mechanical condition, despite the various adversities one encounters, such as ice, rubbish and, above all, wood, which floats around in large quantities in Alaska and Asia. I remember exactly where, near Sitka, we failed to spot and crushed the first large piece of timber; this was even followed by several whole tree trunks, which in the tropics sometimes have a specific gravity that allows them to float just below the surface.

We were also very glad to have the rope cutter. Who knows how many dives it saved me? Even so, there were still plenty to do, mainly because of plastic bags and fishing lines. The only thing it couldn’t cut was the 40mm rope from a pearl farm in the South Pacific. On long crossings in rough conditions, fatigue is the norm. When the wind suddenly drops and the remaining swell, often several metres high, requires the engine to be used, operational errors are inevitable, such as starting the engine whilst in gear; it coped well with that too.

Maintenance is straightforward and could even be carried out in the water. We replaced the anode roughly every 9-12 months and squeezed out the old grease with a grease gun, that’s it. We did have a bit of a struggle with the antifouling, especially when our boat was moored for a longer period in a marina with water water in which algae thrive, but even scraping off firmly attached mussels with a metal scraper didn’t damage the material. Ice-class, after all.

A big thank you to SPW for their excellent advice in Friedrichshafen and for keeping their promises. It was a truly worthwhile investment when converting to a blue-water boat.

Michael Kobler - World circumnavigator with a VARIPROP GP-107 4-blade propeller on SY IKARUS, a Cyclades 43.4