“After much deliberation and after my talking to Darglow at the Southampton boat show...
A. Roan
FeatherStream A-Hub 3B
Cornish Crabber
“After much deliberation and after my talking to Darglow at the Southampton boat show in 2013 I decided that I would take the plunge and fit a FeatherStream propeller to ‘Le Moulin Vert’ which is our Mark 1 Cornish Crabber of 1978 vintage. The reasons behind the decision were in the main that she was a little sluggish when sailing and struggled to get to three and a half to four knots. This though was a combination of very tired and stretched sails, a fixed standard propeller and the captain normally very tired and stretched!!”
“Time trundled on and in June 2014 I actually got around to filling in a quote form from the Darglow website. Quickly Darglow came back to me with a few questions and a figure to make a bespoke propeller, owing to work commitments I was away for most of August through to mid-October and then end of October ‘Millie’ (short name as Le Moulin Vert is such a mouthful and Moulin is French for mill) came out of the water. At this time I decided that I would postpone until the spring any further requirement for a feathering propeller and revisit new sails, folding prop etc. in the spring.”
“Come end February beginning of March new sails were ordered and Darglow were contacted re said FeatherStream. Amazingly they honoured the quoted price of mid-2014, that cemented my trust in Darglow and I was very comfortable in that I was dealing with a professional company. The original 3 blade fixed prop was a 12″ x 9″ and a discussion took place with Chris of Darglow, who I think is the technical director, and a 3 bladed feathering prop of 13 1/2 ” x 8″ was decided upon as the best combination for me and Millie to achieve the results I required. Mid-April and Chris called to inform me all was ready so I drove to Wareham and saw my new propeller. It was a thing of beauty, a work of art. I was highly delighted and could see the care and attention taken in its construction and the quality it exuded. I paid up and took it home wheree, and I’m embarrassed to say this, it stayed on the mantelpiece as an object of ornament rather than a piece of working maritime equipment, to say my wife was unimpressed would be an understatement!!!”
“So what improvement to sailing I hear you ask?? Well after testing the sailing performance with the feathering propeller it has increased by one knot. Add in the new sails and ‘Millie’ comfortably gets to five and three quarter knots and on occasion six and a half knots is not unknown, I do though sometimes forget to engage reverse to get the prop to feather but as soon as I look at the speed log I know that the captain is still tired and stretched and in need of a somewhat large G & T to aid memory and assist in moving the propulsion lever to reverse!!”
“Would I recommend Darglow and FeatherStream propellers?? Indeed and probably one of the better decisions made in relation to upgrades to the boat. Yes they are a pricey item but I did research prior to committing myself and Darglow FeatherStream propellers are very competitive and the after sales customer support second to none. I must add that I am in no way connected to Darglow in any way, shape or form and my association is purely as a satisfied customer in a commercial capacity.”
