Max Power CT80 bow thruster propeller removal

[miraculix]

Hi all,

We have a MAX power CT80 bow thruster on our Beneteau Oceanis 40. We lost quite a bit of power on the bow thruster during the last season, and after haul out, the reason became immediately apparent. The tunnel and the propellers were full of barnacles, which was kind of like expected.
Anyhow, with the propellers attached, it's hard to get to all areas of the tunnel, remove the barnacles and repaint the tunnel with antifouling. So I tried to remove the propellers. Aside from that it is difficult to find the opening of the set screw, one got out without too much hassle, but the other is putting up a fight. I could not get the Allen key to fit in the setscrew opening, and the reason seems to be antifouling that's clogging the setscrew. I would like to remove the propeller and use it again.
Any idea how to make this work without destroying the propeller?
Appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Christoph

 

[jssailem]

reason seems to be antifouling that's clogging the setscrew.

Try a pick. Like a dental pick. Something like this.

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[Ralph Johnstone]

If it's bottom paint filling the head head screw, maybe lacquer thinner, acetone, paint stripper, or whatever else you can find with a smell that will knock your head off ?

 

[miraculix]

Thanks for your reply.
I tried a few things already including Acetone (did not work because it is to volatile - contact time too short) and scraping some of the stuff out of the screw. Didn’t work. Access to the screw is very limited, you cannot see what you do, and the stuff in there appears to be very hard. I did not use one of those sharp pointed and angled picks though. I guess I will give a combination of an angled pick and some gel type paint stripper a try.

 

[miraculix]

Some feedback on this topic. A 90-degree angled pick worked fine to remove enough material from the set screw head to fit an Allen wrench. It was a tedious process, though.
Anyhow, I can clean out the thruster tunnel and the propellers now.

Thanks!