Maintenance/problems with shaft drives.

[gordmac]

Yes they are.....but do they go wrong

A head gasket and a water pump so far, and a rebuilt injection pump. The port engine smokes badly starting from cold so I may test the injectors over the winter although some people say that is normal for a Ford and the starboard one is actually abnormal!

 

[Murv]

I guess I'm "lucky" in that a replacement recon 270 unit was £1500.00, so was a relatively cheap replacement when the original one failed terminally on it's 4th or 5th breakdown (I can't remember which)
I'm also lucky in that I only have the one set of bellows, the exhaust one was blanked off on the transom when it was re-powered in 2002.
I had hoped that a new unit would have lasted the Year before maintenance, and to be fair, it very nearly did

I don't actually mind the problems, I don't mind the huge stresses and strains on the gears as all that torgue is directed through 90 degrees so many times.
I don't even mind that the reverse locking latch is constructed of an assembly so feeble that it wouldn't even be used to retain hamsters in a cage, much less triple figure horse galloping for freedom.

What I really, really do mind is the lost time.
I mind, very much that we lost the whole of last Summer when it was being replaced. I mind, very much, that we've lost the whole of June, half of July and it's back out of the water yet again for repair.
I mind that we've cancelled several cruises, one after the other, and we are faced with yet another sunny weekend with no boat because it's broken. Again.

Anyway, apologies for the long and slightly emotional rant, I'm tired and fed up!

Back on topic, shafts always seemed very simple. I love the idea of the system being; Engine:gearbox:a stick: propeller.
Compared to; Engine:small stick:hopelessly fragile lift mechanism:relays that don't stand a chance in the damp:gear:gear:useless reverse latch:small stick:gear:gear:small stick:gear: propeller.
Not forgetting, of course, that a large part of that is encased in a rubber tube to keep the water out. Which is fine, as long as something sharp doesn't pass through it, like a tiny piece of shell or stray fishing hook. and, after all, what are the chances of that in a tidal river?

So, I just wanted to ensure that shafts were the magical answer they appeared to be (subject to checking/maintenance/survey etc) before deciding whether to carry on with the hobby, or just give up.

As I say, I know that lots of people run outdrives, very successfully. Was chatting to a guy just last week who was praising his. Fairly old (don't know what they were) but hydraulically operated and he was chuffed to bits with them.
I'm not knocking outdrives, I've been boating less than Two Years, I don't feel qualified to knock them! But, just for personal reasons, I will never, ever have one again

 

[omega2]

I guess I'm "lucky" in that a replacement recon 270 unit was £1500.00, so was a relatively cheap replacement when the original one failed terminally on it's 4th or 5th breakdown (I can't remember which)
I'm also lucky in that I only have the one set of bellows, the exhaust one was blanked off on the transom when it was re-powered in 2002.
I had hoped that a new unit would have lasted the Year before maintenance, and to be fair, it very nearly did

I don't actually mind the problems, I don't mind the huge stresses and strains on the gears as all that torgue is directed through 90 degrees so many times.
I don't even mind that the reverse locking latch is constructed of an assembly so feeble that it wouldn't even be used to retain hamsters in a cage, much less triple figure horse galloping for freedom.

What I really, really do mind is the lost time.
I mind, very much that we lost the whole of last Summer when it was being replaced. I mind, very much, that we've lost the whole of June, half of July and it's back out of the water yet again for repair.
I mind that we've cancelled several cruises, one after the other, and we are faced with yet another sunny weekend with no boat because it's broken. Again.

Anyway, apologies for the long and slightly emotional rant, I'm tired and fed up!

Back on topic, shafts always seemed very simple. I love the idea of the system being; Engine:gearbox:a stick: propeller.
Compared to; Engine:small stick:hopelessly fragile lift mechanism:relays that don't stand a chance in the damp:gear:gear:useless reverse latch:small stick:gear:gear:small stick:gear: propeller.
Not forgetting, of course, that a large part of that is encased in a rubber tube to keep the water out. Which is fine, as long as something sharp doesn't pass through it, like a tiny piece of shell or stray fishing hook. and, after all, what are the chances of that in a tidal river?

So, I just wanted to ensure that shafts were the magical answer they appeared to be (subject to checking/maintenance/survey etc) before deciding whether to carry on with the hobby, or just give up.

As I say, I know that lots of people run outdrives, very successfully. Was chatting to a guy just last week who was praising his. Fairly old (don't know what they were) but hydraulically operated and he was chuffed to bits with them.
I'm not knocking outdrives, I've been boating less than Two Years, I don't feel qualified to knock them! But, just for personal reasons, I will never, ever have one again

you are learning! imho outdrives are for boats that sit on trailers most of the time. I had one once, never again.

 

[blueglass]

I guess I'm "lucky" in that a replacement recon 270 unit was £1500.00, so was a relatively cheap replacement when the original one failed terminally on it's 4th or 5th breakdown (I can't remember which)
I'm also lucky in that I only have the one set of bellows, the exhaust one was blanked off on the transom when it was re-powered in 2002.
I had hoped that a new unit would have lasted the Year before maintenance, and to be fair, it very nearly did

I don't actually mind the problems, I don't mind the huge stresses and strains on the gears as all that torgue is directed through 90 degrees so many times.
I don't even mind that the reverse locking latch is constructed of an assembly so feeble that it wouldn't even be used to retain hamsters in a cage, much less triple figure horse galloping for freedom.

What I really, really do mind is the lost time.
I mind, very much that we lost the whole of last Summer when it was being replaced. I mind, very much, that we've lost the whole of June, half of July and it's back out of the water yet again for repair.
I mind that we've cancelled several cruises, one after the other, and we are faced with yet another sunny weekend with no boat because it's broken. Again.

Anyway, apologies for the long and slightly emotional rant, I'm tired and fed up!

Back on topic, shafts always seemed very simple. I love the idea of the system being; Engine:gearbox:a stick: propeller.
Compared to; Engine:small stick:hopelessly fragile lift mechanism:relays that don't stand a chance in the damp:gear:gear:useless reverse latch:small stick:gear:gear:small stick:gear: propeller.
Not forgetting, of course, that a large part of that is encased in a rubber tube to keep the water out. Which is fine, as long as something sharp doesn't pass through it, like a tiny piece of shell or stray fishing hook. and, after all, what are the chances of that in a tidal river?

So, I just wanted to ensure that shafts were the magical answer they appeared to be (subject to checking/maintenance/survey etc) before deciding whether to carry on with the hobby, or just give up.

As I say, I know that lots of people run outdrives, very successfully. Was chatting to a guy just last week who was praising his. Fairly old (don't know what they were) but hydraulically operated and he was chuffed to bits with them.
I'm not knocking outdrives, I've been boating less than Two Years, I don't feel qualified to knock them! But, just for personal reasons, I will never, ever have one again

Murv, your "rant" takes be back to my own 5 years purgatory with drives and I am feeling the pain all over again. The utter frustration of those lost weekends, cancelled cruises and somehow even worse - the cruises started out on with eager anticipation only to have to limp home for yet another repair.
Don't let anyone dissuade you on your chosen course of kissing them goodbye. I hope it transforms your boating experience as it did mine.

 

[Wavey]

In 30+ years of boat ownership I've never yet owned a boat with drives. Tails of woe back in the mists of time when my Dad owned boats put me off. Experience since then has proved my decision to be right. Yes I do know of one or two people with aged drives who have had no issues but most have, and they have an annoying habit of being expensive issues. If you're boating on a budget and can't/don't want to invest in something relatively new then give drives a very wide berth. Your pocket/overdraft/bank manager/wife and family will all thank you I've had one issue with shafts due to a dodgy cutlass bearing in all that time.

As regards turbo's, all the boats I've owned have had two of them under the floor, various Perkins, Volvo's and most recently Yanmar's. I've had to have one turbo re-built in all those years.

Go for shafts, get a turbo or non-turbo as fitted to whatever boat best ticks all the boxes within the budget you have to work with. Just make sure there's history, get a decent marine engineer (you'll get good recommendations on here) to give them a good once-over before you buy, and make sure you keep that routine maintenance going.

You're overdue a break after all the cr_p you've had to put up with. Good hunting

 

[Murv]

you are learning! imho outdrives are for boats that sit on trailers most of the time. I had one once, never again.

I'm a slow learner, it has to be said! But, this one has stuck, I can promise you that!
Looking at the reverse lock latch on mine, I do wonder if trailered boats were the original target market of outdrives? It's just such a fragile system that I can't honestly believe someone would expect it to work reliably in seawater.
I imagine that an outdrive would be a very good choice for a small trailer boat, spending 99% of it's time out of the water and very easily accessible for maintenance.

Murv, your "rant" takes be back to my own 5 years purgatory with drives and I am feeling the pain all over again. The utter frustration of those lost weekends, cancelled cruises and somehow even worse - the cruises started out on with eager anticipation only to have to limp home for yet another repair.
Don't let anyone dissuade you on your chosen course of kissing them goodbye. I hope it transforms your boating experience as it did mine.

Thanks very much I'm sure it will all be a lot better with a new boat.
Hopefully ours will sell quickly, and will perform a lot better in its new home. Everything is now new on it, short of the thing sinking, what could possibly go wrong? *said whilst clinging frantically to wooden table*

In 30+ years of boat ownership I've never yet owned a boat with drives. Tails of woe back in the mists of time when my Dad owned boats put me off. Experience since then has proved my decision to be right. Yes I do know of one or two people with aged drives who have had no issues but most have, and they have an annoying habit of being expensive issues. If you're boating on a budget and can't/don't want to invest in something relatively new then give drives a very wide berth. Your pocket/overdraft/bank manager/wife and family will all thank you I've had one issue with shafts due to a dodgy cutlass bearing in all that time.

As regards turbo's, all the boats I've owned have had two of them under the floor, various Perkins, Volvo's and most recently Yanmar's. I've had to have one turbo re-built in all those years.

Go for shafts, get a turbo or non-turbo as fitted to whatever boat best ticks all the boxes within the budget you have to work with. Just make sure there's history, get a decent marine engineer (you'll get good recommendations on here) to give them a good once-over before you buy, and make sure you keep that routine maintenance going.

You're overdue a break after all the cr_p you've had to put up with. Good hunting

Thank you Appreciate your comments on turbos. I was just a little put off after all the problems with mine.
It was rebuilt, but ended up detaching from the adapter plate twice. Turns out the adapter was slightly warped, and had incorrect studs fitted.
I must admit that in all my Years of driving elderly turbo charged cars, I've never had an issue with a diesel turbo and only ever had one petrol one fail which was a small, very high pressure one.
On reflection, I'd be quite happy with turbos on an engine that had had regular oil changes.

 

[blueglass]

just had a look at your profile Murv and see that the offending drives of yours are the very same volvo 270's which gave me all the grief. That reverse latch I eventually had locked down permanently and I took my chances at hitting anything in the water. As you have said - totally inedaequate and incapable of doing the job.

 

[Murv]

just had a look at your profile Murv and see that the offending drives of yours are the very same volvo 270's which gave me all the grief. That reverse latch I eventually had locked down permanently and I took my chances at hitting anything in the water. As you have said - totally inedaequate and incapable of doing the job.

Simplest ideas are always the best aren't they?! Thanks for that. It's, shamefully, something I hadn't even thought of.
We do dry out on the mooring, but that is in very soft mud. The water intakes on the bottom of the leg aren't used any more (water is pulled in through the hull) so that may well be an option if there are any issues with the reverse latch.
The entire lift system is fragile, from the reverse latch through to the electronics and hopelessly exposed motor, so removing all those problems from the equation would make life an awful lot simpler!

 

[oldgit]

Murv if you want to drown your sorrows, we are having a BBQ on the roof of the club house this evening...bring your own sausages.
Can spend the evening listening to my reflections on the benefits and advantages of out drives.
Oooo .......and by the way one of the blades fell off off a club members 290 duoprops last week...you know the one that had to have two complete new outdrives fitted recently...still the outdrives were nearly nine years olde. THOS.

 

[Murv]

Murv if you want to drown your sorrows, we are having a BBQ on the roof of the club house this evening...bring your own sausages.
Can spend the evening listening to my reflections on the benefits and advantages of out drives.
Oooo .......and by the way one of the blades fell off off a club members 290 duoprops last week...you know the one that had to have two complete new outdrives fitted recently...still the outdrives were nearly nine years olde. THOS.

Thanks Fred, we were actually thinking of popping down this evening. We're sans daughter, so the thought of sitting on the terrace with a cool bevvy watching the river slip by seemed quite appealing.
And, if you're going to be extolling the virtues of outdrives (as a known, die hard O/D enthusiast,) that can only enhance the experience

You're joking... My deepest sympathies to him, I shall buy him a pint if present this evening. Puts my luck in perspective really.

Shall I bring my outdrive along? We can put it in the middle and take turns to beat it with a stick!