Prop shaft

[Csail]

We had a rope around the prop, maybe for the last month but only discovered it when we dried out. Problem is the brass thing that i assume houses the cutlas bearing has slight play in it where it attaches to the hull. Is this lightly to be a problem?

 

[Tranona]

Yes. There should be no play. It is probably screwed onto the stern tube and locked with screws or bolts into the deadwood. You may well have further damage such as bent shaft, strained engine mounts or even damage to the gearbox casing or bell housing. There was a good piccy posted here a couple of months ago where the bell housing had been pulled away from the engine because of a rope around the propeller!

Worth checking the whole transmission. And fitting a proper rope stripper to prevent damage next time you pick up a rope!

 

[wotayottie]

I think thats a bit gloomy - you would probably have noticed any serious problems by now. And whats a deadwood?

On grp, the P bracket is usually either bolted through the hull ir sticks through the hull and into a mound of grp on the inside. Examine the mount from the inside to see if there is a weep. There shouldnt be any movement but take care in tightening / packing since you have to keep the shaft in line.

If your boat is a long keel type with the shaft exiting through the bearing and its the latter that is loose - well tighten up. But tbh I've never had one of theese myself so I dont really know for sure.

Loose bearing and shaft moving about will get worse - it wont stay as it is.

 

[Csail]

Not what i wanted to hear! Further to that we had the oil warning light come on and the bilge filled with water which flooded the battery bay! (all luckily as we tied up in port)
Guess boat is coming out this week then.

 

[Tranona]

Not gloomy at all. Just the sort of damage that can result from having a rope wrapped round the prop. The deadwood is the solid bit of the end of the keel where the shaft comes out. Of course it is GRP but still called a deadwood. Dont think this boat has a P bracket, which can suffer even more damage!

If the outer bearing housing is loose, this does not happen with wear or age - usually the difficulty is undoing them! So looseness is a sign of damage, and just tightening up the locking screws is unlikely to solve the problem.