Propellors stolen can you drive boat with one prop (duo prop b4)

C

captaindan

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Hi

I have had my propellors stolen from my boat. I had dou props and have noticed that the 2 outer ones and big nut are gone. I know you need a special tool to take the inner one off and wondered why that might be why the inners are still on there. I had taken the boat out for a 30 mile cruise on the weekend before noticing and made it back with out incident or swimming.

I think i am covered by insurance so not to worried, however i had planned to move up the coast in june and dont have much confidence on my portuguese mechanic completing before my planned trip to marbella from albufeira.

does any one know if this will cause damage or will the inner ones have a chance of falling off if used with out the outer ones on. Your advice on this will be greatly appreciated

kind regards

Danny
 
No problem to drive with just the inner ones
I have heard of people that have lost their outer prop but never heard of that the inner one has comed loose and hit the outer ones so there for I would say that is ok
The big nut that holds the propeller is of locking type
 
Were they fitted correctly in the first instance?

We know of someone that didnt refit theirs correctly after being ashore and they lost their nut and rear props.

Can't say I have heard of props being stolen, especially from a boat in the water!
 
Have had several boats in over the years with a missing rear prop, in some instances the owner didn't even know! No damage, but if you do drive just make sure the revs don't exceed max due to lower engine loading, this will depend on engine / boat/prop size.
 
We lost a prop crossing from Barcelona to Mallorca.

The revs on the impacted leg dropped ( odd - I would have through they would have gone up, but assume the electronics took over).

Our prop was lost due to a shaft shearing - assumed on hitting something.

Volvo in Mallorca said not to use is given the risk of water ingress to the leg. The shaft was not sheared such as to compromise the seal, so I don't know if this was due to one prop or another concern.

You have to replace then in any event, so from my point of view I would not use it, just get new props delivered ( Key part next day?) and use to boat as intended.

Re planning - we had no problem. The boat performance other than a minor rev drop was pretty similar to be honest. We were on anchor for 2 days until I noticed. I assumed it was a blocked fuel filter ( lower revs) and changed filters etc. I only notice when I went swimming and saw the cone had fallen off. Oh its not the cone - its the prop!
 
We lost one of our rear duoprops and always assumed it fell off due to my bad install though I suppose it could have been stolen by a diver! Easy enough to remove and install with boat afloat with drives in up position, but not when fully down!
Not that unusual an occurance apparently but unlucky to loose both.
Regarding special tool for front prop, large stilsons will do the job unless the props have not been removed for a few years and the nut is too tight to remove without damage.
Understandable that only rear props stolen if that was the case as I have often had the rear prop damaged and not the front one though never understood why or how!
We used the boat for one trip with the prop missing whist it would get up to speed it was clear that something was wrong as the engine with the missing prop would over rev and the boat took longer to plane.....which led to our investigation and discovery.
 
My outer prop fell off when the drive shaft sheared off. We managed to get home on just the inner prop, albeit very slowly as I didnt want to stress the gearbox that now had water in oil

not sure I'd deliberately set off on a 30 mile journey with the props missing, and if I did I probably wouldnt try to go much above 5-10 knots.
 
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If they have been stolen and the seal is intact you should be ok. If whoever fitted them overtightened the cone they can come loose I was one told. An owner of a previous boat lost props that way. Since then I have taken care to torque the retaining nut to the correct spec.
 
CX54WEK said:
Were they fitted correctly in the first instance?

We know of someone that didnt refit theirs correctly after being ashore and they lost their nut and rear props.

Can't say I have heard of props being stolen, especially from a boat in the water!
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yes they were fitted correctly we done a 450 mile cruise last year no prob and boat was recently out of the water for anti foul and annual maintenance etc this is when i think they got robbed as we left boat before it was craned back in to the water for the uk .
 
a mixed bag of answers, i suppose im gonna have to just buy some more and have em fitted before i go as jrudge pointed out im gonna have to renew in any event.

Does anyone know or could recommend were i can pick some new ones up at a competitive price maybe in portugal or the uk and have them sent over.

thanking your answers in advance

Danny
 
Different application, sail drive, but there have been a number of reports of lost props on the sailboat threads. Securement seems to be an issue as the props are held on by torqueing 2 nuts with a tab washer in between. For whatever reason this does not seem to be a complete answer - having read the threads and we have 2 props each of which costs about stg1,500 we have used Loctite on the threads this time as when we slipped our yacht, cat, the nuts on one sail drive were loose. Whether this will increase security (or make them impossible to remove next time) only time will tell. Why they cannot use a split pin (as well) remains a mystery - but such a simple solution would reduce profit margins.

Jonathan
 
captaindan said:
yep might even find my ones if i look around on the internet. :)
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You seem adamant that they were stolen but I suspect they have simply fallen of in the water. If someone is going to steal some props they will almost certainly take the complete set. The rear props have a habit of falling off, I have seen quite a few cases myself over the years.
 
neale said:
Was the mechanic the same one that was responsible for doing up the nuts? ;)
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:p

Yes the rear do have a habit of coming off. Marina manouvering when forward and reverse are shuttled back and forth seem to exacerbate the problem. I have a locking wire through mine (non standard, DIY heath robinson affair) and do a daily startup check to make sure there is no play and tight.
 
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