removing prop shaft in water

[bikedaft]

am i mad?

need shaft off boat, prop is spinning on it. have been down 3 times to tighten it, with a 18" shifter and knee against p bracket, but still spins again fairly soon, so guess shaft or prop or both worn. no woodruff key just interference fit.

boat yard unable to say when can take her out, fair enough they are trying their hardest to chuck them all in at moment, but maybe 10 days.

so plan b is to get a short section of 1" dia old/borrowed shaft to put in stern gland, while i take ours out boat and take it to engineer or replace. or have a spare rubber boot/tube that goes between hull and stern gland, so could plug that and swap it with our stern gland once shaft out, with a wooden plug hammered in from outside also?

or am i being very silly? with two people should be ok ;-)

 

[pvb]

Your username may be apposite.

 

[bikedaft]

yeah i know! that's why i thought i'd better run it past someone first, not found any spare 1" shaft tho yet

 

[pvb]

OK, well if you have a Hustler 35, will the propshaft come out without messing around with the skeg?

 

[bikedaft]

have wondered this myself. not sure. but can get prop off shaft easy enough. and can assess on pulling old shaft out whether i can get new prop and shaft on without underwater assembly (preferred!)

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Would it not be possible to get the boat alongside, dry out then take it out at low tide? Or careen the boat using the mast; it will be strong enough to get a good heal on. Perhaps you could pull it out from a dinghy.

I have pushed a shaft back afloat to free a rope. We had a skeg so the shaft could not drop out. The shaft will fall back easily under its own weight if the propellor is fitted. I would take the propellor off and then slide the shaft back and then push it through the stern gland with a stub section of shaft. The spillage should be minimal.

Placing the new shaft in is just a matter of running it in and pushing out the stub shaft.

Not mad at all unless, as pvb suggests it struck a skeg or rudder.

 

[windfan]

Not wanting an expensive haul out in Torrevieja to repair a bent prop shaft SWIMBO pushed a 1 inch wooden broom stick under the raised engine against the shaft while I pulled the prop and shaft out no prob !! leaving the broomstick in for a couple of days while the shaft was straightened, cost at the time 12 years ago 900 pesetas and the job was perfect, those were the days !!.

 

[Lady Campanula]

am i mad? or am i being very silly?

We're all mad. Get over it....

I'd encourage yersel' to have to hand more than one way of plugging the 'ole - and keeping it plugged - while you faff around, perhaps for days, with solutions to your contra-rotating prop.

And I'd encourage you to have more than the one spare pair of hands, to hand. You'll need someone to operate the vid-camera....

 

[neil_s]

If you can get the prop off - why not do that? You can then check to see what the condition of the woodruff key slot is like in prop and shaft. It may be that all you need is a new key and put the prop back on.

Neil

 

[alan17]

no key

He did say no woodruff key just a taper fit!

 

[Searush]

"What could possibly go wrong?"

Do a list of everything you can think of & plan a solution.

But something you hadn't thought of may still catch you out!

I'd lean on a wall somewhere & dry out as far as possible - if nowt else, you can't possibly sink if you are already sitting on the floor, which gives you time to think. Secondly, the shallower the water, the lower the pressure flow. Finally, you can stand in the water, using both hands AND apply reasonable force. If the boat is afloat it can move & if you are swimming, so will you.

 

[Niander]

Ye whack it all on youtube and give link cheers!

 

[scottie]

Funny I just posted the other day

Kelvin never fitted keys to props

So if you could dry out you could grind the prop on without removing the shaft.

 

[daveyw]

What you do is..... Find a piece of hose that you can clip onto your gland. Plug the other end with a plug or secure it above the water line. Jump over the side and tie something to your shaft and withdraw it enough to remove coupling inside. Jump inside and remove said coupling, secure hose over gland with shaft inside. Jump over the side and remove shaft. Simpleees!

 

[30boat]

I've done it.Since the shaft wouldn't come out rearwards because of the rudder I moved the engine out of the way.The prop was removed with a puller.I dived down and did things in small steps.The shaft was then pulled in from the inside and the hole bunged up.It was a bit of work but I never felt there was danger involved.

 

[bikedaft]

thanks

brilliant, thanks for all your replies.

have twice in the last two weekends tried to get boat back to clyde (and reasonable tides) but turned round twice due to lack of wind/time/sleep etc. tides in sound of jura are only about a metre. good points about less inflow of water and boat can't sink when on ground tho.

have 4 ways to stop water; wood plug from outside, spare shaft in stern gland (or wood) and spare bit of hose to put over inside of thru hull hole, and wood plug to inside of hull hole.

fly in ointment is rope cutter, it seems attached well to shaft unlike prop. so probably can't get shaft to slide into boat, and not sure if it will slide out past skeg. only one way to find out tho

 

[Searush]

I like the sound of grinding it on, but have you enough thread to bolt it up tight again, or will it need a spacer?

If you get it out, I would be inclined to find a local machine shop (if there are any left) & ask them to put a keyway in it. Then you won't have this problem again.

 

[bikedaft]

I like the sound of grinding it on, but have you enough thread to bolt it up tight again, or will it need a spacer?

If you get it out, I would be inclined to find a local machine shop (if there are any left) & ask them to put a keyway in it. Then you won't have this problem again.

v keen to get woodruff key, so it never happens again... and drill and pin the nut.

cheers

 

[vyv_cox]

I wonder if Searush' spacer thought is the source of the problem? (I was thinking it before I read his post, so not nicking it!) Is it possible that the nut (or washer) is coming to the end of the thread before driving the prop onto the taper? If you have tightened it up as much as you say it is surprising that the taper isn't holding. If you are happy enough working underwater why not remove the nut to check? There is usually quite a generous distance between the end of the taper and the outer face of the prop but maybe not in your case.

 

[bikedaft]

there appears to be adequate thread. and when the prop is hard against the rope cutter it spins freely on the shaft, which pretty sure its not supposed to do. no sign of rope cutter having moved.

still we had a lovely sail down and up sound of jura...