Sail Drive versus shaft drive

[TigaWave]

Believe me sail drives near the keel can pick up rubbish! I had a terrifying incident off the Spanish coast in a big swell and falling wind.

The rope shook the saildrive/engine unit so much before it could be stopped, that it bounced the whole unit off its mounts! It needed quite a bit of work before we could motor off the coast and I was getting close to calling for help.

Fortunately the diaphragm held up.

 

[DaveS]

Not too much to add to views expressed by others. My boat has a Volvo 120 saildrive and is 19 years old; I've had her for the last 10. Very few problems. Anodes generally do two years. Filling it with oil is a bit of a pain, because you can only dribble it in slowly. Bit of milkiness noticed in the oil this year, so new prop shaft seals will be fitted before Spring: about 5 years since last replaced. I've changed the diaphram once: a fairly big job, but perfectly do-able by myself, and no real issues if you have plenty bits of wood to hand to support everything as you move the engine: I found a small jemmy quite useful. If you remove the prop shaft first, you can pull the leg up without disturbing the fairing rubber. Having an assistant would simplify meshing the splines while re-connecting engine with gearbox, because one could wiggle the shaft while the other moved the engine.

Agree with others re. ease of reversing - no noticeable prop walk at all. I've caught the odd rope, and my cutter has (so far) snipped them quite happily. Incidentally, my cutter looks like a 3 blade "Spurs", but Spurs don't make a saildrive version... If anyone could shed any light on this point I'd be most grateful.