The words you don’t want to hear...

[Baba Yaga]

So something happened today which led me to think as boater’s what words don’t we want to hear?

I’ll start:

Today I decided to back the boat into the slip, while backing her in my lovely lady tells me something, it went like this...

Her-“stop the boat”
Me-“what”
Her louder- “STOP THE BOAT!”
Me-into neutral and down ladder I go
Her-“I dropped the dock line and now it’s gone”
Me-look at the taunt line on cleat
Her-“I don’t know what happened”
Me-“well the prop and shaft do”
Her-“is it bad”
Me-head back up and finish with one engine.

In the end she found a diver at the dock to dive and clear the line and do an inspection, $50 bucks cash later we got the all clear, thank goodness I was at idle and threw it in neutral fast.

 

[ghost]

Once, I was able to throw the gear in reverse momentarily and unwind it. Once. Really hate this particular swim, but it’s happened.

 

[JohnEasley]

Your reaction was good and the outcome was in your favor. Could have been much, much worse. Annoying, irritating... yes. But mistakes happen and there was no damage.

 

[Shrew]

I just got this call today.

Yard: I just got a call from the prop shop. They've condemned you shaft and coupler. The key ways on both are wallowed out and the key is trashed.

 

[FoxtrotCharlie]

Ouch

 

[Baba Yaga]

I just got this call today.

Yard: I just got a call from the prop shop. They've condemned you shaft and coupler. The key ways on both are wallowed out and the key is trashed.

Damn...

 

[South of Heaven]

Why aren't there heavy gauge lines that float AND still have good tensile strength on the market?? Its amazing how fast a line will sink and cause a potentially catastrophic event.

 

[OldDan1943]

I just got this call today.

Yard: I just got a call from the prop shop. They've condemned you shaft and coupler. The key ways on both are wallowed out and the key is trashed.

Expensive yes. Better to find out while in the yard. Fix it and forget how much you paid. I do it all the time. LOL

Cant they rotate the shaft 180 degrees and cut a new key way?

 

[jleonard]

I just got this call today.

Yard: I just got a call from the prop shop. They've condemned you shaft and coupler. The key ways on both are wallowed out and the key is trashed.

Now you need to know why. What happened to cause this.

 

[OldDan1943]

Now you need to know why. What happened to cause this.

I doubt if Shrew is the first owner.

Repeatedly shifting too fast? (just a guess)

 

[Comodave]

I am not a machinist but is it possible to cut larger keyways and go with a bigger key? Or is that a dumb question???

 

[Codger2]

I am not a machinist but is it possible to cut larger keyways and go with a bigger key? Or is that a dumb question???

Not a dumb question at all! The answer is "yes", provided you have access to a machine shop with a journeyman machinist and the equipment to machine a new keyway & a mating key.

 

[Comodave]

Well it would seem to be much less cost even if you had to travel a bit.

 

[refugio]

Get a corded Dremel and a LOT of bits....and then hire it done. New shaft seems extravagant - and I suspect this issue is not confined to just one set of running gear.

 

[diver dave]

If the person installing the prop does not have prussian blue, and valve grinding compound, or the like, you might expect more of this. Sometimes, the installer is careless; I have even heard folks say nut torque is not so important, since the key is supposed to take the the load.

But, most couplers are straight and use a clamping force and/or setscrews to provide friction. Again, if it is loose, the keyway will be stressed. Setscrews need dimples applied to the shaft before screw insertion.

 

[jleonard]

Not a dumb question at all! The answer is "yes", provided you have access to a machine shop with a journeyman machinist and the equipment to machine a new keyway & a mating key.

There are many, many machine shops in the area.

 

[Shrew]

Ok, so I didn't intend on my post to become a pseudo hijack. The long story is, I had a very soft grounding last year at about 3.5 knots. I heard a small donk, and just as I was saying "Did you hear that?", I slid to a stop. In fact, I was sitting still in gear, because the keel was in the sand, not the prop. I got tugged off by a neighbor and immediately hauled for inspection. I had a chunk out of one prop blade about the size of a pinky nail. Everything else looked fine.

Fast forward and I've decided while I'm getting my dripless replaced, I'd pull the shaft and have it inspected and the prop checked and fixed.

Shaft is bent, cutlass bearing is trash, shaft strut was loose and leaking, key is trashed and the keyway on the shaft and the coupler are wallowed out.

This next piece of info. was particularly interesting. This is all old damage (mostly because there is no way my soft grounding did all this). Someone knew this issue was occurring. Someone drilled two holes through the coupler and the into the shaft and inserted two set screws to attempt to address the problem with the key and keyways.

We suspect a PO had a hard grounding and did a half-azzed workaround.

The strut has been removed and there is no hull damage. So now I get:

New Shaft
New Coupler
New cutlass bearing
re-seated shaft strut
Repaired and tuned prop
repacked rudder shaft
new dripless shaft seal

 

[Comodave]

Christmas came early this year. Well it should be smooth running now.

 

[OldDan1943]

Daymn, that sucks. Sorry for you. Now, it is all fixed. Go forward and forget what how much you paid with the knowledge it was repaired properly.

 

[Comodave]

Is your insurance going to chip in?

 

[rslifkin]

Along those lines, I'm wondering if I'm going to find anything at haul out tomorrow after my "unidentified submerged object" encounter in the Erie Canal this year (never saw what I hit before or after impact).

Cruising along at 7 kts and I hear and feel a "thunk" like something solid bouncing off the bottom of the boat. No noticeable loss of speed, no drop in engine RPM. So I power back to idle, pass off the helm and give everything a once over. No abnormal water or anything. Powered up a bit, no vibration issues.

So my best guess is that I smacked the keel on a submerged log or something. The impact was definitely fairly far aft, but seemed to have missed the props and rudders.

 

[Wayfarer]

Along those lines, I'm wondering if I'm going to find anything at haul out tomorrow after my "unidentified submerged object" encounter in the Erie Canal this year (never saw what I hit before or after impact).

Cruising along at 7 kts and I hear and feel a "thunk" like something solid bouncing off the bottom of the boat. No noticeable loss of speed, no drop in engine RPM. So I power back to idle, pass off the helm and give everything a once over. No abnormal water or anything. Powered up a bit, no vibration issues.

So my best guess is that I smacked the keel on a submerged log or something. The impact was definitely fairly far aft, but seemed to have missed the props and rudders.

I had this happen four or five times on my Erie transit this year. I never saw any of them, whatever they were. Logs I assume. Doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effects, but I'm interested to see how she looks at the next haulout.

It made me glad to have a slow metal boat.

 

[rslifkin]

I had this happen four or five times on my Erie transit this year. I never saw any of them, whatever they were. Logs I assume. Doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effects, but I'm interested to see how she looks at the next haulout.

It made me glad to have a slow metal boat.

Interestingly, the slow vs fast boat part wasn't an issue in this case. The areas of the canals where there's an opportunity to go fast seemed to have a lot less stuff floating in them except some occasional branches in a lock or small sticks. The bigger floating or submerged stuff was all in the section between lock 16 and Oneida Lake where everyone is going slow anyway. Which is good, because an encounter like that while I was blasting between locks at 17 - 18 kts in some of the sections where I could would have been a lot less fun...

As far as you hitting more stuff, I'm going to guess your slow boat drafts a good bit more than I do. So there are likely a few that I went right over without knowing they were down there.

 

[Wayfarer]

Interestingly, the slow vs fast boat part wasn't an issue in this case. The areas of the canals where there's an opportunity to go fast seemed to have a lot less stuff floating in them except some occasional branches in a lock or small sticks. The bigger floating or submerged stuff was all in the section between lock 16 and Oneida Lake where everyone is going slow anyway. Which is good, because an encounter like that while I was blasting between locks at 17 - 18 kts in some of the sections where I could would have been a lot less fun...

As far as you hitting more stuff, I'm going to guess your slow boat drafts a good bit more than I do. So there are likely a few that I went right over without knowing they were down there.

I think all of my bumps were between Tonawanda and Clyde. You're absolutely right though, you don't want to be going fast anywhere in there, even if your boat could do it. The wide open stretches farther east definitely seemed to be a lot less cluttered with junk. I probably don't draft too much more than you, if any. I only need about 3.5 feet.

 

[Comodave]

When we were coming up the Hudson a few years ago, we felt things hit all the way up on the flybridge at least 10 to 12 times. The whole boat shuddered and I was certain that we had killed our props. We never saw a thing since they were submerged. When we hauled out for the winter there wasn’t a mark on the props. Our keel does project several inches below the props so I guess it did protect the props well. We were traveling about 9 knots at the time.

 

[rslifkin]

I think all of my bumps were between Tonawanda and Clyde. You're absolutely right though, you don't want to be going fast anywhere in there, even if your boat could do it. The wide open stretches farther east definitely seemed to be a lot less cluttered with junk. I probably don't draft too much more than you, if any. I only need about 3.5 feet.

That's a pretty impressive draft for that boat! On paper, mine is 3 feet, but everyone has always called it 3.5 for this boat, so until I measure it myself, that's the number I'm sticking with.

I've got keel right about down to prop level, but not much below, if any. Then again, I've got a planing hull, so they can only get away with sticking so much down there. As-is, I've got more keel than most planing hulls I see.

 

[rslifkin]

Along those lines, I'm wondering if I'm going to find anything at haul out tomorrow after my "unidentified submerged object" encounter in the Erie Canal this year (never saw what I hit before or after impact).

Just realized I never updated this. I gave everything a thorough look at haul out, found nothing. So whatever I hit probably just contributed slightly to the worn and slightly chipped bottom paint that needs work this year anyway. No signs of an impact anywhere on the hull, props, or rudders.

 

[Xsbank]

Bicycles and shopping carts, tires and mattresses, Volkswagens...

 

[FF]

Some folks are hard to reach as they have a PA or someone that screens their calls.

Simplest way thru the obstruction is

"HI , This is Joe from the boatyard."

Works every time!