Prop shaft coupling using a rubber hose and two clamps?

How could a piece of hose clamped tight to the shaft stop drips/spray coming from a stuffing box mounted a foot away?

I was trying to guess its purpose as it's patently not a coupling.

Its real purpose is to cover up some ugly tattoos. The world needs a lot more rubber hose....

Brian,
There is not enough rubber hose to go around.

I had a look at that Roberts on YW and if it is the same boat then I doubt that it is such a shonkey move but I would definitely check it out.
Not a bad looking vessel , shame about the hardtop on the fly bridge.
With a price reduction it would possibly be a really good buy.

>I would replace the stuffing boxes with dripless boxes and add new shaft couplers, and . or bail on the whole project...<

Drippless stuffing boxes put the vessel to risk as a bellows leak cam flood more water than 4-5 bilge pumps can handle.

then align the engines to within 10,000ths of true

At what boat yard? most are delighted to get with in 2 or 3 thousanths.

Maybe the guy likes to run on one engine only to save fuel. He has read the free wheeling prop may damage the transmission. He wants to lock the shaft with a big pipe wrench but is afraid to damage the shaft so he put on the hose and clamped it with two extra, extra, long hose clamps to protect the shaft?

Steve, I had just the same thought! You must be a vey smart man.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV7Qz640OeM

FF said:

>I would replace the stuffing boxes with dripless boxes and add new shaft couplers, and . or bail on the whole project...<

Drippless stuffing boxes put the vessel to risk as a bellows leak cam flood more water than 4-5 bilge pumps can handle.

then align the engines to within 10,000ths of true

At what boat yard? most are delighted to get with in 2 or 3 thousanths.

Click to expand...

A properly installed and maintained dripless shaft seal sure is a nice add on for a steel hulled vessel.

stu:

IMO all that expense is unnecessary. why do you need dripless when gore will do as well? perfection in alignment is for the forum not the boat, what's wrong with the couplers now?
If the boat is working well spend your money on nav tools or something else.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Oh for crying out load, it's obviously not a coupler. Nor is it designed to stop the shaft from sliding out IMO. Based on the white patch I see in the photo I'd say it was installed to be used with a photo tach to measure shaft RPM.

Click to expand...

It never occurred to me, but I bet you are right!!!! Well done, Sherlock.

sunchaser said:

I use 2" zincs just forward of my dripless shaft seals to keep shafts from backing out "if." To use a rubber sleeve for similar purpose seems cheap and silly. Yup, wonder what else is questionable.

BTW it looks like steel hull under rubber is already rusting away.

Click to expand...

Another great idea. Thanks.

maybe its just there to cover a stress crack in the shaft. Whatever it is take it off and have a look see. The suspense is killing me

My guess, based on on the situation on our boat after we got it, is that the rubber hose may have been installed to be able to use a pipe wrench to turn the shaft for alignment adjustment without scarring the shaft. If the cutless bearings have tightened up over time, which they had on our boat, the shaft(s) may be impossible to turn by hand alone. Using a pipe wrench to get leverage solves the problem but can scar the shaft(s) pretty badly. Hence the rubber sleeve. I tend to agree with RT that the white stripe may be part of the hose marking, not necessarily a timing mark.

eyschulman said:

maybe its just there to cover a stress crack in the shaft. Whatever it is take it off and have a look see. The suspense is killing me

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What he said


Stubones99, you gotta get back intouch with the owner and sort this out.
I'm hangin' here, like watching a cheap mid-afternoon soap oprah

WILL THE PATCH OF RUBBER'S PURPOSE EVER BE REVEALED?
IS IT HIDING SOMETHING?
IS IT USED FOR SOMETHING?
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR YOUR ENGINE-ROOM MACGYVER UPDATE !!

nemier said:

What he said


Stubones99, you gotta get back intouch with the owner and sort this out.
I'm hangin' here, like watching a cheap mid-afternoon soap oprah

WILL THE PATCH OF RUBBER'S PURPOSE EVER BE REVEALED?
IS IT HIDING SOMETHING?
IS IT USED FOR SOMETHING?
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR YOUR ENGINE-ROOM MACGYVER UPDATE !!

Click to expand...

I eagerly clicked on this thread, in breathless anticipation of the mystery revealed, instead...

We got a winner! It looks like Sunchaser won this round...

According to the owner, it is a rotational sensor for the ABT TRAC stabilizer.

That's a big load off my mind since I was almost 99% sure it was a rube goldburg engineered coupling...

We'll see the boat this week I hope!

More later!
Stu

So it's a reflective strip to measure the RPM of the shaft? Gee, I wish I had thought of that.

Dang that was torture waiting for someone to loosen the stupid clamps and see the shaft was ok!!!

Good guess on the timing strip. I would have used a piece of tach tape!!

Ski in NC said:

Dang that was torture waiting for someone to loosen the stupid clamps and see the shaft was ok!!!

Good guess on the timing strip. I would have used a piece of tach tape!!

Click to expand...

Yeah tach tape can work. But it's not uncommon to see a piece of black hose or plastic with the reflective strips glued on it clamped to a shaft.

Gaaaah!

I do not like the way the clamps are left with a long tail, maybe dangerous and tacky, but I can see the reasoning.

Sometimes a reflective piece of tape on a shiny surface may not work as well as it should. The sensor may not be able to differentiate reliably between one shiny surface and another even though they are not the same.
It may need a black, dulled matte , or at least a dark background for the pick up unit to be able to SEE it reliably and not miss counts.

Maybe they were having trouble with just the tape on the shaft.

If you get the boat, that could be cleaned up by at least using more suitable clamps or H.D. black Tyraps. Maybe sanding, thoroughly cleaning the area, painting it matte black and then sticking a piece of reflective tape on. Going with the paint may require repainting periodically if the paint wears away.