2006 Mainship 400 - Spare Prop Search

In the process of looking for a spare prop, unfortunately I don't know the specs of whats on her now other than this pic I took during pre-buy haul out....we have a single yanmar 6LY2AN-STP..440 hp.

The other picture is a screenshot of i guess what the factory installed?

Any recommendations for size/pitch to look for?

Jeff

I have found this prop for sale, its a Michigan prop and it stamped 24 RH 25.

Will this possibly work for me as a spare prop?

Propeller 26X20 4-blade 1.75"

We have a spare if it would fit. Would have to figure out how much to charge. It's in excellent shape - we had it tuned when we put the other spare on.
Would have to figure out how much to charge and how to ship. Message me if interested.

It may well be none of my bidness, but why do you want a spare? Are you thinking of the hazard condition where you would carry it around on the presumption you'd have it to put on if you damaged your, or are you thinking of having a spare to swap out regularly during routine haulouts?

From your second post, I figure the former is the activating thought.

If you check around here, I bet you can find somebody who carried a spare and that it was just the perfect thing to save a long cruise, but I bet they are far and few between.

I used to think I'd like spares, but long experience (maybe some luck too) has convinced me it would be a waste of resources. If you really crack it up, you are probably going to need a lot more than just a prop, and the cruise will be ruined anyway.

Just sayin'.

I don't see why having a spare prop is a bad idea, if you have a spare, you'll likely never need it...if you dont..well,, 2 is 1, and 1 is none in my book

Just sayin...

I agree with Rich, the cost of a new wheel will be more than the tow, neither of which you probably will never need.

I never said it was a "bad idea." I have no problem with anybody carrying around spare props, but given the extreme unlikeliness of needing one or of it being the sole solution if one does booboo, the cost in dollars and storage space aboard seems to me to be excessive. Kinda like carrying a spare tranny or genny IMHO. Now if the boat came with spares, good deal, but I would probably still leave them at home. Friends have Fedex'd me parts from my shed before.

On my former boat, I even carried around a spare shaft.

Now that I have a Mainship, I don’t think I’ll ever be anywhere in this boat where I can’t get a tow and then parts if I screw up running gear that bad, so I don’t carry those kinds of spares anymore.

Could be way cheaper picking up a spare prop now at your leisure, than buying a new one the day you get stranded/towed goodness knows where.

You can’t put a 4 blade on in place of 5. Might work but not for long term. These boats have 5 blade for a reason. Same for the pitch you can’t just change it or you will Over or under load the diesel.
If you can afford it get the spare. I’ve got same boat with Yanmar 370. My prop has been the shop twice in a year. And it took 2 weeks each time to get back.

I damaged both props pretty badly 5 or 6 years ago. We grounded badly enough that we needed tow boat to pull us off. We were still able to get home, a 50 mile run, and deal with the situation on our own time.

I suspected the props were damaged but there was surprisingly little vibration and we didn’t damage the transmission or anything else.

I’m not recommending running around with bent props, I’m just saying that in an emergency a damaged prop will likely still be anle to get you out of trouble.

BruceK said:

Could be way cheaper picking up a spare prop now at your leisure, than buying a new one the day you get stranded/towed goodness knows where.

Click to expand...

I have carried a spare on a couple boats.
Saved my bacon during a cruise. Changed it myself waiting for a lock with no lost time. Beats being delayed in distant Port.
I found and picked up a used spare for current single boat and had it rebuilt. Much more reasonable cost when you have time to shop around / look for used.
I figure it will hold value and can resell if no longer needed.

I like the idea of have spare props, however with twins I'd have to get both a RH and LH prop, making the expense quite a bit more than I want to swallow.

I did have an interesting experience when I was helping a friend bring his boat south. My friend had two spare props and two shafts on board his 40-foot Sea Ray. Just north of Coinjock we picked up a crab pot or the like and we ended up with a vibration in the running gear. We made it to Coinjock marina and they arranged for a diver to drive down from Norfolk. He came with a truck full of gear and a mate and he was able to dive, clear and remove the prop and install the spare.

I was expecting this endeavor to run between $1500 and $2000 as it involved a two-hour round trip of travel and probably 2 hours on site with specialized equipment including a helper.

I was shocked to learn he only charged about $500 for the whole deal.

In this case, having a spare prop saved our bacon and we were able to continue on to Hilton Head.

The prop had a pretty good bend in it, considering we didn't actually hit anything. Our best guess is that we wrapped the float line around the prop and it pulled the crab put up against the hull and the prop bent when it hit it.