Damaged my props & 4 bladed props
Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:19 pm
We have just come through northern NJ and we fell victim to the low water. We were right between the red and green and we touched, and touched, and touched. Then we were through the problem, all lasting less than three seconds. We felt that what we hit was soft and that we had not done any damage. We watched the temps and listened and felt for any vibration and all seemed normal. We were going about 8 knots at the time. We continued to run slowly looking for any problem. I did not go into the engine compartment area and that was my mistake. For the remainder of that day, we were listening for any unusual noise and felt for any unusual vibration. Nothing was evident. The next day was our day from Manasquan to NY harbor. The boat ran fine running along at 3300 rpms , there was no unusual vibration, and all seemed well. We pulled into Atlantic Highlands where we planned on spending a couple days to relax. I usually take the opportunity to put on the wet suit and check the thru hulls, props, and rudders and to clean the waterline. Much to my surprise, my port prop had some damage, limited to the last 3/4 inch of the prop, two blades had minor nicks and one blade has a slight curl and a 1/4 inch nick. Now I am concerned and it is Friday before the three day Memorial Day weekend. Ugh. I made some calls and the only thing that seemed reasonable to do was to make my way out of the NYC area and get to the Haverstraw/Nyack area where I was confident that repairs could be made. Underway, the shaft is moving/vibrating ever so slightly, my guess is that it is moving about 1/32 of an inch at 3300 RPMs. At 1800 RPMs or less, the shaft is hardly vibrating. I have a haul out or diver arranged for tomorrow. Haverstraw is unsure if they can haul a cat with a 17 ft beam until they see it tomorrow.
This leads me to believe that I should have another set of props on board. I had considered 4 bladed props, but found them hard to get and expensive.
Anybody else want to investigate another mass purchase of 4 bladed props?
Anybody have a set of 4 bladed props that they want to sell?
Anybody have a set of 3 bladed props that they want to sell?
I have read all that I can about the cutlass bearing problems and until now, there was no noise or vibration and a minor amount of water getting into our boat, not even enough for the bilge pumps to come on as evaporation was eliminating any accumulation of water. We are liveaboards right now and it would be clear to us if the blige pumps were coming on. If we get hauled, we'll be taking a close look at the cutlass bearing, but we're hopeful that it hasn't been damaged.
This leads me to believe that I should have another set of props on board. I had considered 4 bladed props, but found them hard to get and expensive.
Anybody else want to investigate another mass purchase of 4 bladed props?
Anybody have a set of 4 bladed props that they want to sell?
Anybody have a set of 3 bladed props that they want to sell?
I have read all that I can about the cutlass bearing problems and until now, there was no noise or vibration and a minor amount of water getting into our boat, not even enough for the bilge pumps to come on as evaporation was eliminating any accumulation of water. We are liveaboards right now and it would be clear to us if the blige pumps were coming on. If we get hauled, we'll be taking a close look at the cutlass bearing, but we're hopeful that it hasn't been damaged.