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twotails

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Registered: Thu 20th Nov 2014

Posts: 271

Prop Shaft Rotation

On advice from my cousin (a marine engineer), read up my Velvet Drive maintenance manual, and it advises as he suggested: that prop shaft should be braked or otherwise stopped from rotation whilst engine not running, as lack of forced lubrication to the bearings will cause a problem.

Onchecking Jacarah under sail, prop shaft whirrling like the veritable 'peerie' as we say in Scotland.

Any comments?

Kind regards,

Robert Peebles

SeaDog Name (if owner or crew) Jacarah
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Eric Richardson
Oct 3, 2011 - 10:57AM
Re: Prop Shaft Rotation

Hi Robert

Whilst what you have been told makes sense, I raised this with borg warner many years ago. My concern was not the bearings as they are well lubricated by splash and under little or no load, but the clutch plates which are rubbing lightly at all times in neutral. I was told that the best way to deal with it was to give the engine a very brief run at least once in every 24hrs just to spin the hydraulic pump and throw oil around from the pump gears.
I have never met a problem from lack of lubrication with these gearboxes and some people have sailed vast distances. Locking the prop is easily achieved but will cause more drag than leaving it spinning.

Eric
Robert Peebles
Oct 3, 2011 - 1:02PM
Re: Prop Shaft Rotation

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the advice. My cousin did suggest running the engine for a short spell every hour or two but that I should investigate further.

The gearbox certainly doesn't seem to have suffered greatly under the current set-up, and future plans will probably continue to mean the engine is used intermittently at least. No plans for a straight sail across to the Baltic (yet!).

Regards,

Robert

SeaDog Name (if owner or crew) Jacarah