prop puller

[SKYCHENEY]

Bob,

That's exactly the setup that I was thinking about making up. We regularly have to fabricate pullers at our shop and I was contemplating how to design one for prop pulling. I'm glad to hear that yours works that well. Guess I'll go ahead and make one.

[Nonchalant1]

Yes. They will not seat EXACTLY where they were before.

Karl,

Thanks. You saved me! I was just fixin' to put mine back on after they were retuned at Propscan. I lapped them last Spring so I was going to just re-install. Now I'm going to lap them again. It's hard to get every spec of valve grinding compound out of them in a warehouse in the winter where you can't just hose and brush them out. The shafts are easier to clean.

Doug

[Genesis]

Yeah, but you know how this works.

You can either do it right or you can do it twice.

In this case the "twice" is way more than twice as expensive.....

[SKYCHENEY]

Doug,
In the barn that I'm in there is a hose spigot about 50ft away and the owners of the marina told me to go ahead and use it. They are pretty fussy about not getting any dust, etc on anyone elses boat, but as long as you clean up your mess (from using the hose or whatever else you are working on), they let you do it. This is the first year that I've stored with these people and they seem to really try to accomodate the DIY kind of boater.

[Nonchalant1]

Karl - So I lapped my props today. On starboard, I took 10 turns and tried the Prussian Blue agent, which showed close to 100% contact. Then I did the port side which showed only about 50-60%. So, more cleaning, more valve grinding compound, another 100 turns, more cleaning, etc., no change. Did it all again with another 200 turns and it got to above 80%, which I accept. Glad I did it - thanks again.

Sky - No water in my warehouse and they only heat it to 45 degrees. But they'll let me turn it up to 60 for $30/day. I just work in the cold. I left about 200 gal of freshwater in the boat and I use that in buckets which I can then dump in the snow. I discovered today that a new cheap paint roller is good brush for washing out the prop bores. Just gotta get the spline channel completely by hand. The one really good thing in my warehouse is that they have a full set of twin 30 amp marine power outlets for the boat so I can plug in and use the lights, power outlets, keep the batteries charged, run a little elec. heater, etc.

Doug

[Genesis]

Heh, no problem. If it saved you from a busted shaft and lost wheel it was definitely worth it.....

[CARL GUZMAN]

Karl,
If props were properly lapped before, do they need to be relapped every time they come off the shafts?
Doug

You guys are freaking me out now the guys ( prop puller divers ) I used in Miami Beach marina said they are the best and now do I need to haul the boat to check there work? whats all this stuff about lap, and shafts going bad It made it back to Naples fine with no vibration I even gained almost 1kt

[Genesis]

If it was done in the water and the same prop was not put back on the same shaft it was not lapped correctly (it can't be) and you're taking a risk.

The bad news is that if the shaft is going to break it will not happen right away. It will happen 100, 200, or even 500 hours later.

I'll do it in-water IF AND ONLY IF I can put the same prop back on the same shaft and do so within a day or two. Even then, I am VERY VERY VERY careful, because if you screw it up....

BTW, not one yard guy in 1000 does this right. Essentially every broken shaft is caused by improper prop mounting, unless of course you hit something hard enough to damage the shaft first.....

When are you scheduled to come out next for routine stuff Carl?

[CARL GUZMAN]

I haul out January .. I'm really worried now and the guys said nothing about this I put the props on that came with the boat as spares they looked identical but very clean no one said anything adout how it seats or lap or anything about hauling and checking .. thies guys do alot of boats he even had a 100 ton puller a truck load of gear and looked profesional I can call him and ask him this ???

[Genesis]

He CAN'T lap the props in the water. Its impossible.

How many hours are you going to put on the boat between now and then?