Lock and Seal shaft/prop

[dogbark]

That saildrive must have had a fixed prop. You must lock the transmission in reverse to prevent wear from freewheeling under sail. I hope the vessel's rating was adjusted for the prop removal.

With a geared folding prop, the blades cannot open individually. The prop does rotate slowly in neutral with the engine running. The only way the blades can open is with centrifugal force or vessel sternway (not a good thing when racing). If the shifter can be sealed to limit movement out of neutral you should have no problems. You don't need to resort to rubber bands or prop removal. I don't have any knowledge of non-geared folders for saildrives. Feathering props should have no issues either if functioning properly.

[Alchera]

Possibly there is less of a problem with geared type folding props opening up. I have a bread and butter Martec which is non-geared, and it will often open by itself and start freewheeling if the propshaft is not prevented from turning in some way.

Of course, if the last thing you do is reverse into your slip at the Corinthian before the race, the prop is going to be left open. Then if you seal your gearshift in neutral, you have no way to get it closed when you start racing!

As for feathering props, I know with dead certainty that the AutoProp will *always* immediately open by itself and start freewheeling when the transmission is in neutral. Furthermore, it provides a fair amount of turning force against the propshaft even in the closed position when the boat is moving. I had an AutoProp on my Ericson 38, and it was a constant problem.

- Mark / Alchera

[tiger beetle]

Possibly there is less of a problem with geared type folding props opening up. I have a bread and butter Martec which is non-geared, and it will often open by itself and start freewheeling if the propshaft is not prevented from turning in some way.

I also have a standard Martec Elliptic 2 blade folding prop on a regular prop shaft connected to a Hurth transmission. When sailing I open up the engine compartment and manually rotate the prop shaft such that the propeller hub pin is oriented vertically, which means that neither Martec blade can fall 'down' and open up partially. Then I lock the transmission in reverse.

For TransPac, I control the shaft using a vice-grip chain plier clamped to the shaft hub, and attach the plier body to the motor box via thin cord. This locks the shaft and prevents it from rotating, now I can put the motor into neutral when charging and the shaft will not rotate. It also requires that the vice grip be removed before putting the motor in gear in Hanalei Bay - a large NOTE is attached to the engine start switch reminding me of this fact...



If the Martec is left just hanging in the water flow it will start to free wheel violently at 11-12 knots of boat speed - which doesn't happen very often. Makes a lot of noise and I definitely wake up.

- rob/beetle