Shafted

[witchcraft]

We are headed South, but yesterday our shaft parted its association with the coupler and flange. Water pouring in, took several hours to get it stopped. Now waiting a lift at a marina just north of New York city. Not certain how we will be getting to the lift spot, just hoping the repair is relatively simple. Good new, the shaft did not fall all the way out, so shaft and prop still exist. Hopefully just a bolt or pin sheered off.
It was not a pleasant day yesterday with 45 knot winds and no gears, and water arriving inside the boat. Ah well we are safe and sound and hopefully repaired by end of day.
cheers
sv witchcraft

[David M]

I'm glad you are safe. It sounds like a relatively simple cure.

[SkiprJohn]

Glad you're safe. It happened to me once in a Celestial 46 but thankfully the rudder stopped the shaft from popping all the way out. Since it was Hawaii it was easy to pop in the water and push the prop and shaft forward and tighten up the bolt again and be on our way. I think your repair may be just a bit more complicated and I think the water might be a bit cooler.
regards,

[Solitude]

Must have been a little too exciting...

I have heard others on this site mention putting a hose clamp on the shaft just between the tranny and the stuffing box. Keeps it from sliding all the way out.

[speciald@ocens.]

We were 700 miles from anywhere last Fall when the bolts on our drive saver sheared off. We had a donut zinc on the shaft that kept the shaft from sliding aft but the LasDrop became a PourIn. Exciting for a while till I realligned the shaft and stopped the leak. Sailed the rest of the way to Village Cay, Tortola. Apparently the nylon lock nuts had backed out allowing the bolts to shear when I put the engine in gear.

[Cheechako]

Yes, I learned tha hard way about Nylok nuts also. NEVER ever use them on rotating or high vibration parts. My boat was in the yard for quite a while in Trinidad. My anal need to make everything perfect drove me to take the coupling off the engine, completely derust it and replace the bolts and lockwasher/nut setup that had been there for years with new bolts and nylok nuts on the flange holding it to the engine. My coupling came loose in less than a week of use! Fortunately i thought I felt a vibration and all but one bolt was gone when I opened up the hatch to look!

[witchcraft]

Shaft back in position,awaiting the missing bolt or pin or. Given the extremely squashed nature of the engine room it was quite a job. The mechanic shook his and head and said I dont know how we can fix that. We had to remove the stuffing box, resize it , so one could access the flange. At the point the keystock was put back in place, the stuffing box and prop, tomorrow morning the pin goes in. In any case we are back in the water,none is pouring in the boat.

[sabray]

I yanked my shaft out of its coupler last year. At the mouth of Buzzards bay in light winds motor sailing. my 6 and 4 year old got a bit scrappy and I jumped below to sort it out as my feet hit the cabin sole the engine rpms began grinding down and I realized I was coiling pot line around the prop. To late I shut the engine off. The shaft went hard back against the rudder so steering was lost. I was able to hook the line and wrap it around a winch. Tensioning the line on the winch and cranking the shaft I was able to gradually unwind most of the pot line and retrieve the shaft back enough to free the rudder up. THe wind now started to pick up just a bit and we hove to Mrs at the helm and me over the side.Tethered and hanging onto the dinghy I could almost reach the last snarl. Until I started surfing along next to the boat. The 4 and 6 year old got scrappy again Mrs left her post and me. The combination of the perfect storm the wind picked up we were no longer hove to and I was being dragged by a now half swamped dinghy and boat quickly heading tword 5 knots. I wish I could rember the words I used. They were effective and brought quick relief. We sailed back to cuttyhunk so I could dive and clear the remaing warp. The It was much harder then I would have thought getting the shaft back into the coupler. The wind had improved much and we sailed off the mooring straight through to Dutch Island harbor off Jamestown Ri. Great sailing. Next time I go over the side with Mrs. at the helm Im changing my will and the sails are coming down.

[witchcraft]

pin has been installed, engine has been run and everything seems to be fine. The mechanic suggested a couple of things we could do that would prevent the shaft sliding back far enough that it could damage prop or effect steering. Would also allow us to grab the shaft from inside without having to haul the boat next time, and shove from the outside.
Fair winds
witchcraft

[sabray]

I put a collar zinc inside on the shaft.
Happy sailing

[SkiprJohn]

That's great news!
regards,