Refiting the shaft system HANSE 531

[jose r vigil]

Dear sailors

Soldering the V strut in place before starting to fair, prime and paint.

More pics soon

Total cost of refitting 25,000 Euro plus VAT

Check of the new shaft with the AUTOPROP soon.

Jose

[Joli]

Can't imagine Hanse was any help. Were you able to change out the tranny ratio?

[jose r vigil]

Dear Joli

Thanks for your reply.

The change of the "tranny" ratio was discarded by the yard as the costs involved in man hours were high and to get full advantage of the lower shaft rpm we should probably buy a larger diameter prop.

The first seatrial was very promising although we could no leave the Port of Barcelona which noisy and crowd of fishing boats returning home, The engineers realized inmmediately the new Aquadrive had a missing washer and I wasnt allow to put reverse as the shaft moved back with noise.

This minor problem will be fixed next week. We hit 8,9 knots with 12 knots true on the nose and some tidal against us at 3300 rpm on the engine.......... no vibration. We just rev up one minute as the engineer was worried by the missing part.

The speed at 2200 rpm was 7 knots amazing!

Small whirling noise at 1400 rpm disapeareared at 1600 rpm. i think that is an AUTOPROP issue

As I told you the port was noisy and we had the Engine rooms opened for the seatrial So I prefer to offer a complete speed and vibration test on a 10 mile trip we expect to do soon.

Anyhow I have a good feeling.

I will like also to thanks the staff of BCN 92 engineering dept. for their permision to publish the pics, Some of them taken by their staff and some in my visits while on the works.

Good sailing

jose

[jose r vigil]

Dear sailors

Near completion , this work has been expensive but rewarding.

My intention is to help other cruisers who may experience similar problems on so called ¨modern¨ hull designs with their props.

It seems modern means you are so trendy, you can forget rules of hidrodynamics.

Please see enclosed pics of the final process . i think they are all self explanatory.

Complete seatrials soon.

Jose

[jose r vigil]

dear sailors

Hulls do need fairing.......

Jose

[jose r vigil]

Dear sailors

Priming process

jose

[jose r vigil]

Dear Sailors

COMPLETED

Ready for seatrilal

Look how the prop has been placed off the skeg influence by enlarging the shaft.

Clear water is essential with autoprop.


jose

[jose r vigil]

Dear Sailors

My last pic.

Fair winds

jose

[swagman]

Well done Jose,
It certainly seems like you've completed a major project although as a fellow Hanse owner, I'm still not sure why its been your issue to fix, as opposed to Hanse.
We have a pal with a Hanse 531 who is cruising his currently - he left Germany with it in 1996 and has since covered '000's of miles - plus we sailed in company with a 531 across the Atlantic only last year. Neither had any of the issues you speak of.
Cheers
JOHN

[jose r vigil]

Thanks for your reply

Congratulations I have seen a boat like yours and the 461 is NICE boat.

Moreover you don´t have a shaft, but a saildrive so you ll never experience problems with that gear.

Please note the HANSE 531 production started in 2006 . The prototype unit was "Saybia" ( the one in the 531 catalogs with adark green hull) : My boat is hull 70 probably the first run production after the prototype, delivered April 2006.

Hanse has never done a shaft gear before as the saildrive limit is 75 HP, when you enter the 50 feet range you have to put a shaft.

Hanse inexperience in shafts was evident, The gland lasted the first for 10 hours, the cutlass bearings two months, the phyton drive one year, and on and on and on.....

My problems aggravated when I receive my AUTOPROP feathering propeller. It didnt fit the hull shape.Lots of vobratio, then I have purchased a GORI and I cant reach hull speed...a nightmare.

To see my reasons of the expensive refitting you can check the first or second post on this thread.

We are preaparing my 531 "ZEN" to head to Gibraltar, The Canaries and the crossing next fall back home to Miami fl..Last year we have to quit our plans due to the shaft problems

Your friend with the 531 has been lucky but I doubt he will not experience at least some problems with the shaft if his boat was in the first batch 531 production.

On the other side I´m very happy with my boat is a fast and confortable cruiser and the dinghy garage is ....GREAT!!

Good cruising

Jose

Originally Posted by swagman

Well done Jose,
It certainly seems like you've completed a major project although as a fellow Hanse owner, I'm still not sure why its been your issue to fix, as opposed to Hanse.
We have a pal with a Hanse 531 who is cruising his currently - he left Germany with it in 1996 and has since covered '000's of miles - plus we sailed in company with a 531 across the Atlantic only last year. Neither had any of the issues you speak of.
Cheers
JOHN

[Joli]

Lovely boat, looks like the project was a very good success.

Congrats on a job well done.

Joli

[jose r vigil]

Dear Allan

The Aquadrive problem was fixed and we will perform a complete sea trial soon of the shaft refit plus autoprop.

I would like to put some arm paint over the hull inside to improve the hull resonance noise.

how can I start a new thread on ARM paints?

i have read Vetus has one on its catalog and also there is a company in CT USA marketing a "silent running" paint.

i would like to get feedback for existing users.

My hull is epoxy glass.

Thanks for your help.

Jose

[jose r vigil]

Hy everybody

A few lines just to say, the shaft refitting has been a success and we are still using the AUTOPROP that peaks 9 knots at high cruising speed. Motorsailing is also satisfactory.

Tight quarters manouvering is now much easier, on one hand the modification put the prop closer to the rudder , that improved the response of the rudder, on the other the Autoprop is outstanding in reverse without propwalk.

The only issue is we have some whirling from 1400 to 1600 rpm. It is the same singing effect described in this forum on another thread. it seems the solution os to grind the suction part leading edge.

We are heading from Palma to Gibraltar and later to the Canaries. After this trip I will decide if i'm keeping the Autoprop or not.

The engine vibrations, rudder vibrations, cutlass bearing early failure.....are all gone.

The V strut I have placed in my modification didn't seem to increase drag. we were 3 rd on real and 4rd on compensated time in the Hanse regatta hold in Palma last month before some others 540 and 531 model yachts despite we had 900 liter of diesel in our tanks as the yacht was ready to leave.

If anyone needs to refit an shaft I have a free report with pics of the process I have followed.

Good sailing

Jose

[oceanbluesail09]

hi jose, was just wondering, i am considering buying a hanse 630 for a solo circumnavigation around the three capes. Do you recommend their build quality and engineering? I did not discover this thread until i googled "hanse problems". was wondeirng also, if any of they work that u needed to get done was done under warranty?

i heard a lot of good thinkgs about the hanse build quality on the hanse users forum earlier, but now i am having my doubts,

thakn
s

[jose r vigil]

Dear Ocean Sailor

Thans for your interest you are posing an interesting question , However right now I´m not into disclosing anything to the public

I have sent you a private message

Jose

SY ZEN

Originally Posted by oceanbluesail09

hi jose, was just wondering, i am considering buying a hanse 630 for a solo circumnavigation around the three capes. Do you recommend their build quality and engineering? I did not discover this thread until i googled "hanse problems". was wondeirng also, if any of they work that u needed to get done was done under warranty?

i heard a lot of good thinkgs about the hanse build quality on the hanse users forum earlier, but now i am having my doubts,

thakn
s