New Zincs won't fit on my sd60 saildrive with autoprop

[Fantazia55]

The split zincs were completely gone when the diver cleaned the bottom yesterday, so I went to the Yanmar dealer and bought new ones. The numbers match up to the manual, but the zincs are too tall to fit between the mounting point on the saildrive and the base of the propellor. I could grind them down until they fit, but that just seems wrong. Don't know if I could find a haulout near here(st.Augustine) if I wanted to investigate further. Any suggestions/experience with this?

[tkeithlu]

Start at the dealer, zincs in hand, and describe the difference between what you've got and what would fit. A knowledgeable dealer at that point should say something like "Oh, that's odd. You need to XYZ zincs." There can't be a whole lot of different Yanmar sail drive zincs. Leave hauling the boat as a last move against desperation.

Good luck with it.

[Fantazia55]

Dealer has a "kit" that allows for mounting the zincs with "Y" shaped adaptor to move them outside the hub. blows the streamlining completely, but will allow me to install zincs without removing the prop. I thought the whole idea of the split zincs was to avoid removing the prop, but I suppose it just didn't pan out that way. On my SD30 on prior boat I used one piece and had to pull the prop to replace it, so this spli zinc looked like an upgrade....

[tkeithlu]

Well, I'm sorry they did that to you - it does not sound like first rate engineering. Under the circumstances, that pretty well puts you going with the (disrupted) flow. Can you at least avoid hauling the boat out for a simple maintenance task?

[Fantazia55]

The diver will return when we find another kit, the dealer only had one. Diver hadn't seen this problem before, so not sure what that means. I was thinking I could just cut down the thickness of the zinc to fit in the gap that is there, but since it is underwater, metrics are hard to come by. Sure hate to disrupt the flow, but might be the only quick answer. Haulout would be the last resort, as I think they are always dangerous to some degree. I could beach the boat at high tide, but that is kind of scary in itself.

[moseriw]

Hint: buy the correct ones...

[Jackz]

I had same issue when replacing zincs 14 months ago when on the hard. I didn’t know it until the work was done, but the yard machined down the zincs to make them fit. Two days ago after about 150 hours of engine time, the starboard prop fell off. Not sure if this was cause-effect but suffice it to say I don’t know how props fall off on their own.

Yanmar 3jh5e with SD60s

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by Fantazia55

The split zincs were completely gone when the diver cleaned the bottom yesterday, so I went to the Yanmar dealer and bought new ones. The numbers match up to the manual, but the zincs are too tall to fit between the mounting point on the saildrive and the base of the propellor. I could grind them down until they fit, but that just seems wrong. Don't know if I could find a haulout near here(st.Augustine) if I wanted to investigate further. Any suggestions/experience with this?

Hi there
I am nearly 100% sure the zincs will not fit. The reason for saying so is as follows
I have the SD60 saildrives and I fitted the Bruntons Auto Prop and the Ambassador rope cutters and if you fit the Bruntons auto prop the standard yanmar zincs dont fit. You mentioned that your Zincs were completely gone so you cant really tell if they were the two part zincs anyway (i presume ) Mine zincs for the hub section are one piece zincs and the dome anode is also different (if I remember correctly )
I would email Bruntons who make the autoprop ... I can give you the persons direct email if you care as I had a lot of correspondence with them prior to finalising my order. I ordered an extra 8 sets of anodes for my props as they are a non standard item.

Now for the really interesting part.
I went for the autoprop as you can remove the whole prop in one piece. The Bruntons folding prop has to be dismantled to get to the anode on the saildrive hub So trying to do this underwater is a nightmare.
Not so much with the autoprop. Before we launched I actually fitted one of the props and anodes myself and made a note of all the allen key and spanner sizes and then went and bought some second hand tools for this very purpose at a fleamarket so that I dont stuff up my good tools changing the anodes!

PM me if you need more info and good luck

[Fantazia55]

Thx for the info. I have two piece zincs, which they must have machined to get to fit the small space(6-8mm). This would also explain why they only lasted about 8 months. The diver couldn't wait for me to try to cut them down as it would have been a slow trial and error process with questionable value afterr most of the zinc was ground off.
I would like to contact the mfg., if you could give me contact info.

[ggray]

For some reason my brain can't or won't follow all this discussion, so I may not be adding anything here.

I too found the "zinc", or aluminum anodes that I got from boatzincz.com to be higher than previous ones (I'm referring to the sideways height of the outer ridge of the anode). Is that the problem you have?

I had just fitted Gori 3 blade props and that higher ridge blocked off access to the locking setscrews. As I had started the process of installing the props and painting them with Propspeed I needed to resolve this pronto. I ended up filing a notch in the ridge to a depth exposing the hole for the setscrew.

So I don't think sharing this will do more than confirm that some "zincs" out there may have an issue in this regard, and thus won't give any help since you are afloat.

I don't understand about the issue you or others might be having with the split zincs as I've never used them. I used to hang zinc guppies connected to the engines, and the zincs, while eroded, always lasted the two years between haul outs. For the last 12 or more years I have had a galvanic isolator, and ditched the guppies. The "zincs" last much longer now, even nearly 4 years once when I had a problem getting hauled.

So maybe this can help for "next time".

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by Fantazia55

Thx for the info. I have two piece zincs, which they must have machined to get to fit the small space(6-8mm). This would also explain why they only lasted about 8 months. The diver couldn't wait for me to try to cut them down as it would have been a slow trial and error process with questionable value afterr most of the zinc was ground off.
I would like to contact the mfg., if you could give me contact info.

I am not on my yacht at the moment ...... otherwise I would send you a photo of the zincs that work with the Bruntons AutoProp ...... Are you sure this is the exact prop you have. Some folk get the names mixed up ....... I did initially

Anyway you can contact Steve Hurst directly at Bruntons in the UK
steve@bruntons-propellers.com I am sure he will be able to guide you.

Good luck

[ggray]

I neglected to say that my sail drives are SD20s, which may be different in this regard.

[Fantazia55]

ggray - the Yanmar catlogue says the zincs are the same for all of their saildrives.

Lambtretta - the yard bill actually says Auto Stream prop, so maybe a diferent prop, but the same problem.

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by Fantazia55

ggray - the Yanmar catlogue says the zincs are the same for all of their saildrives.

Lambtretta - the yard bill actually says Auto Stream prop, so maybe a diferent prop, but the same problem.

Not really ..... The Bruntons Autoprop cannot fit the split ring anode on the hub.

This is a completely different setup to what I was referring to.
So in a nutshell ignore everything I have suggested
Good luck

[SaltyMetals]

But i just looked them up and the Autostream prop is made by Seahawk in Victoria OZ, it is not a Brunton. Reason i looked is bec i hv a "Featherstream" from Darglow Engineering UK and thought it might have been another of their models but it is not.

My prop anodes are also non-standard so i just get them direct from the guys who made the prop.
Andrew