Watt and sea sticky prop

[Simon Malpas]

I have a Watt and Sea hydrogenerator (cruising 600). I didn't use it for 2 years and now the prop wont spin freely. I've removed the prop and the shaft is tight. When I asked the local agent they immediately said the gearbox was faulty and it would cost $3000 (without even looking at it). The unit is meant to be serviced every two years (which mine wasn't). I'm not going to spend $3k without confirming the issue is the gearbox. Has anyone experienced this issue? I'm wondering about seals etc. Thanks Simon

[wwilliams19]

Hi! Did you ever get an answer to this? I think we have the same issue and I’m trying to troubleshoot mine.

[GordMay]

From the manual
➥ https://www.wattandsea.com/wp-conten...sing_V5_EN.pdf

Originally Posted by Watt&Sea

“ ... 64
10.2. Maintenance & repairs
• How reliable is the system ?
The reliability of the hydrogenerator has been demonstrated in many ocean and round the world
races. It benefits from advanced technological expertise as regards resistance.
• What maintenance will the system require ?
Except for external cleaning, the hydrogenerator requires no specific maintenance.
However, think about :
- regularly disassembling the propeller to remove any dirt from the shaft
- checking the condition of the leg's output cable (no of cuts or pinching)
- checking the condition of external sockets (no corrosion)
WATT&SEA recommends servicing every two years or every 10,000 miles...”

[donradcliffe]

$3000 buys a LOT of no maintenance solar panels.

[Windpilot]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

$3000 buys a LOT of no maintenance solar panels.

True that! But there's cloudy days and long nights if you're crossing oceans, it would be nice if it worked after spending a ton of money on it.
Hopefully it's the "take the prop off/clean" maintainance.

[donradcliffe]

Unfortunately, it looks like the generator is sealed, oil filled, and was not designed to be not user maintainable. It sounds like they are selling you a new unit.

Solar is cheaper, and gives you power at anchor too. The water generator only makes sense if you are planning to spend 90% of your time crossing oceans that don't have any Sargasso weed. I have used a towing generator, but that was before the price of solar dropped 80%.

[Simon Malpas]

Since the unit was well out of warranty and there are no local service agents (and I wasn't going to freight it to France for fixing), I took it apart myself. I was able to source new bearings and put it together again. However the prop still doesn't spin freely and I think something else is wrong.

My feeling is that while the concept is good of generating power while sailing the cost of maintenence and the risk of failure without easy servicing mean I wont be looking to buy another. If you have the space solar panels are the way to go.

[donradcliffe]

How sticky is it? There are permanent magnets in the generator which cause some prop resistance.

[Simon Malpas]

The prop will barely turn by hand. I suspect its something with the alignment of the central prop pin and the permanent magnet. I really don't like the way its constructed as it would seem a rather weak design that the central pin is held away from the magnet by sitting in a plastic housing at each end. The pin is being sucked to the magnet. I'm pretty much given up.