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Old 25-01-2025, 19:08   #1
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What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

We have Yanmar engines, shaft drives and (Bruntons) feathering propellers. What gear should we use when sailing? Is there anyone who has found a solution to Yanmar insisting on NEUTRAL (the shafts will start turning as a result). Bruntons, on the other hand, suggests engaging in "forward" before the engines are turned off. This resulted in damaged gearboxes on our catamaran. The shafts do not offer enough space to instal shaft brakes. Any suggestions other than getting different - and less effective -props?
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Old 25-01-2025, 19:36   #2
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pirate Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

I have always put my prop shaft/gears in reverse after turning off the engine.. this includes on two Bene's which had Yanmar engines
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Old 25-01-2025, 19:37   #3
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

When I am on a long passage, if the noise gets to me, I wedge a pry-bar in the shaft coupling, braced against the hull. It's not a beautiful solution, but it works.
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Old 25-01-2025, 20:53   #4
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

It depends on the transmission. In general, shut the engine off and put it in reverse. The feathering or folding will take over if you have a dynamic prop. It will also lock the fixed prop in most cases. Several people here have done all kinds of things with straps and whatnot to hold the shaft when under way.
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Old 26-01-2025, 16:25   #5
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

We keep ours in neutral with a big 3 blade fixed prop on the Pearson and never seen it rotate while sailing.

An idea might be to wrap an old leather belt around the flange and tie it off. If you "choke" it should hold. Or buy a strap type pipe wrench.
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Old 26-01-2025, 17:44   #6
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pirate Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Kind of a pain if you have to crash start your engine in an emergency.. hey Jean, leap down to the back of the engine room and unlash the shaft.. Move yer ass.!!!
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Old 26-01-2025, 18:12   #7
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

It's an Idea I would never do !! Just a thought.

My J-prop does not spin at all when sailing in my aluminum boat you might look into one if you want to really solve the problem. I also have a aquadrive in the mix.

https://www.aquadriveusa.com/
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Old 26-01-2025, 18:13   #8
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Thanks, everybody, for your ideas.
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Old 26-01-2025, 19:29   #9
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Different engine, tranny and prop but with our MaxProp, stopping the engine, then shifting into reverse feathered the prop, after which we shifted to neutral. No further shaft rotation, no loads on the tranny.
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Old 26-01-2025, 19:30   #10
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Options vary.
I would have thought that my prop would spin when under sail on my Bennie as it is powered by a Yanmar, but it it doesn't and I can offer no explanation why not.
My previous boat had an hydraulic gearbox, and once the engine was shut, hydraulic pressure to the gearbox ceased, and the prop was free to spin to hearts content.
As there was no way to lock the transmission, a maxprop was my immediate solution.
I've since become a big fan of folding or feathering props, and while these tend to be expensive, they provide an optimum solution to the problem.
My first boat had a two blade prop, and I was able to rotate the shaft so that the blades aligned behind the keel, where it would remain...most of the time.
But a feathering or folding prop remains your best option.
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Old 26-01-2025, 19:44   #11
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Our Gori folding props used to refuse to fold with our Yanmar engines/SD25 saildrives. Like Jamhass, we found it was only a passing problem and once folded they stayed folded. We got in the habit of stopping the engines, shifting into reverse for 10 seconds, then back to neutral. We could hear the shaft stop spinning. We replaced those props because this was just another symptom of bad wear.

On a previous boat, we had a feathering maxprop that always folded when the engine stopped. You might want to think when you last maintained that prop if it’s sticking.
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Old 26-01-2025, 22:11   #12
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

I have a Yanmar engine and MaxProp feathering propellor.

I stop the engine in gear at tickover revs and sometimes the prop feathers, but if the prop doesn’t feather and continues to spin I can hear it - so I engage reverse.

The prop then stops spinning and I will try and put the boat in neutral, but if I’m sailing quickly this is sometimes impossible and I leave it in reverse.

Not an ideal solution I know, but I’ve been doing this for several years now and nothing has broken yet…🤞🙏
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Old 03-02-2025, 08:51   #13
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

Perkins/ZF/ Autoprop. My solution is to stop engine in gear so prop feathers and stops spinning, then shift into reverse to protect forward clutch. When moving forward under sail you put gear in neutral and shut motor off, the Autoprop will start, or continue to spin. Shifting a free spinning Autoprop into gear is really hard on transmission clutch and I would image it would quickly destroy a Yanmar brass cone style clutch.
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Old 03-02-2025, 16:52   #14
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

I have a Yanmar 2GM20F engine and I just installed a Max Prop 3-blad prop last year. I had some issues getting the prop to properly feather at first.

What I now do is shift to N, turn off engine. Shift into FWD, pause, shift to N, pause, shift to REV, pause and back to N. The whole process takes about 10 seconds or less.

Once I am under sail and on AP, I have been checking the shaft in the engine bilge, and all is quiet and still!


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Old 03-02-2025, 18:46   #15
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Re: What gear when Sailing with Yanmar engines and feathering propeller

If you have a Yanmar with the cone clutch (as on our previous 2GM20), DO NOT leave it in forward while sailing. The turning prop will “unscrew” the cone clutch just enough to let it turn and slowly wear away the cone until you will need a new one (ask me how I know). Leaving it in reverse can make it very difficult to shift back to neutral, but so be it. Multi-plate clutches (our 4JH2TE) don’t have that issue, so we just follow Yanmar’s recommendation (which has changed over time).
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