well we splashed her - day from hell

[Alex F]

Tawcat - water is used to cool and lube your shaft seals. When your engine is not running, there is no water flow to the seals.

So, during your two hour tow, your shafts were spinning in the seals with no cooling or lubrication from water flow. Whenever you tow an inboard boat with dripless seals you should lock your shafts to prevent them from freewheeling. A pipewrench locked on a shaft and lodged against the bildge will prevent them from spinning.

BTW - most marine gear makers also recommend locking the shafts because your transmission gets no oil pressure without running your engines.

aquadancer,
This part is new to me as well, so I'd like to ask what's wrong with butting in, lets say reverse, gear to lock the shafts? We just came from vacationing on a sailboat and were told that when under sail we should keep it in gear when engine is off. So, I was wandering if this simple method could work for power boats as well.

Thanks,
Alex.

 

[aquadancer]

Alex,

I think a typical hydraulic marine transmission would still freewheel with engine off, even if gear selector is placed in gear. Since the hydraulic pump is driven by the input shaft, there is no pressure to engage the clutch plates unless the input shaft is rotating. Try it for yourself, I bet you'll be able to rotate the output flange by hand with engine off regardless of whether you put the boat in forward, reverse, or neutral.

Many sailboats have built in shaft locks (or feathering props).

 

[mrsrobinson]

I am not suprised you had to replace the impellers if you ran her dry. They need water and will break without water in a matter of seconds. Do not run the engines if water is not discharging, shut them down immediately. Same goes for the genny.

 

[Hampton]

I've read my transmission manual. It does state that the position of the shift lever has no consequence if the engine is not running.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Jeff, yes i bought a boatsafe heater, i think it's working!

They should have included a spray can of freon with the heater. Spray it in the hole at the end of the heater, it should turn on after a brief period of time. I do this periodically to make sure ours is still working.

 

[mrsrobinson]

We recently limped back to our home slip after hitting a log. The port shaft and prop were bent. I left the port engine running simply to keep the water flowing on the shaft but used the starboard side to power home. So if the engine will run and water is flowing it's another option to locking down the shaft with a pipe wrench.

 

[tawcat]

point of interest about Boatsafe heaters: if you order them from West Marine they do not come with the Freeze Mist spray. Boatsafe tells me that WM requested they not ship the heaters with the spray due to shipping restrictions!!!!! Boatsafe says you can buy the spray at Radio Shack. go figure!!!

 

[gerryb]

more on the heaters... I recommend the freon spray as well.. Got mine at Radio Shack.. Always sleep better after making sure the thing works... Also, for those of you who keep your boats at home and use a heater, think about replacing the GFCI. Had ours trip a few times for no reason other than it was old. New one works great and doesn't not trip inadvertantly. (I would NEVER rely on the heater for winter storage without doing the proper engine winterization, including drain and antifreeze!)

 

[mrsrobinson]

more on the heaters... I recommend the freon spray as well.. Got mine at Radio Shack.. Always sleep better after making sure the thing works... Also, for those of you who keep your boats at home and use a heater, think about replacing the GFCI. Had ours trip a few times for no reason other than it was old. New one works great and doesn't not trip inadvertantly. (I would NEVER rely on the heater for winter storage without doing the proper engine winterization, including drain and antifreeze!)

We were tripping a breaker on ours when the boatsafe heater and the cabin heater, a caframo, came on at the same time. We had a seperate outlet installed in the engine compartment along with a seperate breaker on the panel, problem solved.

 

[tawcat]

going to radio shack today!

 

[Carver370]

We were tripping a breaker on ours when the boatsafe heater and the cabin heater, a caframo, came on at the same time. We had a seperate outlet installed in the engine compartment along with a seperate breaker on the panel, problem solved.

I may be wrong but on board a gas powered boat I think it is against regulations to have an outlet in your engine room. If you ever have the boat surveyed he will say this is a no no FOR SURE.

 

[mrsrobinson]

It's a marine outlet installed by a certified shop.

 

[Ace]

Thanks guys. I have been boating for 25 years but just purchased my first set of twins and will have to wait a few more years for the set of inboards, but I have learned at least two things that I did "knot" know.