Prop changing question

[talltigeguy]

For those of you avid readers, you know that I hit something with my prop at Lake Powell last week. I looked at it under water with some goggles and couldn't spot a defect. Today I got around to pulling her off and found there was a small bend in just one of the fins of the prop about 1/4 inch. Just enough to get a vibration. I'll have to get that fixed. A boat is a money pit.

The pin on the end of my shaft was not the right kind of metal, so it rusted and fell off. You can see rust stains on the end of the shaft, but no pin. So I have 2 questions:

1. Is the pin important? I imagine myself driving the boat 20 MPH with an enormous force on the prop. If the nut starts to loosen, is that little pin going to actually stop it from coming off when I put the boat in reverse? think about the force on the prop when rotating in reverse. (When moving forward, the prop will be pushed onto the shaft).

2. I just picked up whatever pin was at Home Depot. What is the correct type of pin to use that won't rust off?

[dogbert]

Re: Prop changing question

Originally posted by talltigeguy
For those of you avid readers, you know that I hit something with my prop at Lake Powell last week. I looked at it under water with some goggles and couldn't spot a defect. Today I got around to pulling her off and found there was a small bend in just one of the fins of the prop about 1/4 inch. Just enough to get a vibration. I'll have to get that fixed. A boat is a money pit.

The pin on the end of my shaft was not the right kind of metal, so it rusted and fell off. You can see rust stains on the end of the shaft, but no pin. So I have 2 questions:

1. Is the pin important? I imagine myself driving the boat 20 MPH with an enormous force on the prop. If the nut starts to loosen, is that little pin going to actually stop it from coming off when I put the boat in reverse? think about the force on the prop when rotating in reverse. (When moving forward, the prop will be pushed onto the shaft). Now we were not in a ski boat, but same issue nonetheless.

2. I just picked up whatever pin was at Home Depot. What is the correct type of pin to use that won't rust off?

1. The pin is important. Last fall, we were fishing in Northern Saskatchewan and my buddy lost a prop going into reverse. We were in a place where there was no phone service and all he had was a radio with a 2 mile range...somehow we happened to hear him. Otherwise, they were spending the night outside with little gear. So, you have to ask yourself, what would happen if I did lose the prop?

2. The pin needs to be stainless because your shaft is stainless. If you use another metal, you risk a reaction that will cause corrosion.

If it makes you feel better, I put a small ding in my new prop recently and the repair was so quick the guy didn't even charge me for them.

[Wake Havasu]

Re: Prop changing question

Originally posted by talltigeguy
A boat is a money pit.

LOL!

Yes it never ends.

I like to keep mine up so I have already had some glass sanding and refinishing done on a scrape!

Al my extra cotter pins are stainless.

I would not run with out this extra protection.

Your lucky if the prop was fixed and no vibrations felt.