Aquarius
Angler
I had the boat hauled for the winter and I was shocked by the condition of the propeller and the propeller nuts. I have owned this boat for 23 years and have never had this problem.
Back in July, I had to have my tranny removed from the boat and rebuilt. It was done at the dock with the boat in the water. Of course, the engine was disconnected from the shaft. That left an isolated monel shaft and a NiBrAl prop all alone in the mostly salt water of Woodcleft Canal. I have always clipped a zinc guppy to the shaft when not in use. There is no room on the shaft for a zinc collar. The space between the propeller hub and the back of the cutless bearing is too small.
The guy doing the tranny pull did have the zinc disconnected when he pushed the shaft out to make more room to work. It was disconnected from the guppy maybe a week.
I just can't imagine this happening in such a short period of time.
Galvanic corrosion is from dis-similar metals which is what I (and most of us) have below the water line. Electrolysis occurs when there is some outside influence. An electrical problem at the dock, a live wire in the water or something like that. If that was the problem other boats would have been effected. My dock neighbor is a downeast and I checked his prop when hauled and it looks beautiful. No corrosion at all. I can't imagine a wiring problem on board my boat. I am pretty familiar with everything electrical and I had no issues with anything all season. My rudder zinc was 50 to 60 percent wasted which is totally normal. My heat exchanger zincs had the usual very small wastage. The Southbay strainer zinc had small wastage which is totally normal.
I have always had two regular size nuts holding the prop on rather than the half nut locked on by the full nut. It was that way when I bought the boat so I never bothered to change it. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.) The one nut was almost totally gone. If I had to go hard astern this fall while pulling the hook out of a blackfish spot I would have knocked the prop right off the taper. I did not notice any change in performance so the missing metal and the chewed up leading and trailing edges didn't cause any major issues. I always loose a little speed towards the end of the season and the hull gets slimy but again, totally normal.
At least I have a spare prop. I don't think this one can be rebuilt. A new one will go about a grand and with the supply chain BS, who knows what the lead time from Michigan Wheel might be.
Back in July, I had to have my tranny removed from the boat and rebuilt. It was done at the dock with the boat in the water. Of course, the engine was disconnected from the shaft. That left an isolated monel shaft and a NiBrAl prop all alone in the mostly salt water of Woodcleft Canal. I have always clipped a zinc guppy to the shaft when not in use. There is no room on the shaft for a zinc collar. The space between the propeller hub and the back of the cutless bearing is too small.
The guy doing the tranny pull did have the zinc disconnected when he pushed the shaft out to make more room to work. It was disconnected from the guppy maybe a week.
I just can't imagine this happening in such a short period of time.
Galvanic corrosion is from dis-similar metals which is what I (and most of us) have below the water line. Electrolysis occurs when there is some outside influence. An electrical problem at the dock, a live wire in the water or something like that. If that was the problem other boats would have been effected. My dock neighbor is a downeast and I checked his prop when hauled and it looks beautiful. No corrosion at all. I can't imagine a wiring problem on board my boat. I am pretty familiar with everything electrical and I had no issues with anything all season. My rudder zinc was 50 to 60 percent wasted which is totally normal. My heat exchanger zincs had the usual very small wastage. The Southbay strainer zinc had small wastage which is totally normal.
I have always had two regular size nuts holding the prop on rather than the half nut locked on by the full nut. It was that way when I bought the boat so I never bothered to change it. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.) The one nut was almost totally gone. If I had to go hard astern this fall while pulling the hook out of a blackfish spot I would have knocked the prop right off the taper. I did not notice any change in performance so the missing metal and the chewed up leading and trailing edges didn't cause any major issues. I always loose a little speed towards the end of the season and the hull gets slimy but again, totally normal.
At least I have a spare prop. I don't think this one can be rebuilt. A new one will go about a grand and with the supply chain BS, who knows what the lead time from Michigan Wheel might be.
