I am researching a nasty little fault that just developed out of the complete blue today. Just going out on a flat calm sea to tease the cod fish. Came out of the lock at hull speed no problem. Pointed the nose towards the third star on the right (sorry for the Cap'n Kirk reference) and squirted the throttle to 3200 as per the usual 'get on the plane' procedure. She climbs to 3200 revs under load , starts to point the nose up and suddenly the "clutch slips" like an old Austin car. NB I still have good drive below 3000 revs . I tried the same procedure a few more times just to make sure that I wasn't doing anything stupid.
The instant diagnosis is "bu99er I must have hit something and spun the propeller hub". So, I limped home to port and docked up and ripped the prop off at the dock. No 'dinks' on the prop, no ropes hanging therefrom. Nothing.
I took the prop home and put it on my spare outdrive, locked the drive shaft and tried to spin the prop. No go. It is solid as a rock with my 160lbs trying to wrench it round. OK, so I can't produce a whole lot of power to spin it, so it might not be a very thorough test.
I'll pop back to the boat with number one spare prop in a day or two and see if I get proper drive. But, in the mean time I am wondering what else might cause a "slip" issue like that. There is no burning rubber smell (as per a shot coupler) and I can't really think of anything in the system that might simulate a burn-out car clutch.
Any ideas?
PS The prop was a 2015 Solas 4 blade aluminium prop. It is the type where the hub is not replaceable (I checked with the shop). Shame the shop is in Ireland or I'd take it in for them to test properly.
The instant diagnosis is "bu99er I must have hit something and spun the propeller hub". So, I limped home to port and docked up and ripped the prop off at the dock. No 'dinks' on the prop, no ropes hanging therefrom. Nothing.
I took the prop home and put it on my spare outdrive, locked the drive shaft and tried to spin the prop. No go. It is solid as a rock with my 160lbs trying to wrench it round. OK, so I can't produce a whole lot of power to spin it, so it might not be a very thorough test.
I'll pop back to the boat with number one spare prop in a day or two and see if I get proper drive. But, in the mean time I am wondering what else might cause a "slip" issue like that. There is no burning rubber smell (as per a shot coupler) and I can't really think of anything in the system that might simulate a burn-out car clutch.
Any ideas?
PS The prop was a 2015 Solas 4 blade aluminium prop. It is the type where the hub is not replaceable (I checked with the shop). Shame the shop is in Ireland or I'd take it in for them to test properly.
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