And I thought that I had problems. These poor people were coming back from Opening Day May 2nd and thought they could clear the railroad bridge. Deckstepped mast. No one hurt.
Here is the new prop in all it's glory. Had a used two-blade Max-prop that I put on last week. Splashed the boat and when I took the boat out for a sea trial had some serious vibrations occurring while in forward. No vibrations in reverse. Checked to see if the pitch was correct, it wasn't. Hauled the boat and the manufacturer said 26 degrees of pitch was good. I could hit 7.5 knots at 2800RPM will a shitload of vibration. Hull speed is 6.5 or so. I was afraid to push the motor up to 3600 RPM due to the vibration but black smoke was coming out at 2800 so that right there tells me the prop is overpitched. So overpitching can cause cavitation which can cause vibration. We pitched the boat to 24 degrees and checked the shaft to make sure it was true. Short of taking it out of the boat, it looked really good. Cutlass bearing and P-Bracket all good. Put boat back in the water and same old vibration. Checked the shaft alignment and that was as good as anyone could get it. No problems there. Called the manufacturer, PYI, and told them my tale of woe. Turns out the 2 blade Max-prop and my boat have a know vibration issue. Two blades and Sabre 38s also. So I guess am just lucky. Bought a three blade max-prop and can trade in the old one. $2100 and two haul outs later, I have new three blade Maxprop. I haul and hang toworrow (Tuesday the 5th) and give more info then. I am crossing my fingers.
And I thought that I had problems. These poor people were coming back from Opening Day May 2nd and thought they could clear the railroad bridge. Deckstepped mast. No one hurt.
Here is the new prop in all it's glory. Had a used two-blade Max-prop that I put on last week. Splashed the boat and when I took the boat out for a sea trial had some serious vibrations occurring while in forward. No vibrations in reverse. Checked to see if the pitch was correct, it wasn't. Hauled the boat and the manufacturer said 26 degrees of pitch was good. I could hit 7.5 knots at 2800RPM will a shitload of vibration. Hull speed is 6.5 or so. I was afraid to push the motor up to 3600 RPM due to the vibration but black smoke was coming out at 2800 so that right there tells me the prop is overpitched. So overpitching can cause cavitation which can cause vibration. We pitched the boat to 24 degrees and checked the shaft to make sure it was true. Short of taking it out of the boat, it looked really good. Cutlass bearing and P-Bracket all good. Put boat back in the water and same old vibration. Checked the shaft alignment and that was as good as anyone could get it. No problems there. Called the manufacturer, PYI, and told them my tale of woe. Turns out the 2 blade Max-prop and my boat have a know vibration issue. Two blades and Sabre 38s also. So I guess am just lucky. Bought a three blade max-prop and can trade in the old one. $2100 and two haul outs later, I have new three blade Maxprop. I haul and hang toworrow (Tuesday the 5th) and give more info then. I am crossing my fingers.
