On Feb 16, 3:02 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On 16 Feb 2007 16:21:58 -0800, "
wrote:

I did some experimenting with the several
waterproof epoxies and found that Ace brand waterproof epoxy putty had
the best strength, hardness and adhesion of the lot that I could lay
my hands on when set in seawater. I used it to secure a propeller to
the shaft and it lasted until I got to New Zealand.

That is impressive.

What happened to the shaft?

It's a bit of a mystery to me. We spent the night hove to off Apia in
a front which may have caused the geared Gori Saildrive prop to hammer
a bit as it folded and unfolded, but in any case, when we came to the
dock the prop separated from its hub. It was a pretty decent landing
and I didn't actually notice the prop was gone until we attempted to
leave the dock, but my speculation is that it fell off when I put the
engine lightly in reverse. At any rate, the hub and hub nut were
still on the shaft at this point, but when I removed the hub nut all
but about 1/4 turn of thread came off with the nut. Why? I don't
know. The usual suspects or crevasse corrosion or improper torque
come to mind. The former seems more likely to me as I used a torque
wrench to tighten the nut the last time I'd changed the zinc, but...
It is a failure that is fairly common to Yanmar Saildrive shafts. I
put a two bladed fixed prop on with the nut pretty much held in place
with just the epoxy and good will and it held all the way to New
Zealand. For which I am very grateful and somewhat amazed as we had
the boat up to 18 knots at one point and weathered a gale along the
way.

-- Tom.