Crazy Midland Sledders

A lot of snow had melted in Penetang since last weekend, and we both said to each other on the way up, that there won’t be any snowmobilers this weekend. 

We were wrong, there were 5 to 6 of them out on the bay, I was busy scraping the name off of the transom when I heard the buzzing sound of a sled….hmm I said, not turning around to look, don’t tell me that’s a sled on the bay…yes, it was, going across open water….how do you spell D.A.R.I.N.G. ?

Silly Sledders, lakes are for Sailors!

Disaster averted

One of the upgrades that we liked on Zingara when we first looked at her was her feathering Max Prop.  Unlike a regular prop you find on most boats a feathering prop reverses its blades when the boat is shifted from forward to reverse and feathers its blades while under sail creating very little drag.  While in forward gear the prop’s torque applies a forward thrust (pushing into the boat) on the drive shaft and reversely when in reverse gear the prop’s torque applies a reverse thrust (pulling out of the boat) on the drive shaft.   

This reverse thrust on the drive shaft creates a lot of stress on the driveshaft and hub assembles and can cause the drive shaft to pull itself out of the hub.  If this happens the prop and drive shaft will pull out of the boat until the prop hits the rudder, destroying the prop and damaging the rudder.  The other issue, if this occurs is the gapping 1” hole left where the drive shaft once was!  Zingara was one or two reverses away from this happening and ultimately sinking.

As this picture shows, the locking set screws did not originally come loose; they cut a groove into the circumference of the shaft first.  The key was destroyed and the shaft started to work its way out of the hub.  The gouges made by the set screws came to within a ¼ of an inch to the end of the shaft.   You can also see just how much back and forth movement the shaft as doing by the ware from the stuffing box.  I will be through bolting the new shaft and hub when I re-assemble the driveshaft!!!!!!!!

On a positive note I finished installing our new Icon VHF radio and it worked like a charm.  I will also add the cockpit Ram Mic before we set sail in May.

I love the sound of grinders in the spring!

Doug