Vibration

[mcfr741]

A couple of weeks ago I ran aground while barley in gear and it bent a blade on my prop. I took the prop in to get repaired and put it on the boat and it still has a slight vibration, not that bad, just not super smooth as it was before. The boat was barley in gear when I hit and the prop was not bent that bad.

My question is, do you think that the company that repaired the prop did not balance it correctly? or Do you think that even only in gear I could have bent the shaft? or Do you think that what ever I hit may have mis aligned the shaft?

When I hit I don't think it was that hard, it did bend the prop, but it did not shut the motor off, and what ever it was was in mud and not really solid.

[WakeSlayer]

What sort of a prop shop did you take it to? Do they specialize in inboard props? There is a place in Hudson, WI, that I have used. They stick it on a CNC scanner and give you a computerized report of all the measurements and tolerances for your exact prop.

www.propfix.com

[swc5150]

Slayer's right again, I seem to agree him a lot! The Hudson guys are great - a little more expensive than some shops, but you get what you pay for.

[Rick]

Check the alignment

It won't hurt to check the shaft alignment. It's supposed to be 2-4 thousandths side to side and up and down

[mcfr741]

Im not sure what type of shop it was, I work for a large marine construction company and they do all of our props. They said that they spun it to make sure it was balanced but before this incident my boat was as smooth as butter and now it has a slight vibration.

[mcbridek]

The cheapest solution is to borrow a prop from a dealer or friend, put it on and see if you still have the vibration. If butter is back, then it's your prop. My guess it is the prop. A slight vibration, I do not think you will be able to see that in the shaft by visually inspecting. But you can hold a 12 inch ruler on the rudder, so the end is 1/4 inch from the shaft. Then turn the shaft and it should always be the exact same distance from the ruler (which does not move because it is being held to the rudder).