BillyT0020
Recruit
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 2
Hey Guys,
Boat is a 1980 Sea Ray Sundancer 260, Pre Alpha Drive Merc 260 5.7L V-8
I recently bought a used SS Prop (Merc Vengeance 14.5 x 15) and had it refurbished by a prop shop. The timing was such that I had to put the prop on my boat on the fly as the hoist was waiting on me to finish so they could launch my boat. I had asked my mechanic if there was anything tricky about the prop swap and they told me, "no its a straight forward swap just put everything back on how you took it off" When I took the boat out yesterday I heard an unfamiliar knocking sound. We got out on the lake and it was running good but then I started to loose RPM's so I throttled down and went back to the dock. I only had it running for about 15 mins before I couldn't get the boat above 2500 RPM's at full throttle.
With the Prop being the only thing different in the drive train from last season I started going over in my head about what I could have done wrong. After inspecting the old prop, sure enough I realized there was a washer stuck to the back of the old prop that I didn't see when doing the swap (now I know its the thrust washer) that was not put on the boat when I swapped the props. I think I probably spun the hub and that's why the lack of rpms.
Boat still sounds fine idling and revs up fine in neutral. No noise is present when in reverse.
Has anyone ever made this retarded mistake before? I guess worst case scenario I trashed the prop and the drive. Best case scenario I can take the prop off add the washer and be okay for the season (fingers crossed). I'm definitely kicking myself in the ***.
Right now my first course of action is to take the old prop off at the dock in the water, which should be real fun, to see if I need to have the boat pulled or not.
Thanks in advance,
Billy
Boat is a 1980 Sea Ray Sundancer 260, Pre Alpha Drive Merc 260 5.7L V-8
I recently bought a used SS Prop (Merc Vengeance 14.5 x 15) and had it refurbished by a prop shop. The timing was such that I had to put the prop on my boat on the fly as the hoist was waiting on me to finish so they could launch my boat. I had asked my mechanic if there was anything tricky about the prop swap and they told me, "no its a straight forward swap just put everything back on how you took it off" When I took the boat out yesterday I heard an unfamiliar knocking sound. We got out on the lake and it was running good but then I started to loose RPM's so I throttled down and went back to the dock. I only had it running for about 15 mins before I couldn't get the boat above 2500 RPM's at full throttle.
With the Prop being the only thing different in the drive train from last season I started going over in my head about what I could have done wrong. After inspecting the old prop, sure enough I realized there was a washer stuck to the back of the old prop that I didn't see when doing the swap (now I know its the thrust washer) that was not put on the boat when I swapped the props. I think I probably spun the hub and that's why the lack of rpms.
Boat still sounds fine idling and revs up fine in neutral. No noise is present when in reverse.
Has anyone ever made this retarded mistake before? I guess worst case scenario I trashed the prop and the drive. Best case scenario I can take the prop off add the washer and be okay for the season (fingers crossed). I'm definitely kicking myself in the ***.
Right now my first course of action is to take the old prop off at the dock in the water, which should be real fun, to see if I need to have the boat pulled or not.
Thanks in advance,
Billy
