Wrong Way!!
- Thread starter Bolo
- Start date
Love your video! It does a great job of showing the mechanics of how this all too common problem happens. Can you make one to show how my max-prop made my boat go astern with the transmission in forward this summer ?
No video/illustrative skills have I, but back when we were using a feathering prop for a decade, that same thing did happen to me. Scary.
I was backing out of a slip in a tight fairway, with a cross wind. With the sterns of the boats on the other side of me coming up quickly I put the transmission in forward.... and hit the throttle and went back more! Excitement ensued. realizing that the blades were still reversed on our prop, I repeated the shift/thottle/prayer routine and the boat leaped forward just-in-time.
Later I re-greased it with the recommended grease product which is less viscous than the usual marine green grease. I was advised by the vendor that our cold water in the Columbia River makes the lube viscosity very important. The guys at PYI know the right grease product; I could not find it locally at the usual stores -- they sold me some at a reasonable price. Lubriplate 130 AA .
Yachting can sometimes be ... exciting...
"hours of peace punctuated by moments of sheer terror"
Bolo
Contributing Partner
Well, this part I didn’t put in the video. When I confronted to mechanic on his mistake he threw his “assistant” under the bus. While we were on the boat talking about the fix he sent his assistant off to check on something. While he was gone his answer to my, “Didn’t you check your work?”, question was that he did but he couldn’t see the rudder. (WHAT?!) Turns out that while the boat was up on the hard, and after he finish connecting the cables (the wrong way) he sent his assistant down to the ground to observe if the rudder was turning. His assistant, who obviously didn’t know his port from starboard, said that all looked fine to him. The mechanic couldn’t see the rudder from the cockpit and was trusting the opinion of the assistant.Wow, so I guess your "mechanic" didn't check his work
I then asked, “Why didn’t you go down to see which way the rudder was turning the right way instead of sending an inexperienced assistant?” No answer.
Bolo
Contributing Partner
Hmmm….I can see a pattern here.
All’s well that ends well!
