Dinged propeller

[bag 'o' bones]

Boats out of the water at the moment for a re-paint.

 

Noticed the three bladed prop has suffred a bit of damage in the form of a bent blade tip.

 

I've got a body work hammer and dolly kit and plan and intend to true it up myself as tha damage is only slight. Anyone got any experience of this?

 

I realise there are those of you who will immeadiatly suggest that I take it to a specialist but i'm more interested if there is anyone out there who has done a DIY repair and got away with it.

[Liam]

Phylis may be able to help you.

 

She is well known for her damaged props.

[RobinJ]

Boats out of the water at the moment for a re-paint.

 

Noticed the three bladed prop has suffred a bit of damage in the form of a bent blade tip.

 

I've got a body work hammer and dolly kit and plan and intend to true it up myself as tha damage is only slight. Anyone got any experience of this?

If its at the very tip, its not too bad.

Need to try and keep the profile of all three blades the same and smooth. Also need to make sure it is still balanced!

Some heat may help if its bent really badly, but its a question of gentle and persuasive!

[alan_fincher]

Phylis may be able to help you.

 

She is well known for her damaged props.

Nah !

 

OP says it's just a bit of tip damage.

 

He doesn't mention carnage of Phylis type proportions.

[Naughty Cal]

If they are not too bad you can reshape them yourself. The OH does ours if they are slightly damaged. You need to try and get the blades to a similar shape as they were originally and more importantly to more or less the same shape as each other. If you didnt notice much vibration before the boat was lifted chances are you wont notice much after they have been reshaped.

 

Our problem is made worse by the fact we have counter rotating props so if one is off balance the other exagerates the problem.

[RLWP]

Boats out of the water at the moment for a re-paint.

 

Noticed the three bladed prop has suffred a bit of damage in the form of a bent blade tip.

 

I've got a body work hammer and dolly kit and plan and intend to true it up myself as tha damage is only slight. Anyone got any experience of this?

 

I realise there are those of you who will immeadiatly suggest that I take it to a specialist but i'm more interested if there is anyone out there who has done a DIY repair and got away with it.

 

I have hammered back burrs along the edge of our prop before grinding it back to shape with a sanding disk in an angle grinder. I did this with the prop off the boat though so I could get some support under it. I'd have a go but if it didn't start to move easily I'd anneal the tip before going further. Heat it to red with a gas set and let it cool slowly.

 

Richard

[PhilR]

Boats out of the water at the moment for a re-paint.

 

Noticed the three bladed prop has suffred a bit of damage in the form of a bent blade tip.

 

I've got a body work hammer and dolly kit and plan and intend to true it up myself as tha damage is only slight. Anyone got any experience of this?

 

I realise there are those of you who will immeadiatly suggest that I take it to a specialist but i'm more interested if there is anyone out there who has done a DIY repair and got away with it.

 

Is it a bronze prop or an alloy prop?

 

Alloy props on outboards and outdrives are very soft and prone to damage. I once did a very successful DIY repair on an Enfield Z drive prop (alloy). The boat was somewhat over-propped before the damage, so the re-profiling resulted in an ideal sized prop for the boat. I started with the worst blade and cut and filed it to a smooth profile. Then I made a cardboard template from that blade and shaped the other blades to the same profile. The result was a perfectly balanced prop.

[RLWP]

Is it a bronze prop or an alloy prop?

 

Eeeek! Good question. If it's an alloy prop, don't try annealing it to a red heat, otherwise you will have a big silver splash on the floor and a lump of blade missing!

 

Richard

[Naughty Cal]

Assumed it was bronze.

 

Ours are aluminium and they hammer back nicely. Dont try welding them though unless you have a tig welder and someone who knows how to work aluminium. (Luckily we do)

[Yoda]

Assumed it was bronze.

 

Ours are aluminium and they hammer back nicely. Dont try welding them though unless you have a tig welder and someone who knows how to work aluminium. (Luckily we do)

 

Why? I've gas welded ally and it's OK.

[Machpoint005]

Noticed the three bladed prop has suffered a bit of damage in the form of a bent blade tip.

If you hadn't noticed anything untoward before it came out of the water, I'd leave well alone - it's obviously not seriously out of balance, and you could make matters worse.

 

You're bound to find a Tesco trolley with it, within an hour of setting off, anyway!

[Timleech]

Why? I've gas welded ally and it's OK.

 

Yes, but it's not fashionable these days.

 

If it's a fairly small area bent to less than 90 degrees, get a sledge hammer head behind the blade as a dolly, and hit the bent part smartly in the appropriate direction with something like a 4lb lump hammer.

If it's not moving after 2 or 3 blows like that, you might need heat.

Avoid striking the two hammer faces against one another, that's theoretically dangerous (flying chips of hammer head)

 

Tim

 

 

[mikevye]

Had a bent prop from very early days which was so severe that the boat wouldn't steer or proceed with any speed. Stuck at the Ellesmere Junctoin on the Llangollen had no option but to get mollies down the weed hatch and bend the affected blade roughly back into shape. Proceeded as if nothing had happened and I haven't looked at it since!

[OptedOut]

Used a modified G-clamp on our last boat, welded a bit on that supported the blade each side of the dent and the screwed part pushed on the raised portion, (pretty strong platers clamp).

[NB Watersnail]

I bent an alloy outboard prop once, got it off and hammered it back best as I could but the vibration was so bad we ended up replacing it within weeks. As others say, if you didn't notice before it came out of the water - leave well alone. If you did notice - you've nothing to loose by giving it a whack.

[Naughty Cal]

Its game over (for fixing them yourself) when they look like these

 

 

These were refurbished.

 

(Would like to add this set were not mine and the boat dont need to be lifted to fit new ones)

[bag 'o' bones]

Thank you for your replies. I've now sorted the problem with a few smacks from a rubber mallet! The proppeller in question was a brass Vetus jobbie.

[ChrisPy]

Its game over (for fixing them yourself) when they look like these

 

 

These were refurbished.

 

(Would like to add this set were not mine and the boat dont need to be lifted to fit new ones)

they don't look refurbished ..................... ?

 

there must be crocodiles with a taste for eating ally in those waters.

[Naughty Cal]

they don't look refurbished ..................... ?

 

there must be crocodiles with a taste for eating ally in those waters.

 

Not crocs, trees

[ChrisPy]

Not crocs, trees

hungry trees ?? that prop has toothmarks on it ...............

[Naughty Cal]

hungry trees ?? that prop has toothmarks on it ...............

 

Thats what happens when a tree/any foreign object gets wedged between the transom and the rear prop. Its worse when an object gets wedged between the two props. That ends in both being useless.

[Smelly]

Thats what happens when a tree/any foreign object gets wedged between the transom and the rear prop. Its worse when an object gets wedged between the two props. That ends in both being useless.

 

Isn't that something akin to a design flaw? Or is it solely designed as a seagoing boat but you're keeping it in the wrong place?

[Naughty Cal]

Isn't that something akin to a design flaw? Or is it solely designed as a seagoing boat but you're keeping it in the wrong place?

 

No they get done over at sea as well. Fishing gear is as bad as trees.

 

The props are just vunerable. Luckily they are easy to change. and we may keep her in the wrong place but each to their own

[DHutch]

Ofcause, compaired to outboard props, narrowboat props are a lot heavier (even the cheap ones) and spin a lot slower. So they are less affected by being slightly out of ballence. The propshaft and stern gear is also much heavier weight, so the vibation wont cause damage in the same wayt either.

 

What you really want is titanium props! Less cheap to repair however.

 

 

 

Daniel

[Naughty Cal]

What you really want is titanium props! Less cheap to repair however.

 

And likely to damage your drive gear if (when) you do hit something.