Help

[africanqueen]

We are out on a trip and the boar keeps losing propulsion. We have changed the oil and cleared the weed hatch a million times. Any ideas please?

 

Boat even. The boar is fine.

[saltysplash]

Without knowing what engine and such like you have its not easy to diagnose

 

Have you checked the oil level in the Gearbox?

 

If the oil is low this will cause you propulsion problems

[africanqueen]

Ok thanks. We did this with SAE20w. Migh be here for the duration. I think.

[RLWP]

When it loses propulsion, is the prop shaft still turning?

 

Richard

 

It's a bit early for a fallen leaves incident

[MtB]

Are you the African Queen durch barge hotel boat?

 

http://www.african-queen.co.uk/page4/page4.html

[africanqueen]

No not hotel. Yes prop shaft turns

[alan_fincher]

What gearbox ?

 

I would not have thought an SAE 20 monograde was that common a thing to use, although I guess it depends what you have. Unlikely to be a show-stopper though, unless it's a box that is not intended to use just an engine oil, when I guess it could be!

 

You need to answer Richard's question about whether the prop-shaft is still turning when you have no drive!

[africanqueen]

Yes the prop us turning with no propulsion.

 

We have taken s lit if water out and it's sitting quite low in the rear

 

Scuse typing. IPhone and fat fingers

[MtB]

Yes the prop us turning with no propulsion.

 

We have taken s lit if water out and it's sitting quite low in the rear

 

Scuse typing. IPhone and fat fingers

 

 

Well assuming your prop is still attached the the propshaft and turning too, it MUST be weed on the blade! We had similar problems on the upper Thames a couple of weeks ago. A firm blast in reverse usually clears weed from the prop.

 

When you say you've cleared thew weed hatch a million times, do you mean cleared weed from the blade, or coal sacks and shopping trolleys?

[RLWP]

There are quite a lot of fallen leaves around here, are there a lot of them in the canal?

 

Richard

[alan_fincher]

Yes the prop us turning with no propulsion.

 

We have taken s lit if water out and it's sitting quite low in the rear

 

Scuse typing. IPhone and fat fingers

Not sure what the second sentence means!

 

If the prop is genuinely turning, at the expected speed, then gearbox, oil, etc, doesn't enter into it.

 

As Richard says, we are not into the season yet when leaf-fall can cause props to do a lot less than usual.

 

Unless the prop-shaft is turning, and the propeller is not, (and there should normally be a key and key-way on the taper that prevents this!), I have no idea what you may be experiencing.

 

More info needed, I think!

[RLWP]

<snip>

 

Unless the prop-shaft is turning, and the propeller is not, (and there should normally be a key and key-way on the taper that prevents this!), I have no idea what you may be experiencing.

 

More info needed, I think!

 

You get a lot of banging and rattling if the prop is loose, and you can feel the nut at the end of the shaft with a gap to the face of the prop boss (if you are lucky)

 

Richard

[africanqueen]

Thanks all. We are firing her up. I will let you know how we go.

 

Thanks again

[alan_fincher]

You get a lot of banging and rattling if the prop is loose, and you can feel the nut at the end of the shaft with a gap to the face of the prop boss (if you are lucky)

Careful!

 

We are talking Stilsons and scaffold pole here, aren't we!........

[RLWP]

Careful!

 

We are talking Stilsons and scaffold pole here, aren't we!........

 

You may think that, I couldn't possibly comment

 

Richard

[JDR]

First thing to check is the control cable, is it still attached-does the selector arm move when you move the morse controls (on my box there is about 30 degrees of movement in each direction.What type of gearbox? If it is a Newage hydraulic gearbox (PRM160/260) then you should be using same oil as engine or a multigrade oil.Oil level is critical for drive on a hydraulic box.What colour was the oil?Do you have an oil cooler? (two hoses from top of box to a cylindrical tube).Milky white oil indiates water contamination which can only be caused by oil cooler.I used to have a PRM160 that would turn propshaft in neutral -does the propshaft speed increase with throttle? Good luck

[africanqueen]

Just back.

 

We phoned a farmer friend who suggested it was the clutch. It was. Went like the clappers after it was fixed (apart from all the weed and plastic bags)

 

It's amazing how many people you see chucking rubbish into the canal, eh?

[Keeping Up]

You have a clutch between the prop shaft (which was turning normally) and the prop (which presumably wasn't).???

 

How ???