Jake, Rather than crawling in to the sail locker, another option is to remove the steps/engine cover.
I have a shaft zinc on the inside of the hull, presumably so the shaft cannot get ejected out the bottom. But the side benefit is that a large sharpie mark on that zinc is visible from the *front* of the engine. So, I remove the cover, put it in reverse gear, lift all the decomp. levers, and turn the engine over by hand until I see the mark is lined up in the DOWN position. Then reset the decomp levers and replace the cover. I have a solid prop, so I have to leave it in gear to keep it from freewheeling and driving me crazy with that sound. -Keith -----Original Message----- From: Jake Brodersen [mailto:captain_j...@cox.net] Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2013 8:45 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List [SPAM]Re: [SPAM]Re: transmissions in gear whilesailing Martin, You are correct. The folding propeller is much more sensitive to the orientation of the pin to ensure the blades fold correctly. Having a blade hanging down is probably the equivalent of dragging your foot in the water. At 5 knots, this can represent a fair amount of force. Even with bad orientation, the blade will eventually be forced to fold, but will still create some drag. My shaft is marked so I can easily tell the pin orientation. The port locker is empty, except for a boat hook and scrub brush. I used to climb in and move the shaft by hand, but lately I just grad the boat hook and use it to rotate the shaft collar. Jake Jake Brodersen C&C 35 Mk-III Midnight Mistress Hampton VA -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Martin DeYoung Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 9:18 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: [SPAM]Re: Stus-List [SPAM]Re: transmissions in gear while sailing I believe the shaft / prop pin location is more important with folding propellers than feathering propellers. For long races (like Transpac) the orientation of a two bladed feathering prop would be monitored. For long offshore races on boat equipped with the non-geared folding props, just before the start on of the crew would dive over the side to place rubber bands around the blades to hold them closed. With two bladed MAX props the shaft would be aligned with pre marked lines indicating the prop was lined up with the strut. Calypso has a three bladed MAX prop and we do not make any effort to align the shaft. Maybe I should look into marking it to put one of the three blades behind the strut for those light air days. Martin Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Indigo Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 5:55 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List [SPAM]Re: transmissions in gear while sailing Jake I have never thought about rotating the shaft so the blades are vertical. I had sort if assumes that once feathered, the drag would be the same irrespective of position. You must also keep a lot less junk in the lazarette than I - making it easy to access the shaft! I do know that I will often shut down the engine while in neutral and then start feeling the vibration from the spinning prop. At that point I just put the transmission in reverse and the vibration stops. I have always assumed that the blades would feather at that time. -- Jonathan Indigo C&C 35III SOUTHPORT CT On Aug 9, 2013, at 20:20, "Jake Brodersen" <captain_j...@cox.net> wrote: > Jonathan, > > I position the prop to the blades are both retracted (i.e. the pivot > pin is > vertical) before we start racing. That way both blades are fully > retracted for the lowest drag. I ran into a situation this summer > when we were motorsailing. I shut down the engine, but the prop was > still free wheeling at about 7 knots. I dropped the transmission into > reverse. The prop stopped rotating, but I wonder how good this is > for the transmission. > Maybe I should have shut down the engine in forward instead. > > Jake > > Jake Brodersen > C&C 35 Mk-III > Midnight Mistress > Hampton VA _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
