Prop...er job

Gilbert Park refurbishes a pitted starboard propeller on his Seaward 29 motor cruiser

- Gilbert Park

Having not used my boat for a while, and given that I was planning a trip of around 300 miles, I decided to give the Seaward 29's bottom and stern gear a quick clean before leaving.

Although my mooring dries, there is a lot of mud so my neighbour, Dave, let me use his, which is less muddy. Once the boat was there and cleaned off, I could see multiple pits in the starboard propeller, while the port one had none.

I decided to remove the prop and get it repaired. At low tide, we bent back the tab washer and removed the nut. The prop was reluctant to come off, despite being hit with a wood block and a hammer, even after heating.

Realising we could do a lot more damage using chains and wedges, a proper puller was needed.

There are several different sorts of prop pullers. The common one has a collar that goes around the prop shaft, but these need a clearance of about 20mm to 25mm between the prop and P-bracket. They're also difficult to hire and expensive to buy. I eventually rented a puller from a local technician. These can remove three- and four-bladed props and do the job perfectly.

When using any puller, do not take the prop nut off completely; when the prop is released, there’s a risk it can drop onto your toes which, I'm told, hurts a lot!

Using this two-pronged puller needs two people to hold it until the legs grip.

Various tools are needed to do the job, plus acetone and a lump of wood to wedge the prop so the nut can be undone and later tightened

Schooled in prop fitting

Once the prop was off, I visited Hamble Propellers to see if I needed a new one or if it could be repaired.

Fortunately for me, I'd caught the damage in time, and it could be repaired - and what's more, the work was done in three days at a very reasonable cost.

When picking it up, I explained how I was going to reinstall the propeller: