Show Us Your Shaft Lock System

[zeehag]

i posted request for pix of the ones in use....

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Yanmar says leave it in neutral, or use a shaft brake:
➥ http://www.mainehuntersailing.com/fi..._MSA08-003.pdf

"... If the customer desires that the propeller shaft not spin while sailing, either a folding propeller, shaft break, or other suitable device may be used ..."

Neutral is cheaper than a brake.

I don't remember them mentioning it in my operator manual, but it might have been there.

[DeepFrz]

SetSail » Blog Archive » Prop Shaft Brake
A design by Steve Dashew

[zeehag]

i was advised on leaky teaky that many use a hook to the coupler. they didnt send pix but another soul has requested also -- this may take a coupla days....

[gjordan]

Just to revive this thread, If you can get to your coupler a hook bolted to one of the coupler bolts will work as a cheep and dirty shaft lock. A thin piece of nylon line with a loop on the end will keep your shaft from turning if you put the line over the hook before you are going too fast. I sailed a 37 foot steel boat from Mass. to Bermuda in the 80s, and the shaft noise was unbearable. I didnt need a knot meter, since I could tell every little speed change by the level of the howl. In Bermuda I installed a hook on the coupler and tied a piece of light nylon to something in the engine room( i dont remember to what) and as soon as we left the pass in Bermuda to go south, I put the loop onto the hook and no matter what speed the boat did , it was quiet inside. If I needed to motor, I would put it in reverse for a second and the line would come off. If I forgot(I only did once) the line would snap and no harm to anything. 15 cents worth of nylon would repair the shaft lock. I had easy access to the coupler thru a panel in the quarter berth area, and hooking it up took about 90 seconds. If I got going too fast before I thought to hook it, I would turn into the wind for a minute, hook it , and get going again. Silly simple, dirt cheep, and cant do damage if you forget something._____Grant.

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Of course I guess if you just make a lock out of a piece of wood that you can clamp on the shaft it's pretty cheap. Until you forget to unlock it one day when you want to motor.

That's why you attach your ignition key to your shaft lock.

[senormechanico]

Having had a three blade fixed, a three blade MaxProp, a two blade Gori and a two blade Varifold, it's a tossup between the MaxProp and the Varifold.

Only thing I'm not thrilled about with the Varifold is if you're docking going slowly forward, you can't be moving much at all in neutral or it won't open in reverse.
You have to go into forward and immediately to reverse. I've gotten used to it (mostly) but the Admiral stil forgets. Grrr.
If I had it to do over, I'd get a Flex o Fold.

[Pauls]

Velvet drive says it is OK to let the prop freewheel, in their manual.

Numerous tests have shown that drag from the prop while sailing is reduced by letting it freewheel. How much depends on the friction in your system. One pretty nicely done series of tests I saw some time ago measured the drag of a prop both locked and freewheeling. Freewheeling was about half the locked drag.

This is opposite the result you'd find in an aircraft prop, where freewheeling increases drag. But the aspect ratio of sailboat and aircraft props is hugely different.

[Bash]

Shaft lock system?

Can you call it a "system" if it's a pair of vice grips?