Sheared Prop Key? Or Transmission Issue?

[KelseyB]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Kick the mechanic who overfilled it.

As an aside, even if it is just barnacles and not a transmission issue, I'm still not inclined to pay full price for the oil and transmission fluid change given that the transmission fluid change wasn't done properly and we had to go out, buy a siphon, and spend time siphoning out half the fluid. I haven't paid the invoice yet, but it states 2 hours of labor for the whole job (which also seems like a lot for the job considering we've done the same job with a hand pump in less time, but ok). What do people think would be a fair amount to ask to knock off the price? An hour of labor perhaps?

[bil56]

nada !
he did a f.....g job with your own supplies...
a professional has a duty of result, right?

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by KelseyB

I haven't paid the invoice yet, but it states 2 hours of labor for the whole job (which also seems like a lot for the job considering we've done the same job with a hand pump in less time, but ok).

What do people think would be a fair amount to ask to knock off the price? An hour of labor perhaps?

All mechanics and shops (that I know of in the US) have a minimum on billable hours. (i.e. a 20 min. job will be billed at 1 hr).

If the mechanic is a mobile mechanic, then you might be getting a 1 hr. mini on travel time and a 1 hr mini on the job itself.

As for what to withold....did you give the mechanic the opportunity to remediate the problem? Fixing the problem, then shorting his bill on the cost doesn't give the mechanic the opportunity to fix it.

Id' pay the bill and simply not hire that mechanic again. If I want something done wrong, I can do that myself.

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by KelseyB

This is what we're pretty confident it is at this point. Does anyone have any pro tips on scraping barnacles in the water when the river is full of sea nettles and so cloudy you can't see inches in front of your face? That's been our main issue with diving so far; long sleeves and long pants have helped with the nettles, but the lack of visibility has been a real issue.

I know PropSpeed is expensive, but just think of all the hassle it would have saved you to have put it on while you were hauled out.

[fourlyons]

Originally Posted by Shrew

All mechanics and shops (that I know of in the US) have a minimum on billable hours. (i.e. a 20 min. job will be billed at 1 hr).



If the mechanic is a mobile mechanic, then you might be getting a 1 hr. mini on travel time and a 1 hr mini on the job itself.



As for what to withold....did you give the mechanic the opportunity to remediate the problem? Fixing the problem, then shorting his bill on the cost doesn't give the mechanic the opportunity to fix it.



Id' pay the bill and simply not hire that mechanic again. If I want something done wrong, I can do that myself.

Exactly, if you didn't give the mechanic a chance to fix their screw up, you can't really refuse to pay.

[KelseyB]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

I know PropSpeed is expensive, but just think of all the hassle it would have saved you to have put it on while you were hauled out.

yea I'm kicking myself over that one.

[JimsCAL]

Is the problem solved?

[KelseyB]

Originally Posted by JimsCAL

Is the problem solved?

It was, in fact, barnacles. The overfilled transmission fluid was definitely a second factor. I'm still a bit baffled at how the barnacles managed to only really affect forward and not reverse, but either way, with the prop clean everything went right back to normal. Thanks everyone for your input!

[Wotname]

Great news, always good when the fix is cheap!

Now is the time to have a good look at the prop wash when you open the throttle from idle to WOT. This will give you a baseline of what a clean prop wash looks like for future reference.

[Mauruuru]

several years ago, after sailing to FL from caribbean I had a similar issue. I spent a couple of weeks at my new dock waiting for a lift date at the place where I was getting cutless bearing replaced. On the appointed day, backed away from slip and motored down the deadend channel to the ICW but when I got into the counter flowing tide, boat basically stopped moving forward. Even at max revs couldn't make any forward progress and as I had a bridge to go under I ended up calling for a tow to thew marina. When the boat was lifted the three blade prop was a ball of barnacles and other growth. It worked ok at slack tide but against a full tide all I did was egg beat the water into a froth! All the imagined horrors of wrecked transmission, missing prop etc were happily dispelled but it was an important lesson.

[Icarus]

But then you mention plenty of prop wash in forward...?
Check if you picked up a rope or something...hence the vibration?
Check the prop...again
My second guess is the transmission is on the blink check the gear box oil for metal.