Propeller reinstall

[William Walter]

had my props reconditioned and re pitched.when I got them back I noticed a pattern of holes in props .my prop guy said it was from the mold and props we’re getting a little thin and I should start thinking of new props.then after reinstalling the props I noticed more space between the strut and prop on port side.at first I thought I didn’t have it on all the way but after putting them on without the keyway it was indeed .seems the port side is not fully into the coupling or the shafts are different lengths.seemed weird I had two different pins .one bronze looking and one stainless looking.perhaps a new shaft put in.looked at photos of boat when purchased this summer and spacing is similar to what I have now.

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[Ken Ching]

Check you coupler, your shaft could be slipping out of the coupler.  Maybe the set screw bolt is not tight enough.  I had this problem before.

[Rob Schepis]

Knowing your size, year, make and HP boat would tell me yes they are NiBrals.  Look for markings on the hub and the NiBral props have a different color tone then bronze but that may be hard to detect by an untrained eye without having examples to compare too.  The prop shop who just did them would know, they better, and should have given you a scan with all the prop specs including their material.  

[William Walter]

Thx rob i figured the overhang  was maybe normal after talking to my prop guy but wasn’t sure. My previous boat everything matched.my shafts are two inch.having two different pins for keyway and the overhang got me wondering if maybe a shaft was changed.wish I had more history on boat so when things like this come up it makes you wonder .i was told props were nibral but is there a definitive way to tell.bill

[Rob Schepis]

 Bill, Have not seen those pinholes in props in particular but in other metals and it’s usually contributed to impurities in the metal from the manufacturing process that have succumbed to the the elements over time leaving those small voids.  Are those Nibral or Bronze wheels? That space you are referring to between the leading edge of the prop hub and the trailing edge of the strut bearing is known as overhang, some call it shaft overhang, some call it prop overhang.  ABYC and common sense have that distance capped at 1:1 (overhang:shaft diameter) although there are factors that can be cause to go outside this rule.  With that said, even your greater spaced side looks reasonable.  What are those 1-3/4 inch shafts? Just to be thorough I would do some poking around, check engine mounts and coupling.. 

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