Max-prop failure to reverse.

[Brian Mills]

I have a Beneteau 361 which was commissioned 2 months ago. I have a 3 blade Max-prop which was dealer installed and has been working well. Yesterday however, while pulling into the gas dock I had a failure of the prop to flip into reverse. Twice I had to flip into forward and back to reverse at higher RPM to get the prop to bite. I tested the prop after leaving the dock and it again worked flawlessly until I was ready to reverse pulling into my own slip when it again acted up. What is the most common cause of this type of behavior? I swam beneath the boat and could find no debris wrapped on the prop. I will have to have SCUBA gear to truely check the blades for free rotation. Any suggestions!

 

[Kevin L. Woody]

Failure.

Dear Mr. Mills:Thank you for your letter. Not sure what I did but Wednesday I responded to this letter but some how it did not get posted.In order for the Max-Prop to fail in it’s ability to obtain either reverse or forward a gear failure would have had to take place. However if a gear failure took place, it would not have allowed the unit to function properly to only again stick in an unusable position. If the unit was damaged internally you would not experience on and off workings.We could be dealing with a propeller which may need greasing. If the unit was installed and either no grease or the wrong grease was used it could over time develop calcium on it’s bearing surface which could cause the propeller to get sticky. This is fixed by simply adding additional grease. What you are also describing are symptoms of a transmission out of adjustment. You may have a transmission, which is not fully engaging into reverse. It may just be a matter of adjusting your linkage in reverse to extend it’s throw. Your mechanic can easily determine this at your transmission. I hope this helps and if you should have any additional questions please feel free to contact me.Sincerely, Kevin L. Woody