Rubber coupling on Sleipner Bow Prop

Suddenly the bow-prop stopped working in a critical harbour manoeuvre. Good, always to have a plan B and always expect that any engine can fail. Hence me teaching how to berth also without a bow-prop and also how to react if your main engine suddenly stops working.

With the bow-prop the motor was still spinning, but the propellers were not turning. 

Sleipner had the most excellent service. I called Norway and they explained that it most probably was a safety breakage of the rubber coupling which is intended to break if there is something being suck into the propeller, rather than distroying the propeller. He even gave me the spare part No for my SE170, which is part No 7 1463. 

I followed Sleipners advice and opened up the four bolts with an Allen Key and easily lifted off the motor. Right enough, there was black plastic all over the place!

I cleaned it and ordered the said spare part from a local dealer (Brest Nautic) who got the piece overnight and even delivered it to the pontoon to the boat the following day at 12:00 noon! What a fantastic service!

It’s important to keep the little metal Holding keys, since they are not part of the spare part!

In the mean time, I dove to check the propeller and it was looking in perfect shape. However one of the anodes had dissappeared completely, with the screw still inside, despite me having changed both anodes this spring. Could the anode have come loose and gotten into the propeller that broke the weak link, i.e. the rubber coupling? 

Then it was a matter or re-installing the bow-prop again, following the manual I have uploaded here. 

 

Put back both holding keys in their corresponding grooves (above it already is placed on the gearbox in the background, still missing the holding key for the motor (top).

Place the rubber coupling onto the motor (I needed to bang it into place with a rubber hammer) and then align both shafts for the motor and gear carefully and place the motor on top again, securing it with the four Allen bolts.

Obviously, the entire work must only be done with the main fuse taken out! 

And, of course, I didn’t just order one coupling, but two! You should also carry a spare coupling in your boat so you can replace it in case something gets sucked into the bow-prop.