Propeller shaft rotation drag?

[amanphoto]

I have a concern that my propeller shafts on my 1999 Carver Mariner 350 are encountering some sort of resistance and not spinning as freely as they should. Before you ask, yes they are clean and free of any kind of growth. The boat has only seen fresh water and has about 300 hours on it. I have compared the drag on my shafts to the same model boat in our marina, along with other inboard boats. Mine are much harder to turn. I can not turn the shafts of my boat by hand when it is in the water. I need to put a wrench between the bolts like a leaver to get it to turn. I am not experiencing any vibration, noise or clunks while they are in operation.

I thought it might be the alignment of the engines. With the propeller shafts unbolted from the V-drive and slid back about 1/4" the shafts where still very hard to turn. The V-drive is very easy to turn by hand with nothing attached. I checked the alignment and it is with in tolerances. The only thing left is the lip seals (where the shaft goes through the hull) and the cutlass bearing on the P bracket.

The boat is currently on the hard. The shafts are still harder to turn compared to the other boats around me. Yes the boat is in neutral. The P-brackets look straight and not bent. I was told the cutlass bearings would get looser as they where wearing out. What could be issue? Could it be the Cutlass bearing?

[tomschauer]

Most likely nothing wrong. Does the other boat have a lot more hours? making it a bit loose?
I can turn mine by the prop, but not by hand via the shaft.
if its really tight, its possible something got into the cutlass bearing, such as fishing line. But if it takes the same effort for each shaft I doubt you have a problem.

[waybomb]

How tight is the packing?

Maybe the other ones have very loose packing and leak like a sieve.

[bud37]

I agree with Tom, probably nothing wrong, they are all a little different.......have a look at the cutlass bearing to see if the shafts are aligned evenly all around, meaning straight thru.You can pour some water( just water nothing else) on there and see if the shaft is easier to turn.Our boat is fairly stiff.The other consideration is how the boat is blocked, they relax a fair bit when floating.I think you will have to check the alignment now when the boat goes back in, let it float for a day first.
Fred I think he has dripless logs, I know mine does but is an 01.........

[bud37]

A question for you, what kind of anodes do you have on your boat......dont want to misdirect this but I noticed something.....

[tomschauer]

Good point about the packing. Dripless with good tight packing will add a fair amount of drag.

[amanphoto]

The starboard shaft is quite a bit harder to turn them the port. No fishing line line in there. I don’t know what kind of zinks. They are getting an update soon.

[amanphoto]

This is the lip seal? I have not messed with this at all. Now that the boat is out of the water, I can look at it. Little bit of water that collects in the bilge under the seal. The seals do not leak.

[amanphoto]

Source of the post Most likely nothing wrong. Does the other boat have a lot more hours? making it a bit loose?
I can turn mine by the prop, but not by hand via the shaft.
if its really tight, its possible something got into the cutlass bearing, such as fishing line. But if it takes the same effort for each shaft I doubt you have a problem.

The other boat has slightly more hours. I think they have 400-500. It is also a fresh water boat.

My marine survey guy said that you should be able to turn the shafts by hand when it is in the water. I've tried all the boats that I have been on and It seam to be the case.

[amanphoto]

Source of the post How tight is the packing?

Maybe the other ones have very loose packing and leak like a sieve.

The other boats don't leak around there through hulls.