The Steamtug Blog

Oh, dear… the new propeller got wet! But don’t worry, the steering wheel is still dry! We’ve had a lot of rain recently, and I was thinking if it keeps this up for 40 days and 40 nights, Adaqua will not float with water coming in through the opening for the new toilet valve, and the stern gland.

When the old propeller fell apart when taken off the boat, I was forced to order a new propeller which was going to take a week to arrive. I usually like to get the boat turned around and back in the water in about 4 days, because the hull dries out and leaks like a sieve when put back in the water, but we were stuck until the new one arrived. It was also lucky that Paul who operates the slipway managed to delay the next boat to use our cradle an extra week. (Thanks Paul, I know you read this!) So, with Tom’s help, we took the opportunity to pull out the propeller shaft and do some refurbishment. It was a fortunate thing that we did,  as with all the vibration from the old propeller, the aft prop shaft bearing was also shot. And the roller bearing in the middle of the shaft inside too was in pretty poor condition, and of course, we wanted to replace the packing in the stern gland which was always leaking. It turns out that the bearing next to the gland too had far too much clearance, and so Tom took this one home too and fitted a new brass bush that was so tight, we had to lap it in with sandpaper to get the shaft to fit back in.

Meanwhile the sanding of the dodgy spots on the hull continued. They say you have lots of mates when you have a boat, and as you can see by other photos taken on those hot summer days elsewhere on this blog, it certainly is true. But where the hell are they all when it comes to the most fun, lying on your back, upside down with paint dust raining down on you until your arms feel like they are going to drop off, but you must keep on going! So late Saturday afternoon I emerged from under the boat to see some cute girls walking past taking a special interest in a handsome bloke like me. They were looking and giving me some sexy little giggles, obviously impressed with my handsome good looks. Until some little kid walking behind shattered my dream and asked if I was from the Avitar movie! Cheeky little sod! What on earth could he be on about? Well I soon found out next time I went to the toilet and looked in the mirror only to see ‘Pappa Smurf” with blue face and even blue hair looking back at me!

Sunday was spent painting in between drizzly rain patches which forced me to give up on the upper side and retreat to the shelter deep underneath. The paint is thick and with the nooks and crannies in the hull planking, your arm soon aches, until it is worse than having a wank when your pissed! It was a hard lonely day, and all I could think about is there was still a long way to go, and my day off work on Monday would be spent the same way. It was hard juggling a busy work schedule but doing small bits after work each night, it was all finished by Thursday, 2 coats and 12 litres of anti foul and she was looking good!

The new propeller arrived a day early and looked so nice, it’s too beautiful to put under the sea where only the fish will see it! I want to wear in around my neck on a chain, or mount it on the back of the Triumph to make it look like it goes fast! It’s nikle-bronze which should resist electrolysis better, and 3 inches bigger in diameter, but 1 inch less in pitch. The blades are big pear shaped petals and compared to the old propeller cover nearly the whole circle with blade, while the old one had big gaps between each blade. So with the new propeller mounted up, I stayed until late Thursday night mounting up the new shaft ball bearing on it’s taper lock, before re-instatement of the shaft couplings, all ready for launch Friday afternoon.

So Friday afternoon, Paul pushed me down the slipway with the tractor. Its always an exciting ride back down the slippery slope and splash into the water. It reminds me of that log ride at Dreamworld as it bumps down before the big splash at the end. But that’s when you feel most worried as I went around and checked all the hull planks, with all the floors still pulled up to see what goes on when she gets wet for the first time. Last time there was such a big leak, I thought the bilge pump pipe had a hole in it, but when I turned the pump off, the water was still running down inside the hull. But this time, there was a couple of tiny streams of water  running down on top of the keel to the engine room from the rudder knee, but basically it was nothing!

Next, I pulled up a bucket of water from outside and primed the cooling water pump and started the engine which sounded happy to be running again. All this took around 10 – 15 minutes with Paul looking worried as to what I was doing before he could winch is cradle back up. I pushed Adaqua off the cradle and nervously engaged the engine astern, imagining my new bearing flying off the shaft and the couplings collapse and fall into the bilge, but nothing doing! It was silky smooth, quiet and vibration free. Only slowly turning backwards. I checked where we were headed, and went down to check the stern gland. So far, so good. The only thing I noticed, was the boat gave a lurch as the prop bit into the sea. Again going forward, even with the engine at idle the boat jumps forward when the engine is engaged. Wow! Before it made lots of noise, and slowly wound itself up to speed. Now you can feel it really bite the water!

With a few revs up and heading towards the open water, I left the helm and checked the stern gland. It was already hot and I back it off quite a few turns trying to loosen it up. Working up on engine rpm, I was amazed at the new speed. For example at the old cruising speed of 2000 rpm, we managed 6.8 knots. Now we were doing 8.2! Wow… we have gained more than the boats old top speed with 500 rpm less than before! I opened her up fully but with the extra load on the engine, she only managed 2300 rpm, instead of 2500 rpm, but the new top speed is 8.8 knots compared to before when we struggled to make 8.0 knots! Amazing. It means we can make  8 knots comfortably meaning a trip from Geelong to Melbourne which used to take 6 hours can be done in 4.7 hours, and my planned trip to King Island is cut from 16 hours to just 12 hours! My excitement had to be curtailed as the smoke from the stern gland had filled the aft cabin, and I had to pull up another bucket of water to cool it down before backing it off even more until finally a little drip of water for lubrication and cooling appeared on the shaft.

Special thanks to Tom, who helped me with all the machining and bearing re-furbishment, Foot and Anita who helped with some painting, and Paul at the Geelong yacht club for looking after someone who is not even a member. Thanks also to Geoff Mann from Webster Engineering for his patience 5 years ago, and finally solving the mystery of the right propeller for the job. I should also mention Austral propellers for building me such a nice shiny prop which works better than expected. Thanks everyone! http://www.australpropeller.com.au/

Click on this link to see the graphs of the speed comparison of the old and new propeller Propeller