Prop-Shaft wrapped by jib sheet

[mpcsail]

Practicing man overboard and a job sheet somehow ended in the water and when engine engaged was wrapped around prop and shaft. Engine was in low RPM’s and then stalled out. We kept main sail up to keep it under control and moving.

Problem was the shaft seal began to trickle water. Pump was working fine and everyone was good. Ended up getting towed back to marina and had diver standing by. With little effort the diver freed the line without cutting. Heard and felt a bang and as according to the diver the shaft moved back into place. Now no more leak.

So question is a hull out required to check for any damage or can I just run it at the dock and then out in the river to check for cavitation or leaking?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[zaphod]

If it was me I would start by testing it at speed to see if there are any unusual vibrations or unusual noises. I would also inspect the inside of the hull where the strut attaches and make sure there are no cracks or leakage happening there. I assume the diver inspected the strut when he cleared the rope.

If everything checked out I probably wouldn't plan a special haul out, just for that, but I might move up my next scheduled haul.

The big concern would be a bent strut or bent prop shaft, but it sounds like you might have got lucky because the engine was at low rpm.

[sailbleu]

Not sure how a 51 feet boat's shaft/propeller set up looks like , I suppose you have a strut , but if a shaft movement created a seal leak than something was/is very wrong . I would check the glassing around the strut and look for small leaks .
You could have a look at the P-bracket repair article on the Jeanneau hint and tips section :
www.jeanneau-owners.com/hintsandtips/Pbracketrepair.html


On this board however there are more articles of boaters that suffered similar incidents , the search function here function will guide you .Try some different keywords .

Regards

[mpcsail]

So just tested it at the dock. Had it running at 1500 rpms in both forward and reverse. No drips or leaking apparent and couldn’t see any cavitation.

[mpcsail]

Sorry it’s a jeanneau 53 with a 110hp yanmar with shaft.

[sailbleu]

It seems you dodged the bullet after all , and most likely thanks to the low revs , good for you .

Regards

[jy51]

Dec 16, 2019 2:51:39 GMT mpcsail said:

Practicing man overboard and a job sheet somehow ended in the water and when engine engaged was wrapped around prop and shaft. Engine was in low RPM’s and then stalled out. We kept main sail up to keep it under control and moving.

Problem was the shaft seal began to trickle water. Pump was working fine and everyone was good. Ended up getting towed back to marina and had diver standing by. With little effort the diver freed the line without cutting. Heard and felt a bang and as according to the diver the shaft moved back into place. Now no more leak.

So question is a hull out required to check for any damage or can I just run it at the dock and then out in the river to check for cavitation or leaking?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Yes I know its easy to make comments and suggestions after the event but, when commissioning our boat early this year we fitted an ambassador rope cutter, an expensive add on, but something I believe to be worth its weight in gold.

No sooner were we off on our maiden cruise, it started to pay for itself!  While anchoring, I reversed over our dingy tow line and the cutter sliced through the offending line. Two months later I found myself in the not to envious position of being pinned by the wind against another boat with its 20mm berthing pick up line trapped against my propeller.  Once again our ambassador rope cutter did its job cutting through the line to assist our escape.  On lifting we inspected the shaft, bearing and propeller with no signs of damage.  So the moral of this story is if you are as half as stupid as I am a rope cutter is an essential.