SO29.2 9HP MOTOR

[rustycobblers]

Hi all, my so29.2 is powered by yanmar 9hp motor. This seems ok while pottering along, but when trying to manouvre in and out of birth becomes a problem. In reverse the take up from a standstill is very slow and the prop walk kicks in quickly causing the boat to move out sideways onto the next moored boat (which has an outboard with its prop sticking up in the air ,not doing my top sides any good).When going forwards, changing into reverse,has little effect in trying to stop or slow down.
Any one else have this problem??
Maybe a change of prop or upgrade engine??? Or Maybe its just me being a rubbish skipper!!! Any thoughts or ideas would be good Thanks

[tean]

Our Sunlight 30 which must be broadly similar to your 29.2 has a Yanmar 2GM20 engine (18HP) and a 16 x 11, 2 bladed folding prop.
Our old 24ft Eygthene had a 1GM10 (9HP) with a 12 x 8, 2 bladed folding prop.

We find that these both perform fine in astern, though I do use reasonably high revs when initially going into reverse, to encourage the prop to open fully straight away. There is some small degree of propwalk, but the boat quickly develops some sternway. When going from ahead to astern, the boat does stop quite smartly.

I do wonder if your engine is a bit small for a 29.2 footer, with a correspondingly small prop, so as not to overload the engine.

[Don Reaves]

A feathering prop would probably solve your prop walk problem, and also give you more thrust in reverse. But if the basic problem is that you don't have enough power, you may have to look elsewhere for help.

I replaced the fixed prop on my SO35 with a KiwiProp, and I can't say enough good things about it. It definitely got rid of the prop walk. In fact, sometimes I miss the effect, because it helped me pull the stern over to the dock.

One way to minimize prop walk in reverse is to first get the boat moving well and then shift to neutral, when the rudder can steer you without the prop moving the stern sideways. Of course, this won't always work, particularly if you don't have enough power to get moving well in the first place.

Don

[Stephen Holgate]

I had a Beneteau 265 with exactly the same issues. I had a 9hp Volvo engine that was slow to rev which I felt was more the problem rather than being short on HP. I installed a feathering prop which gave me the ability to stop the boat quickly as well as provide lots of reverse thrust because they are so efficient in reverse. It reduced the prop walk but did not eliminate it however that was not an issue for me in that it crabbed the boat towards my slip. Even when docking to the other side the issue of prop walk was not the same because the boat stopped so fast. Feathering props also give you extra speed under sail due to reduced drag.

[rustycobblers]

Thank you all for your very helpful input,
seems like a change of prop could do the job.
Dons comment about taking it out of gear once your moving is something i haven't tried yet ,but will do next time I'm on the boat.Thanks again to USA, CANADA,& UK Sailors