September 13, 2016
Acadia 1
Tuesday
Late in the morning, Acadia, a 1979 Sabre 34, arrived at the shop. I had the hauler put her right indoors, as I was ready to begin the project at once,
The boat was in very good condition overall, as her owner had had a lot of work done over the years, so for now the scope of work was limited to replacing her aging green monster Volvo diesel with a new engine and, in an interesting twist, a Saildrive unit, which would replace the traditional shaft arrangement which, on this boat, exited the hull offset to starboard.
The new engine and propulsion unit were already on hand, as the owner had ordered them well in advance.
Late in the day, after familiarizing myself with the boat a bit, I started work by removing the two-blade feathering prop, a relatively simple process once I’d looked up some details about the propeller, as I’d not had opportunity to remove one of these before. The unique patterns on the propeller and shaft come from the bottom paint that had been applied over all surfaces.
The body of the propeller was secured together with six set screws locked in place by tiny cotter pins. After scraping away paint buildup and accessing the cotter pins, the screws came out easily, releasing the two blades and gear arrangement within. Then it was a simple matter to remove the prop nut hidden inside and, with minimal use of a prop puller, remove the inner works of the prop from the shaft. I also removed the two shaft zincs, leaving the shaft clean and free for removal later.
Inside the boat, I took a moment to set up some lighting and power to prepare for the work in the engine room.
Total time billed on this job today: 1.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
46°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 80