2022 take 2

 Wednesday 20th July I was tied alongside the Harbour Masters launch and towed down-river to Kingston Marine, which consists of a waiting pontoon and a 40t hoist.  I was strapped up and lifted out of the water and jet-washed as is standard, as seen from the endoscope no prop, just a lot of weed.  Once I was moved up to the yard and secured in a frame, not the frame I'm used to at the Yacht Haven but a smaller version, so required a couple of wooden poles also.  Skipper soon spotted the likely issue but couldn't explain it, the rear anode which is secured in place with four Allen key headed bolts was missing!

This anode cannot get past the propeller housing, nothing was there not even four sheared bolts.

It would therefore seem that the propeller was able to oscillate or vibrate possibly causing the tab washer to fail, causing the Loctite to lose hold enabling the M8 bolt to undo, which then allowed the end nut to loosen and eventually also drop off.

Whether this anode was not fitted during the winter period when I came out or it was removed and the propeller was not done up tightly as the perpetrator was in a rush, of course, will never be known.  Skipper cannot believe that he would not have fitted it and usually has a spare at home as these items become difficult to get during the winter period of course.  Maybe it was just missed and such an anode was not at home at that time, as it is difficult to believe that this sort of petty theft would occur by professional mechanics or responsible boat owners.

New anode with the four

bolts tightened to the

specified torque

So to ensure that all the bolts were tightened properly the Skipper bought two quality torque wrenches one that covered the range 2.5-25nm and the other between 40-200nm.  The cost of this chapter was around £2,500GBP covering towing costs, VAT, currency exchange fees, and of course the new prop itself. The indirect cost was around £500 for the two torque wrenches and 100 tab washers, so that a new one can be fitted every winter.

New prop fitted and all

torqued up ready to go

Another lesson possibly learned, just to cast your eye before the boat is put back in the water, Skipper arrived at 0900 as suggested, but the team at the yard already had me descending to the water by that time.

Still, there's still August, September and, October to get in some sailing and that's the way to look at it.