Water in propeller tube

Hi Capt. Fred,
There shouldn't be any water in your oil bath drive. Do you know the manufacturer? Do you have a thrust bearing behind the gearbox? Do you have temp sensors on the system and is your oil header tank milky? Other than the stern seals, you might have a pressurized coupling if you have a tail shaft that could have lost its nitrogen charge allowing water ingress. pure speculation at this point not knowing the make and mod.

There can be a number of ways for water to get into the oil.

If you use a good quality stern tube such as Vickers Hydrox a bit of water will not do any harm.

How does the oil circulate in your arrangement?

I can only assume that your vessel would have a cam pump or a "Knock Pump"
that runs off the prop shaft rotation Fwd. of the thrust bearing if one is fitted? Since its on a smaller install aboard a sailing vessel does it have a cooler or heat exchanger? Besides the header tank, is there an expansion / overflow tank aft? Manufacturer is key here, I see that your vessel was built in N.Z. Now they're building in Turkey?

Hi,

If he had an Akerboom one maybe but as there are others out there that use no pump it is probably best to wait for the answer before making assumptions wouldn't you say?

Akerboom hasn't always used cam pumps but changed from electric to mechanical in the early eighties. Up to that time they used electric pumps and sea water cooled heat exchangers as I was the Chief on the Feadship "Daria"
in 1979-80 (a little before your time as an engineer) & we had issues with the electric system and had to retro fit. I've come full circle as I've just finished up on the Feadship "Iroquois" three months ago with the mechanical Akerboom system and since this sailing vessel was more than likely built in N.Z. then who knows BUT, for your personal interest there are other systems that use cam pumps as I type this like Wartsila and Federal so yes , I'm speculating as to what system this gentleman may have aboard but am only trying to help narrow it down if he doesn't know and in no way do I need to be chastised or reprimanded by you. You have many posts on YF but by no means are you the Wikipedia of YF but you and two others here seem to take a certain amount of satisfaction trying to poke holes in others attempts to help other members. Chill out K1W1...

Some people cannot see the forest for the trees.

Others do not realize swiss cheese is full of holes.

Interestingly, sometimes it is necessary

to enlighten someone to these simple truths.


P.S.- Food for thought.

Cat sold 1693's with defective liners.

Told owners oil consumption was normal.

How many Cat certified mechanics knew?

Hint: In 1979 - 1980 = none, who were talking.