Dunno how significant this is, but in my Universal M-15 manual, it states in all caps, underlined, and bold letters, never to put the transmission in forward gear while under sail; always use reverse gear, if you do not want the shaft to spin free.
On Persephone, we do this to reduce wear and tear on the cutlass bearing and the packing gland. It probably costs us a small amount of speed but we're pure pleasure cruisers so we don't care. Our cutlass and packing gland are both still in fine shape after 7 years of ownership. David Persephone, '88 C27 --- In [email protected], "new_horizons_64" <new_horizons...@...> wrote: > > If it is not your prop shaft spinning free, it is most likely your cutlass bearing rattling within its strut, which indicates that it's failing and needs to be replaced. I had the same noise when mine was failing. It sounded very much like the prop was free-spinning under sail. > > --- In [email protected], "sharon_speller" unclesharon@ wrote: > > > > I had a new mystery noise coming from the stern cowling that is connected to my blower hose. The noise happens when i am under sail, engine off. All batteries are off. If im at the dock nothing. it sounds like a motor whirling. the noise is coming from behind the engine. Near the transmission and prop..... I think. > > Could it be the prop? never had it happen before today. > > thanks. > > >
