Does anyone know what the base of the strut holding the propeller shaft looks like inside the fiberglass of the E32-2/E35-2? Does it have flanges or wings or something that extend laterally from the centerline? Any information about how big they are?
I have been lurking more than contributing, but I posted on the murderous prop walk of my E32 last fall. Then, I considered grinding an aperture in the keel to admit a bigger prop but have selected a slightly more radical solution.
The keel forward of the rudder shaft seems to be 4 or 5 inches of solid fiberglass and is maybe 9 or 10 inches deep. (I'm guessing on the exact measurements.) I don't think there would be any harm in shortening the keel by a few inches of glass to allow an upgrade from a 12" to a 15" prop. However, I'm not sure how close to the strut I can start my cut. If there are flanges, I could drill through them and put in some kind of backing plate.
As I understand it, the prop walk is so wretched on this boat because its Yanmar diesel turns at about one-half the rpm of the origin Atomic 4. Then the transmission has a 2.6:1 reduction, so there is quite a lot of splashing without much power. A substantially larger prop is the only solution - short of thrusters.
FWIW, Fred Hutchinson at PYI, Inc. was terrific in helping think through the options. Rather than buy a new MaxProp, I returned my old one and PYI is building-up the blades. The cost is about $1400 cheaper than a new unit.
I sure hope this works.
I have been lurking more than contributing, but I posted on the murderous prop walk of my E32 last fall. Then, I considered grinding an aperture in the keel to admit a bigger prop but have selected a slightly more radical solution.
The keel forward of the rudder shaft seems to be 4 or 5 inches of solid fiberglass and is maybe 9 or 10 inches deep. (I'm guessing on the exact measurements.) I don't think there would be any harm in shortening the keel by a few inches of glass to allow an upgrade from a 12" to a 15" prop. However, I'm not sure how close to the strut I can start my cut. If there are flanges, I could drill through them and put in some kind of backing plate.
As I understand it, the prop walk is so wretched on this boat because its Yanmar diesel turns at about one-half the rpm of the origin Atomic 4. Then the transmission has a 2.6:1 reduction, so there is quite a lot of splashing without much power. A substantially larger prop is the only solution - short of thrusters.
FWIW, Fred Hutchinson at PYI, Inc. was terrific in helping think through the options. Rather than buy a new MaxProp, I returned my old one and PYI is building-up the blades. The cost is about $1400 cheaper than a new unit.
I sure hope this works.