TodBookless
New Member
I was out sailing on Sunday, and when I dropped the sails and started up the motor to come in to the doc, there was an unhealthy banging, followed by the sound of my motor spinning very freely - but we were not moving. After docking under sail (a whole other story...), I dug into the problem and discovered a small, broken bolt lying under the propeller shaft. The shaft spins freely inside of the universal joint(? I am making up the name "universal joint" - someone needs to tell me the real name). There is a hole in the universal joint, and one in the shaft, but they do not line up. There is zero play in the shafts, so I am not sure how the bolt would ever have gone in there. The previous owner repowered the boat with an electric motor last year, so the bolt has not been in there very long. It is also a pretty small bolt that was lying down in the bottom of the boat, and it just seems like it should be bigger. I have included a picture of what I am talking about. My questions, is how are these things supposed to hook together?