New & old machinery - Gearbox, Propeller, FINISHED CAPSTAN ARRIVES!

Hi my name is Leo and I’m a boat builder and a sailor.

A few years ago, I bought an old wooden Sailing Boat that’s very famous for just one dollar and since then, I’ve been rebuilding this boat from the keel up with the help of many amazing people. In my previous video,

Honestly, it feels good to know there are still so many people out there willing to share their knowledge and skills for a greater purpose, and that’s truly humbling.

In this video, we’re going to be tackling the issue that we identified just a couple weeks ago regarding our gearbox ratio not being matched up to the size of our propeller. It’s trying to spin it too fast for its size and because it is, there is too much drag; the engine isn’t getting up to full RPM.

First Things First

Before we get into how we’re going to solve this, let’s look at another job that we’ve been working on recently. That is getting all the navigation lights on Talo up and running.

All Vessels Have Running Lights

All vessels at sea have a variety of lights to show what sort of vessel they are and which direction they’re going, or rather, what part of the vessel you’re looking at. For example, there’s a port running light which is red and starboard running light, which is green on respective sides of the vessel.

If you see a green light, you know you’re looking at the starboard side; that helps you determine which way it’s going. And so on, they are really important! Talho’s running lights are mounted on these light boxes or light boards.

This is a very traditional way of mounting running lights. In the old days, these would have been paraffin lamps in here but now we have LED electric lights which are brighter and more reliable. The box actually serves to limit the sector from which you can see this light. It stops the light being seen from the wrong angle, basically.

You can’t see the stern light from behind or from the wrong side of the boat, which is really important because it would be really confusing if you could; to other vessels. It also stops the light from blinding the person on helm.

Lashing and Hauling Mallets

I’m just lashing these to the shrouds, using some sisal twine and a double constrictor knot. And I’m using these heaving mallets which were kindly lent to me by Bob.

The purpose of these mallets is basically to just haul on two lines, really hard. They use the leverage of the handle and the two barrels working with each other, so you put a tremendous amount of force on two lines pulling away from each other.

Using that, with this double constrictor knot which is a very effective knot, we can make it so tight that this knot can never be undone. That’s why I’m able to cut the tails so short. The only way to get this knot off is to cut it and it can actually be cut on top without endangering whatever’s underneath the knot.

Solving the Propeller Gearbox Issue

In this episode, we’ll be attempting to solve that gearbox prop issue. But before getting into that, let’s have a recap of what happened in our previous video. After putting Talho back in the water, we started using it immediately and it was very apparent that there were some issues with both the propulsion and maneuverability of the boat.

The issue stemmed from a communication error several years ago where we ended up with a different gearbox than what we thought we were going to have. We’d made all our plans around having a slower turning gearbox, but we ended up with a faster one and so, our propeller is too big basically.

The solution would be to either change the propeller or the gearbox – we can’t leave it as it is because it voids the engine warranty. We’re not getting the full power that we should be getting out of the engine. So, before making a decision, I wanted to really understand what difference it would actually make.

The New MaxProp Arrives

I went to someone who is really well qualified and experienced enough to understand how that would actually work, do the calculations, and give us some hard numbers. It was interesting and really useful.

You may have guessed by now which direction I decided to go, but if not, you will find out very soon.

New Propeller Installation

This is the MaxProp four bladed Feathering propeller. Definitely a little smaller which is what we need and definitely feathering, which is also what we need. Look at those arms! It made propelling it quite easy.

The reason why I decided to change the prop rather than the gearbox was due to practicality. It’s the quickest way to go sailing this summer, which is really important to me. Changing the gearbox would be a lot more work and it might technically end up in slightly better result but we actually saw much cleverer than me did the calculations.

We only lose 3% efficiency by going with this smaller, faster prop. It’s common knowledge that a larger, slower prop gives more torque but it’s hard to actually quantify how much more torque and in what situations. We found someone who is qualified and able to do the math on that.

We found out it’s only 3% in this specific situation, so I’m happy with that. And if we feel like we’re underpowered later on and we want to go to a bigger prop and slower gearbox, then we’ll change it out next winter which is definitely a possibility.

Propeller Alignment

As I mentioned earlier in the video, we had to lap this new prop. This is called the timesaver lapping compound which is intended for yellow metals or soft metals. The idea behind it is that you get a perfect interference fit between the taper on the tail shaft and the hub with the propeller.

I locked the tail shaft inside the boat so it doesn’t spin and I can feel this new prop lapping on nicely because it’s kind of wanting to suck onto the taper and grab. You can see that the compound is applied evenly, there are no high spots.

Capon Installation

We also have another job in hand which has recently caught our attention. We’re getting all the navigation lights on Talho up and running so that we can properly see where we’re going at sea.

Capon Restoration Update

In case you haven’t been following, Talho has its original capstan which is a huge anchor winch that sits on the foredeck and brings in the chain and anchor. It was the original part of the drawing when Talo launched in 1910.

I took it off the boat near the beginning of this rebuild and since then, it has been all over the place as I’ve been trying to find someone capable of restoring it. Finally, I found Keith Rucker who has the YouTube channel