During the summer of 2005 on completion of osmosis treatment a clicking could be heard when under power with the prop engaged. The clicking was louder running ahead than astern and appeared to drop off as the engine speed increased.

The boat was taken out of the water and the prop shaft was inspected together with prop blades and the rope cutter. The rope cutter stator was found to be hard up against the holding block and showed signs of quite severe wear of the blade. The cause was determined to be that the prop shaft had moved forward toward the engine.

On further investigation the prop shaft clamping bolts on the rear of the engine, although tight, had allowed the shaft movement forward.

As the image on the right shows, the stator cutter is worn and the water lubricated friction bearings are worn away in parts.

A new stator cutter was ordered from Harold Hayles of Yarmouth at a cost of  £130.00 and it arrived within 24 hours.

To remove the old cutter is easy, just undo the two allen screws and the cutter with the remnants of the anti-friction bearings comes apart.

The images below show the comparison between old and new, pointing out the badly worn parts of the stator cutter.

The above image shows the old & new stator with anti-friction bearings complete on the new bearing and partly missing on the old bearing.

To prevent the prop shaft moving forward again I decided to modify the shaft clamp at the rear of the engine with the addition of an M8 grub screw tightened down into an indentation on the prop shaft. See photo on left.

The photo also shows a Jubilee clip fitted as a precaution, prior to fitting the grub screw, to help prevent the shaft moving forward.