As we’re still dialing in the props on Wind Horse, we’ve just had the need to remove our new Hall and Stavaert props for some fine tuning. As the water is very cold, not to mention dark, we asked Dwayne Montgomery at Emerald City Diving in Seattle to handle the job for us.

Dwayne’s been doing this since 1972, so he knows his business. In fact, Dwayne changed the pitch on a Max prop for us on Sundeer in 1988 (in the water of course).

Ordinarily this would be considered a mundane operation, but as with so many things to do with boats, we learned a couple of interesting things from Dwayne, which we thought we’d pass along.

When Dwayne asked if we’d lubed the prop shaft and/or hub when we put the new props on last week we told him “Of course. We used Never Seize.”

Dwayne groaned and said “We call that Ever Seize.”

Seems that lubing the shaft allows the fit to be tighter than normal, if you really crank up the prop nut, making the prop very difficult to remove. Lesson Number One!

Dwayne and hid divers wear dry suits, with thermal underwear.

The legs have feet built in; there are tight fitting wrist bands and thin gloves (which Dwayne is adjusting above); and the norm is to use a full face mask with built-in regulator.

We carry a 5/16″ thick wet suit, hood and vest, booties, and gloves for our own cold water maintenance, but after chatting with Dwayne about this, we are going to switch to a dry suit for next season. We are also going to take some lessons in its use. An old-fashioned wet suit of the variety we have is really painful to use in cold water and tends to inhibit the decision to get under the boat. As we like to check the running gear before a passage, we’re going to upgrade our gear in this department.

In our case, the process of prop removal involves the following: Pull propeller zinc, open split (cotter) pin and pull, remove prop nut, fit puller and remove prop.

I asked Dwayne how they avoid losing the key between the prop shaft and prop hub. He said that with the prop still on, but loose, they rotate the prop so that the key is on the topside, where it naturally wants to stay.

There are always a few bits of gear that have to be careful handled. You want to be extra-careful transferring from the diver to the person out of the water, with no distractions while this is taking place.

A safety line is rigged to the prop, and then the diver brings it to the surface.

These are little guys, barely 40 pounds (18kg). This crew sometimes handles props weighing ten times this or more!

Another point Dwayne stressed was about the split pins. “Always use new split pins. Old pins work-harden and can shear if the prop nut starts to turn. And make sure to use the biggest pin which will fit. A smaller split pin is more prone to failure.”

This process, for both propellers, totaled 58 minutes (Dwayne was keeping tabs). Putting the props back on is a much simpler, quicker operation.