outboard motor left in gear

[rob.lovelace]

I was told to leave the outboard in gear so that it would save wear and tear on the gearbox. Is this worth causing the extra drag for? does anyone else do this, or heard of this?
regards,
Rob

[Miker]

Never heard of it Rob, but I'm no expert.

If I leave mine in gear the prop does spin a bit when under way and makes an annoying clicking sound. I usually lift it up on the transom bracket anyway, once the sails are up.

Michael.

[Shaun]

Gday Rob,
Im pretty sure i once wrecked a perfectly good outboard, by leaving it dragging in the water & in neutral, & sailing for many hrs. The propeller was spinning & making a soft clunking sound, but i thought 'she'll be right'.
After this episode the motor kept jumping out of gear when over half throttle, after i stripped it down & researched/investigated the problem further, i came to the conclusion that the 'dog clutches' were worn, & i put this wear down to leaving outboard leg dragging in water, but im no mechanic!.
Now if i must leave the outboard in the water for a short period of time, i'll put it in gear(fwd or rev, cant remember which one?) to stop prop spinning. I heard a mechanic years ago suggest locking prop by tieing length of rope around prop to stop it spinning.
cheers
shaun

[Tales]

Hi Rob,
Propeller driven aircraft flying with a dead engine always stop the thing turning (fixed pitch prop) to lessen drag.
The main reason I leave my outboard gearbox in reverse when sailing is so that the anti lift lock is working.
Stops the leg leaping up in heavy seas and banging on the back of the well.
Cheers,
Tom

[Dolphin]

G'Day all,
There is an interesting article by Alan Lucas about motor sailing in My Sailing, in it he brings up the point that lightly loaded engines cause gearbox wear because the gears rattle on light load. Maybe that is why the dog clutch wore out on the outboard. Its a good article for us of the cruising fraternity. The link is ;

http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/motor- ... m-the-race

I have heard too that it is less drag to lock the prop. I lock mine (ie put it in gear) because it has a folding prop and that makes the blades close. I don't hink I'd be tying a bit of rope around it as sure as eggs I'd forget and get it all wrapped up.

Al the best, Greg.

[Tales]

Yachting Monthly, July 2012 has story on this.

They tested drag using an outboard motor.

The results showed that at 5 knots the drag on a free wheeling prop was only 2/5ths of that of a non rotating prop.

In fact the non rotating prop was creating nearly as much drag as a bucket towed behind!

I have shortened the clutch rod on my outboard now so that the tilt lock is working all the time and will be sailing with the motor out of gear in future.

Thinking about Shaun's damaged gearbox (above), perhaps the 'soft clunking noise' was the dogs rubbing on each other. Maybe the linkage was not permitting it to go completely into neutral?

Should only be the bearings wearing in neutral on an outboard.

Cheers,

Tom