Outboard shear pins

[Ozzie]

Money saving tip for those poor folk or stingy people like me.

I regularly read the Uk Boat Owners Forum which often has universal useful advice .I noted this one today which talks about the above subject .

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.ph ... 20fcc25205

I have pins in my old air, and newer water, cooled 5 horse ancient Mariners and as I'm in LM busted a few over the years. Occasionally on the 563 but mainly Using the donk on my tender. I've been using welding rods as spares as per this article although usually replace them in time with the correct part. The correct pins are pricey for what they are. If you use welding rod and profile them with a snap groove as per the originals you are probably so close to a standard part it does not matter.

Advice from a mechanoid is don't be tempted to use a small stainless bolt or similar. The sacrificial nature of these brittle pins is to save more expensive bits in your drive train.

Hope this may be of value to some of you.

[snoopebj]

I don't think my Yammie 8hp has a shear pin. Some sort of cushioned rubber hub thingy. Luckily never had a prop strike though that web site suggests most shear pin breaks due to whacking the outboard in gear at high revs.
Thanks for the great link. Always loved the Practical Boat Owner magazine- those brilliant hand drawn illustratiions one of the major things that attracted me to sailing many years ago. Dreams of fitting out my 40 foot world cruising yacht..................
Ah well I got the next best thing my lovely little Investigator

[Yara50]

The only time my Mariner shear pin went was in the "washing machine" area of Broken Bay, when the prop came out of the water and dropped back at high revs. Was a bugger, as in a chop there is no way you can lift the motor off the bracket and replace the pin.

Hopefully my new Tohatsu 6hp Sailpro with ultra long shaft will keep the prop submerged. Looking forward to taking the boat out, but the weather has turned rather nasty, winter finally here.

[Ozzie]

Yes Ian it's miserable up at LM at the moment too. Even too bleak for my haulout.

My newer black 5 hp merc I bought for my poly fishing rig has no shear pins just the rubber bush . These can tear apparently but can be replaced as per my post a while back on my prop repair. But not in the water it's a workshop job apparently. I think the bushing was introduced specifically to address the highrevs/into gear problem while still providing break away protection for the drivetrain in a dead stop situation.

Only time I ever had to replace a pin while the motor was on the back of Spritz was one new years eve coming back from the fireworks . I missread a channel marker that has recently been moved and went into some weed . Finished up waist deep in water fixing it at 1am as I was too tired to try and pull the motor off the mount into the boat.

This was in the years BC....Before Current shark infestation. Would not do it now.

I am interested to know how your new motor goes. They are highly recommended.

Hope conditions settle soon and we are all on the water again . Winter can provide nice sailing days .