Whine from Prop Shaft

[ColdNorth]

Idling up to the dock at the lake the other night, we hit a sand bar. We were only idling and did not hear hitting a rock but it did slow us down. There seemed to be a mild vibration and a whine when we accelerated. We tried a few times but each time there was a whine from under the engine cowling. Was not sure if we had hit/damaged the keel so we quickly loaded the boat. Seemed to be no damage... prop fine... nothing visible.

Tonight at home we lifted the water intake hose from the bottom of the boat and turned it upside down to insert the garden hose (fake, fake-a-lake). Started up the engine and ran water over the shaft packing seal at the same time so it remained wet. When we put it in gear, if we accelerated, it would whine at the packing seal. Pulled out the packing seal thinking maybe I needed to change it. With no seal in there still running water over the shaft, we throttled it up again and I get the same whine. Nothing appears bent... what have I done?

Great timing... we live in Canada and were headed for Montana with the boat Wednesday night for a couple of weeks.

The boat is a 2000 X22 with 300 hours.

Any suggestions?

[toyotafreak]

Not sure on the answer, but a couple thoughts...1) I've never wetted the shaft packing, only the strut bearing when running in gear on the fake a lake, 2) don't run above 1200rpm or so on the fake a lake. If the prop's straight (especially NiBrAl) then you're probably cool with regards to bottom hit. Shaft packing needs to be done every once in a while, and West Marine carries it (I bought some this year but haven't done it myself yet...prior owners did it in 2003).

[ColdNorth]

Thanks... very helpful. I was thinking that there must be some bearing where the shaft goes through the hull and was trying to keep it wet... whoops. Needed to be running the water on the strut bearing, not where the shaft goes through the hull. I read on the site but was thinking the strut bearing was where the shaft goes through the hull. Hopefully the water was running down the shaft to that and I did not burn it out. Is there anything else where the shaft goes through the hull?

I guess the only thing we can do is repack the shaft and take it to the lake. Is there any chance I could have 'moved' the strut bearing? Does it align with anything?

Really appreciate the quick response. I am still sweating as I have this underlying feeling something else is wrong...

[lilfoo2225]

theres been other threads like this one. http://www.epicmarine.com/forum4/index.php?topic=1901.0

[toyotafreak]

Am 100% sure you didn't do any damage by letting water run on the packing. 100%. As for what you'll find to be the real culprit? - Who knows :-) We'll all attest to the fact that the drivetrain (and rest of the boat fo sho) is a pretty darn solid piece of engineering and manufacturing. I'm still in great respect for this thing after 7 years.