Aquadrive
Date: December 12, 2004
From: Gene Rohloff generohl@netscape.com
Dear Paul,
Often when crossing Lake Michigan when the wind dies and the flys set in I crank up the diesel and "get it over with". Never was real happy with the amount of shake rattle and roll motoring produced in spite of spending many hours head down and butt up over the motor mounts trying to perfectly align the motor. Then last spring I installed an Aquadrive unit. This is composed of a thrust bearing mounted on a bulkhead that is glassed to the hull that accepts the push (or pull) of the prop shaft. So the prop shaft pushed on the boat not the motor. Between the thrust bearing and the transmission is a CV joint made up of 2 universal joints which negate the necessity of having the motor perfectly aligned with the prop shaft. Because the only force imposed on the motor is torque, motor mounts can be fairly soft. When I read that Hinkley regularly instals Aquadives on their boats I thought, "What's good enough for Hinkley is good enough for me". If any member would be interested I would be happy to engage in an email exchange.
