Are all Pearson design 323 shafts/strut off to starboard ?

[Eibeltje]

Are all Pearson 323 shaft or strut off to starboard ?
 I ask. because nobody seems to have a steering problem only me.
We have a shaft off to starboard and with a left hand rotating prop our boat was steering strait,you could take your hands off the wheel and it won't very the course except for wind and current changes.Now we have a right handed prop and the boat pulls to starboard.
I like to hear from P323 owners with clockwise (RH) and anti clockwise propeller(LH) how there steering behavior is under engine power.
 

[Dolce_Vita]

Are all Pearson 323 shaft or strut off to starboard ?
 I ask. because nobody seems to have a steering problem only me.
We have a shaft off to starboard and with a left hand rotating prop our boat was steering strait,you could take your hands off the wheel and it won't very the course except for wind and current changes.Now we have a right handed prop and the boat pulls to starboard.
I like to hear from P323 owners with clockwise (RH) and anti clockwise propeller(LH) how there steering behavior is under engine power.

As you can see from the attached image, our shaft is offset to port.
We have an Atomic-4 Gasoline engine.  All atomic-4s  use RH rotation.
We have no pull to either side, in forward, but TERRIBLE prop-walk to Port in reverse,
made worse by the fact that we have a 3-blade prop.

I believe all the diesel engines used on the P-323 use LH rotation, and
experience prop-walk to starboard when in reverse.  I don't know about
their shaft offset, but I would assume it would be to starboard.

[selene]

I can't tell you where my shaft is offset, but I can tell you that I have a diesel, and a strong walk to stbd in reverse. The prop is left-handed.

I have no issues going forward - she tracks well under power and under sail (when the sails are balanced), with very slight weatherhelm.

[Eibeltje]

Thank you so much to take the time to respond to my nightmare .
Well,this is very new to me ! This explains why some boats don't have any problems with replacing there Atomic 4 engine with whatever is available because all transmissions for V drive are nowadays  clockwise and your shaft is off to port.But you will run in big problems if you want to replace a Volvo transmission with the shaft off to starboard .I have not found any transmission- V-drive with  LH rotation.I assume that SERENE has a Volvo MD 11 ,like ours. Have you found any transmissions which would support a LH prop rotation ?

[selene]

Selene has a Westerbeke 30B three cylinder 27hp engine, with a Hurth ZF V drive model ZF15MIV V-drive transmission.

The Westerbeke has clockwise rotation (when viewed from the front), like the Volvo (AFAIK).

Very mysterious.  Are you sure the shaft is offset to Starboard?  Could there be some other cause, something to do with rudder itself, or the steering setup?  I only ask as it seems unlikely that Pearson would have changed the hull mould. What hull number are you (I am 212)?

How many blades do you have on the prop? As I understand it 2-blade props have worse propwalk than 3-blade.

I wonder...is the prop shaft offset moulded into the hull, or is is controlled by the seal, prop shaft strut and engine mountings?

I have heard that some people improve their propwalk by using the max-prop (and yet others disagree); also there is a propeller tuning company around here has a process whereby they cut the tips off the prop, and reattach the tips at right angles to their original position.  They claim huge improvement of propwalk. Who knows if it works? http://www.rtkprop.com/

[Eibeltje]

Thank you "Selene" and " DULCE-VITA " .

If you look from the front of your boat you have a clockwise rotating prop.In my handbook that means you have a counterclockwise rotation if you look from behind the boat !That is what I understand the way to determine the  RH/LH rotation .

Before we had a Volvo MD11 and this had a counterclockwise (LH) prop.I could take my hands off the wheel and won't very my course except for wind and current changes.
The marine service department manager advised us this new engine and transmission and with that the change to a clockwise rotating prop.In the sea trail the boat showed this pulling to starboard what is new for this boat.
Nothing was done to rudder or steering setup.

We are hull #68.
You think it seems unlikely that Pearson 323 would have changed the hull mold !We have proof with " Dulce-Vita " and our boat.
"Dolce-Vita " her shaft is offset to port !
We have the same boat with a shaft offset to starboard.(see attached picture)
And "Dulce-Via " has the right clockwise rotating prop as we have a wrong clockwise rotating prop .

I wonder that you have a ZF 15 MIV transmission what you only can use in clockwise rotation (seen from behind off the boat) under warranty.They don't support reverse position in forward.
Are you 100 % sure about your prop rotation ?
You could help me tremendous to find out which is your shaft offset (starboard or port)

[Eibeltje]

Wrong picture that is " Dulce-Vita " her butt.
Here is our Butt. See picture

[selene]

Unfortunately Selene is in the water all year round, and the visibility underwater is poor (2' on a good day) so it is not as easy to get a clear look at the offset.  Also I'm not planning to dive on her soon - just changed the zincs and cleaned the hull a couple of weeks ago!  However, here are some photos.  Unfortunately the image from the stern is off-center; it looks like a portside offset to me.  However you can clearly see the prop rotates in the opposite direction to you.

Dolce Vita is hull #42, so if they did change the mould it was an early change.

[selene]

I've been thinking about this - and hopefully others will let us know how there boats are set up. We need more datapoints.

Hull 42        Port offset          Atomic 4        RH prop
Hull 68        Stbd offset         Diesel            RH Prop
Hull 212     ?port offset?        Diesel            LH Prop

The real anomaly of your prop shaft being offset to starboard. Are you sure of that? It is also possible I am wrong - the photo is not good.  I checked with an expert, and the engine offset is set into the mold, so that is very unlikely to have changed. Gasoline was standard, and diesel was an option, so possibly Pearson had different inserts for the mold, one for diesel, the other for gas. Or one of us got the offset wrong!

Regardless, I think that the offset could be a "red herring".  You have replaced your Volvo with a new engine (what?), and as a result your prop changed from a LH to a RH. Now you have bad propwalk. Makes sense - the old engine, prop and offset worked together to minimise propwalk; with the new engine the entire rotation appears to have reversed. :-(

Hopefully somebody else will chip in with a new datapoint.

[Eibeltje]

I am 100 % sure that our prop is located starboard of our rudder.We had to pull the shaft to put a new one in and they hauled it out on starboard side of the rudder.
The service department manager looked at the specs of our boat and advised us  to go with a Beta marine 25 hp with a ZF 15 MIV transmission.
That is what we have now.
Yes it is very interesting but not if you are the rabbit who has to pay the bill  !
I appreciate your input and I hope that more captains will react to this topic because this will be very interesting for anybody with a Pearson 323 who has to change the engine/transmission.

[Eibeltje]

 " SELENE " if I look good at your prop it looks to me that you have a left handed prop on that picture.
Look very good how the ears of your prop show in comparison to our prop or  "DULCE-VITA ".
It is very hard to see but I can make out the difference with your prop.

[The Great Godsea]

Hull 265. offset to starboard. volvo penta diesel. not sure if prop turns clockwise or not in forward. pulls to starboard in reverse thats for sure. always an adventure backing into the slip, especially with some wind across the bow.

[Rusty Pelican]

P323 #174 Volvo MDllC .  Starboard offset with a LH prop.
You can not tell by the picture, but here is my "sling shot"  haha

[Dolce_Vita]

I believe the whole concept of "having to change the hull mold" is wrong. 

If you think about it, it would be impossible to mold the shaft log in place.  You couldn't release the hull from the mold if you did it that way.

I believe the passage was bored into the hull after it was removed from the mold, and the tube glassed in place afterwards.  This would allow them to bore it with the desired offset, depending on whether they were building a gasoline or diesel boat.

Here's another (mostly unrelated) piece of triva to consider:  1977 is the first model year for the P-323. The model year for boat begins in August of the previous calendar year.  My boat, hull #42, is model year 1977, but was built in December of 1976.  This means that they cranked out FOURTY-TWO BOATS in five months!!  That's almost two boats per week!!  They almost certainly had two molds to be able to sustain that rate!

Hull number 18 (Lark in the Clear) was built in September of 1976.  Again, 18 boats in 8 weeks is a little more than 2 a week!

[Eibeltje]

Thank you ,thank you ,thank you.
We know now that there are Pearson 323 with shafts offset to starboard or port.
If you have a left handed rotating prop with a shaft off to starboard ('RUSTY PELICAN ","GREAT GODSEA " (?)  what transmission do you have ? Do you encounter any pulling to starboard /port if you are under engine power in forward.
 "SELENE, we have now a ZF 15 MIV like you.You have a LH rotation .  ZF told us this transmission supports ONLY a RH rotation,
I am confused now !?!