removing knotmeter while in water?

[ramble on]

my paddle wheel is broken. has anyone pulled one while boat is in water? what can i expect? how difficult is this job?

i do have plug.

thanks,

Ramble On

[TroyVB]

Ramble On,

I have done it on our old Catalina 27, which had a signet knotmeter.  If you get the ring that holds the wheel into the thru-hull lose and pull the wheel with one hand and stuff the rag with the other you will get less than a gallon of water. 

I would not leave the boat with the rag for the plug but if you have the new wheel ready to install you should be able to switch it back with the same procedure.

[ramble on]

thanks,

I had no idea how much water would come in. I do have plug. The diagram seems to show a pin going through the thru-hull, near the top. Did yours have a pin to knock out? My new wheel is on the way.

Ramble On

[TroyVB]

Mine did not have a pin.  I only had to pull the plug.  The water poured in pretty fast and I was worried about it until I had the shop rag stuffed in the thru-hull.  No problems after that.

[John on the Bay]

Easy job, even for me. I replaced my wheel last week. Yes, the water gushes in, but it's not all that bad; just be prepared to put the plug in quickly, or course. The water clean up was less than I expected, and I was finished in a couple of minutes. Good luck!

[Craig Weis]

Ramb
The Raymarine units have a 2" hole that when the paddle wheel is pulled, water pressure pushes a factory installed with the unit flapper valve in place and seals off the hole. Very little water enters the hull.
We used two snap on plastic coffee can lids over the exhaust ports on our houseboat when we moved the 383 Cid engine forward and removed the velvet drive [in need of a quick, in the water repair] leading into the gear box. Just the water pressure pushing the lids onto the underwater pipes did the trick. skip.