Propellers hard to turn.

yeti

OK.  Seemed for a while my top speed is off from 37 to 30 mph for no reason. Found out one of trim tabs is slightly down and motor is out. From what I can gather, the motor that runs it is in the piston on the TT outside the boat?? Is that right?  That alone certainly not slowing me 7 mph though. When the boat was floating and anchored, I can grab the props and twist them manually. One is significantly harder to turn than the other.  Does that make any sense? Shouldn't they be appx equal?  What's that all mean?  Yeti is perplexed. 

jhofmann

Tab slightly down should not drop speed by 7mph. Props should turn with close to the same resistance on both outdrives. I suspect a drive failure is in your near future. Check the drive fluid for a burnt smell on the hard to turn drive.

LaRea

Yeti is probably not going to like what Yeti finds.  @jhofmann is right ... check for badness in gear lube reservoir.  You could also check whether one outdrive gets hotter than the other.  

yeti

Does yeti understand correctly that outdrive failure equals new outdrive?

LaRea

I'd say it's possible, especially if the gear lube got low, or there's water intrusion.  Best case, maybe it's just a dock line wrapped around your prop hub.  

The good news is that your trim actuator is a relatively easy $200 fix.  Here's the one I bought recently for my '07 370:

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/lenco-marine--replacement-101-actuator-12-volt-5-16-hardware--10286839

Wildboating

Did you check your props for fishing line, finishing net or any type of rope bound up real tight along the prop and hub.  Start with the basics.  Hopefully it is something simple.

jme097

@Wildboating beat me to it. Fishing line is a common occurance. Definitely going to have to pull the boat to check the drive lube. There is a plug on the bottom of the drive that you can unscrew to check the fluid. If its milky that means there's water in the drive which means you need to have the gearing housing inspected for damage/repair.