Reverse gear with engine off while sailing?

[Dave Jeffery]

Recently I read in some sailing magazine (forget which) that it is a good idea when sailing with the engine off to put the engine in reverse gear.
As I recall the reasons were (a) less drag from a non-rotating prop (b) less wear on shafts etc.

True?

True for an outboard?

[Warren Kaplan]

Dave,

If you search the board's "archives" under the heading "freewheeling" you should come up with quite a few discussions on this. We've had many. Some believe that freewheeling ads drag while others feel just the opposite. Many put the gear in reverse to stop freewheeling. I do mainly because I can hear the prop spinning when I'm sailing and its annoying!

[mgphl52]

While I definitely do NOT want to start yet another thread on this subject, I will maintain that if your transmission manual says REVERSE, you should do that. Mine (Volvo MSB) only suggests running the engine in neutral to circulate fresh water through the cooling jacket during extended periods of sailing with the prop freewheeling. I think it was something like after 6 or 8 hours, which I have always done during long distance races. Heck, we had to just to recharge the batteries (solar panels still don't function well at night).

After that, it's all up to the owner... Try checking your speed both ways in a breeze that gets you to at least 4 or 5 knots and then decide if you can put up with the "noise" or not.

[Dave Jeffery]

Thank for the pointer to "freewheeling" in the archives. I'll just close this thread and coast on home.