Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:08pm

my engine works but we have little propulsion either forward or backward can anyone advise

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:29pm

It would help if you said what type of boat, what waters you are on and what gearbox you have so I can narrow the possibilities down. If this is on a canal I would suggest that you check the propeller has not wrapped itself up in something. If you have a hydraulic gearbox but NOT a Lister one then make sure it has sufficient oil in it. Check the propshaft has not pulled out of its coupling behind the gearbox.

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:35pm

Thanks for the advice we are going to look at it on sunday

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:58pm

Best of luck. If this is a narrow boat are you aware they usually have weed hatch at the stern that allows you to get at the prop. You indicate that you have some sort of drive in ahead AND astern so that points to a fouled prop in the first instance. Any gearbox fault is likely give you one good gear unless its low oil in a hydraulic box. There is usually something called a drive plate between the engine flywheel and gearbox. When (not if) you tend to get no drive in any gear plus a horrible clattering noise for a while before it totally fails. If it seems to be stuck in just one gear it could be a gear cable fault but not if you still have a little ahead, astern and a neutral. Find the lever on the gearbox that the cable is attached to, operate the control lever and make sure the lever on the box goes to the ahead, astern and return to neutral.