Starting the engine while in gear

[jimjuliem]

I have been told that I should leave the tranmission in gear while under sail and the engine is shut off. I think it is to reduce wear on the cutless and/or the stuffing box. In any case that is what I do, I leave it it forward gear. I have always started the engine while still in gear. Is there any problem with that? Does it put undue stress on the transmission to start the engine while still in gear? :confused:

[Don Moyer]

Leaving the reversing gear in forward while sailing is perfectly OK. There is a pretty strong consensus that a stationary prop imposes less drag on the boat than one that is spinning.

Don

[RobertLangDirect]

Leaving the reversing gear in forward while sailing is perfectly OK. There is a pretty strong consensus that a stationary prop imposes less drag on the boat than one that is spinning.

Don

HMM, Don, I am interested as a sometime sponsor of High School Science Fair projects, how widely spread is this opinion?

This would be a good old to work.

Robert

[67c&ccorv]

I have been told that I should leave the tranmission in gear while under sail and the engine is shut off. I think it is to reduce wear on the cutless and/or the stuffing box. In any case that is what I do, I leave it it forward gear. I have always started the engine while still in gear. Is there any problem with that? Does it put undue stress on the transmission to start the engine while still in gear? :confused:

I would think that the undue stress in this situation would be placed on the starter motor and its' associated drive train.:confused: