Patent ID: 6361386
Filing Date: 2002-03-26
Classification: B63B,B63H,Y10T

Abstract:
An apparatus for installing a propeller assembly in an opening in the bottom of a swimming vessel and for removing the propeller assembly from the opening, said propeller assembly comprising an underwater section including the actual propeller and a top section inside the vessel and coupled to power means driving the propeller assembly, said sections having therebetween a flange element for tightly sealing the opening, characterized in that the apparatus comprises a hoisting chamber, which is mounted around an opening, in the bottom of a vessel, extends inside the vessel to above the waterline and surrounds the top section of the propeller assembly, and means for lifting the propeller assembly away by way of the top of the hoisting chamber, and in that the power means are located outside the hoisting chamber, and coupled by means of a removable gear shaft to gear means included in the top section of the propeller assembly for transmitting power further to the actual propeller, said gear shaft being adapted to extend through a passage included in a wall of the hoisting chamber, said passage being sealable by means of a watertight sealing element.