Does anyone know if there is supposed to be end play between prop hub and shaft on a saildrive, and how much? The installation manual for the prop (Variprop 4 blade feathering) suggests that shim washers be used to insure "a minimum of end play". I can find nothing in the engine/saildrive manual about it. Various "professionals" involved have varying opinions, all of which sound like guesses. Without end play, the prop hub is pinched between the hex of the bronze nut and the spacers on the shaft, this means that it works each time the transmission is reversed (because the splines on the shaft have at least some rotational lash).

Mine was installed with no end play, seems wrong but no one I have talked to really knows.