Cutlass bearing.......

[Michael Heintz]

Upon close examination of prop and shaft I observed this:

[img]http://heintzwasson.com/clients/MachtNichtscutlass.jpg[/img]

Although not a lot of play, when I tug at the shaft, I see minute shifting of the cracks. Looks like I may have to replace the cutlass bearing. I know there have been some great posts regarding this issue.

Anyone want to point me in the right direction...

[Bill Goldsmith]

Michael,

I am pretty sure you need a Morse Blackfish or eqiuvalent (1in ID, 1 1/4" OD).

If those cracks are moving, it could just be the fairing filler moving with a loose bearing. But you should confirm that the stern tube is not wiggling as well. The stern tube is glassed in in my 32, and I am pretty sure it's same setup on the 30MkII. You have to grind away the fairing filler anyhow to get the cutless out. When you do that, wiggle it all again and see if the tube moves. If so you'll need to re-glass it (I had to do that). Spartan carries all the parts.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Michael,

I am pretty sure you need a Morse Blackfish or eqiuvalent (1in ID, 1 1/4" OD).

If those cracks are moving, it could just be the fairing filler moving with a loose bearing. But you should confirm that the stern tube is not wiggling as well. The stern tube is glassed in in my 32, and I am pretty sure it's same setup on the 30MkII. You have to grind away the fairing filler anyhow to get the cutless out. When you do that, wiggle it all again and see if the tube moves. If so you'll need to re-glass it (I had to do that). Spartan carries all the parts.

Hi Bill,

The "stock" stern tube on the CD32 is fiberglass. Michael's appears to be bronze, but it's really hard to tell due to the bottom paint. Maybe it's fiberglass too.

Anyway, I'd grind off the paint and fairing compound down to the tube and see what's going on under there.

By the way, I replaced the cutlass bearing on Realization in the Spring of 2008. Once the old bearing was out, I found that the set screws, or at least one of them, had exploded and damaged the inside of the fiberglass tube. I believe the set screw "explosion" happened when we managed to get a lobster pot buoy warp wrapped around the prop and shaft but I'm not really sure. So I had to repair the tube too.

Here's a view inside the damaged tube. Note the nice rounded "hump" around the tube:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 083781.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 1.jpg"></a>

This is the repaired tube covered in a new layer of Marine-Tex epoxy, the new cutlass bearing (Morse Blackfish), and one of the new set screws. I filled in all of the old holes for the set screws then drilled and tapped new ones - three of them:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 233854.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 4.jpg"></a>

Here's the other side and the other 2 set screws:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 233855.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 5.jpg"></a>

This is wet epoxy. I'm trying to build up a "hump" like it had previously:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 263868.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 8.jpg"></a>

It's not as nice as her original "hump", but it will do:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 013874.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 4.jpg"></a>

And here it is with a fresh coat of bottom paint:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 013879.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 9.jpg"></a>

The reconditioned prop installed:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 033881.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 1.jpg"></a>

And the nice shiny prop now coated in Pettit Zinc Coat Barnacle Barrier:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 053891.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 1.jpg"></a>


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Bill Goldsmith]

Hi Cathy,

Nice fix on Realization. I'm still convinced from Michael's picture that Machts Nichts has the 'glass tube, just with less filler buildup, but I could be wrong. All the bronze ones I have seen have a visible profile of the flange on the exterior.

A couple of years ago I went to change the bearing and after grinding the fairing filler away the tube could wiggle up and down about 1/8". Very scary. I decided to order a whole new tube from Spartan and had a very good 'glass person re-glass the entire assembly, inside and out.

I had a long talk with spartan because I was strongly considering putting in a bronze stern tube at that time. They talked me out of it, saying "the old one lasted 22 years, right?" They preferred not adding more underwater metal. Needless to say I had the 'glass person really overbuild the support around the new tube.

[Alasdair]

Due to an accident two years ago involving a very strong gust of wind, some broken engine mounts and a lot of line wrapped around the prop, I had reason to discover the exact means by which the stern tube is attached on CD30's of the early 80's era.
Some form of putty that had very little structural integrity left in it was packed around a fiber glass stern tube where it passes through the hull. There was a coating of something resembling epoxy or a thickened resin of some description that bonded the putty to the hull.
The tube itself was not bonded directly in any way to the hull itself and no glass reinforcement was evident. The skin of epoxy or whatever that bonded the putty to the hull, broke in more or less the same place that the crack is showing on your boat .
In repairing the damage, the yard glassed in an internal support that bonded the inside end of the tube to the inner hull as well as where it passes through the hull itself. It is now thoroughly glassed in at both ends. From my experience of what is admittedly an older boat than yours I would strongly recommend you to thoroughly examine how that stern tube is really attached to the boat.
I don't know exactly the course of events that broke off the stern tube on my boat, it all happened very quickly, the engine was running when the boat heeled violently, two engine mounts broke apart, and it is probable the lateral force on the shaft sheared the tube off the boat and broke up the putty surrounding the tube. At the same time a line washed overboard and got wrapped around the shaft, and it was that line that saved the boat by 'caulking' the enormous hole that was left when the stern tube worked its way up the shaft and into the boat. After the boat righted itself and I got back up, the engine immediately stopped, and I had just had a very lucky escape from a very bad situation.

Alasdair.