Greetings all, from Narita, Japan!
This update will be the last one for a while as I have started back to work finally. I'll probably be here for the next 4 or 5 months before I get leave to go back home. I did get some more work accomplished on the boat before leaving but due to various tasks needing to get done to prepare for my stay over here I just wound down some things that needed to be finished up. I held off on jumping into anything that would leave the boat a mess. That will have to wait for later!
So, after getting the engine dropped back in I worked on reinstalling the shaft. First up was an issue that arose from the recovery - we bent the strut in the process of re-floating the boat. This was due to attaching the lift bags to the shaft (it's pretty much the only place to attach to so...
So the strut needed to be removed and straightened and the shaft checked. What a major PITA! The strut is epoxied and bolted in and not easy to remove, but I finally got it out and sent to the machine shop. They heated it and used the press to straighten it out. I cleaned up the pocket in the hull and prepped the strut, shaft and prop for reinstallation. First chore was to get a maintenance kit for the PSS dripless seal. It consists of a new accordion boot, new seals and clamps:
After replacing the seals and prepping the boot, I turned back to the strut and replaced the cutlass bearing:
And I cleaned up the shaft, prop and transmission coupler. With this all done all I needed was new bolts for the strut. Just a quick trip to the hardware store, right? Uh, nope! Noplace anywhere in the area carried the size I needed (they are phillips head screws, 3" long with 3/8ths threads). A search online found the right fasteners so I ordered them. I had noticed when I took everything apart that the screws were over an inch too long when installed so I figured that I might not need the full length of 3" so I ordered both 4 3" screws and 4 2 1/2" screws. Good thing I did because when they arrived there were only 3 of the 3" screws! I guess counting to 4 is too much to ask these days
With all the hardware ready I remounted the strut, shaft and prop:
And reinstalled the shaft seal and coupler:
All of this is loosely mounted for now. I still have to reinstall the transmission before re-aligning everything. That is a task for my return.
The final jobs I got done were to replace the last forward bulkhead and the broken lifeline stanchions. I didn't get good pics of that, though, so that will have to wait for the next update. Right before I left I cleaned everything up, hooked up a bilge pump and float switch and the de-humidifier. She's all closed up now and hopefully will be in good shape when I get back to her!
I sure appreciate all the feedback from you guys and I keep any comments or questions coming!
Cheers,
Mark