Cracked Bell Housing - Arrrrgh

Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
I wish I could cure my disease of boating! Unfortunately I'm just an addict like the rest of you..

Some of you will remember a post I made while on vacation last summer when I hit some floating poly line. After that incident I had a terrible time aligning my engine and I also could not keep it in alignment something that is quite unusual.

So I go to the boat today to pull the tranny for some routine maintenance and this is what I find!!!

Damn boats!!

I guess I might as well do the HX while I'm pulling half the motor apart to fix & replace the bell housing... This was clearly a defective casting seeing as my prop, shaft and keys don't even show any signs of stress. To crack a bell housing should require at least some key, or key way, damage..???



Other than the lack of being able to align my engine and keep it there when I pulled the boat I noticed this..

A clear sign the engine is moving too much!!
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
9,892
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

What a mess ! That one is not going to be fun to fix ! Hard to make the cast iron stick together again.. ouch.. Best of luck getting that one buttoned up, MainSail..
 
R

Rob19574

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Feb 4, 2005
524
Catalina C-30 Mattituck, NY
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Ouch - what are you going to do here? Can this be fixed?

PS - Your boat a real looker!

- Rob
 
Hermit Scott

Hermit Scott

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Sep 25, 2008
2,288
C30 Event Horizon Port Aransas
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

I think it's cast Aluminum. I had a cast al. rear end housing welded on a 1981 Chevette. It kept breaking right next to the weld. What's wrong with chevette's?
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
9,892
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Hermit Scott said:
I think it's cast Aluminum. I had a cast al. rear end housing welded on a 1981 Chevette. It kept breaking right next to the weld. What's wrong with chevette's?
Click to expand
Had a friend who drove one for the gas mileage.. Even he said "Chevette.. if ya don't shov ette, it won't move".. :)
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
It..

It actually won't be that hard to repair just a royal PITA. I'll have to remove the HX, fuel pump, starter, flywheel etc. etc. and then replace the entire bell housing which is cast iron.. The cost for the bell housing alone is over $500.00 but my distributor is closed until Monday so I don't know availability yet... I'll replace the rear main seal while I'm in there too...

Today I was supposed to be taking measurements for a new electrical panel but obviously never got to that..:doh::doh:
 
Hermit Scott

Hermit Scott

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Sep 25, 2008
2,288
C30 Event Horizon Port Aransas
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Did any shear pins shear or shear keys shear? That's alot of shears in that sentence.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Hermit Scott said:
Did any shear pins shear or shear keys shear? That's alot of shears in that sentence.
Click to expand
Unfortunately the keys in prop shafts are not really meant to shear though they will distort and mine did not. In fact in the last 25 years I've yet to see a key in a coupling or prop shear. The only way to sort of protect against this is to add a Drive Saver or other flexible coupling but with a v-drive you can't usually add one or I would have..
 
sailingdog

sailingdog

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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Well, that does explain the difficulty in getting it aligned, doesn't it.... :(
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
9,892
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Ahhhh.. I had no idea that the aft part of the bell housing was a part separate from the block casting; that is a good thing... almost looks like you could move the rubber mount one bolt hole inboard without moving the bed bolt, to reduce the stresses on the mount plate where it cracked..??
 
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Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
kloudie1 said:
almost looks like you could move the rubber mount one bolt hole inboard without moving the bed bolt, to reduce the stresses on the mount plate where it cracked..??
Click to expand
It won't fit and was tried at install time. Clearly this should not have failed as it did..
 
K

kendall

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Aug 2, 2005
374
pearson ariel grand rapids
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Look into having it brazed at a machine shop, possibly less than $100.
Never underestimate the strength and durability of a good brazing job.

Ken
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
kendall said:
Look into having it brazed at a machine shop, possibly less than $100.
Never underestimate the strength and durability of a good brazing job.

Ken
Click to expand

Thanks but I'm going to be buying a new bell housing. I don't want to re-do this job again. I sold cast iron for a foundry for a while and have a very god understanding of what can and can't be done to it and that is not a repair I would ever trust.. Sure you can patch up non critical cast iron cracks with brazing but I'd never trust it for this application..

If the brazed repair were to re-crack, while back in the water, the haul out alone would cost about the same as the new bell housing and I'd lose a few days of my summer which you can't put a price on...
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

My brother brazed a John Deere engine block the had frozen and broken (that damage didn't affect the cylinders) and another man I knew brazed the axle housing on Massey- Harris tractor that had fallen off a truck. He used that tractor for several years.
 
RAD

RAD

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Jun 3, 2004
2,330
Catalina 30 Bay Shore, N.Y.
Hey, how about fixing it with 5200 :D
Boy o boy you got ya hands full with that repair, is that a Westerbeke? can you get a bell housing for it?
 
Manny

Manny

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Oct 5, 2006
978
Hunter 82? 37 Cutter Wherever the wind takes me
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

I'm with Kendall and Ross. If brazed properly by an expert it should be pretty solid afterwards. I've had good luck in the past with having stuff brazed.
I find it odd that the bell housing cracked, I would think the motor mount would be the first point of failure on the engine side of things. Is the shaft okay?

Manny
 
Hermit Scott

Hermit Scott

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Sep 25, 2008
2,288
C30 Event Horizon Port Aransas
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

That is a highly stressed area where the break is. I wouldn't trust just a braze. If I had to repair that I would add straps to the top and bottom and weld all that together, probably end up looking like a big tumor. I don't think you are wasting your money by replacing the whole thing. Are Westerbeke motors still in production? Why did Rad ask if you can get a part for it? The guy who sold me my boat bought a Witness 35 and the motors were long out of production and they sold the zinc for that motor for some rediculous amount of money. A seal was like $100.
 
sailingdog

sailingdog

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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

I'm going to side with Maine Sail on this one... a new bell housing isn't all that expensive, and as he points out, if the brazed repair does crack, he'll have to haul out and lose several days of sailing in the process—while buying the bell housing he should have bought in the first place—effectively doubling the cost of the repair and then some... since he'll have paid to have had the old one brazed. :)
 
letterman

letterman

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Jan 27, 2007
383
Irwin 37' center cockpit cleveland ohio
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

Reminds me of my time as hand on the Nutty Queen (Nautica Queen). Seems we had two idiots for Captains, and the one that won (assuming there was a discussion) took the 125 footer out into the very crowded Lake Erie as everyone was awaiting the July 4 fireworks to start. Turing to port, we ran over a 28 footers anchor rode, spinning it around the port shaft, killing the motor. Thankfully it did kill the motor because one end of the rode was attached to the 28 footer and it slammed into our boat, then started to go down as the prop shaft wound it up like a fish on a reel. Oh yeah, the owner just picked up the brand new boat that morning, and had his wife a 1 year old on board.
We didn't know it, but the damage included shearing the two bolts holding the Morse throttle line in place on the port side, which meant the prop would only turn in the direction it was going when it sheared off, if going at speed, no matter where the Morse was shifted to in the wheelhouse. And the Captain loved speed.
So as we approached the dock siding, at full speed, he hit the reverse at 3/4 for both engines. The port side was still going 3/4 full ahead. Course the starboard side, the dock side, DID go 3/4 full reverse. The resulting crash sent about half the 300 guests to the floor, tore up 8 feet of dock, tore the welding right off the bumper and holder for about 4 feet, and crunched the wood attached to the concrete siding.
 
R

Rob19574

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Feb 4, 2005
524
Catalina C-30 Mattituck, NY
Re: Gotta Love Boats...???

I'm with Maine and Saildog as well - go for the new housing. Its not worth doing the job 2x not to mention the lost summer days and expense of a haul. Besides - that is a stress - prone part of the engine. You put another round of stress on the prop and it may give again. Can't be a penny-wise with things like this. - rob
 
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