prop size

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T

tracy

I have a 1979 Catalina 30 with the atomic 4. It seems I have to replace the prop and possibly the shaft. Any ideas on what size prop, 2 versus 3 blade, and where to purchase them. How about the shaft? Do I have to chisel the surrounding glass to replace the prop shaft if its bad? Any suggestions are appreciated before I hual.
 
J

John Olson

I think a call to Catalina

is the first move Call catalina parts and see what they have In stock for your boat If you can get all the parts off you can roll the shaft on a flat area and see if its straight(I used my wifes granit kitchen counter) then you need to pull the shaft and the hub off the moter This can be done by placeing a craftmen socket between the two hubs and geting longer bolts to fit the flanges and tighting down evenley untill it pops off.Dont forget to lousen the set screws.I dont no what fiberglass you need to fix around the shaft but if it dosent look flat and well sealed like the rest of the bottom you need to look at that closely. Then there is a tube that gos throw the boat then there is a rubber hose Then there is a stuffing box, that is what keeps the water out The propshaft gos throw the stuffing box, rubber hose, and stern tub out to a strut off the bottom of the boat and the prop is on the end The hard part is getting all the parts off with out breaking anty thing ,You can get a gear puller and try to remove the prop but the puller mite damage the prop you can make apuller out of steel plate .Catalina can give you apicture of this tool I used agear puller lightley then heated the hub a little bit then wacked the end of the puller with a big hammer and it poped right off My problem was getting the prop nut off It would not come off and there is nothing to hold the shaft with except by puting the moter in gear and holding the bolt on the end of the crankshaft in frount of moter.I woundup bringing a big generator, big air compresser, torch for heating nut and 3/4 " drive impact gun to the boat then draged this stuff 500 feet by hand becouse the yard guys put me in the back of the yard in never never land. then I fired up the generator, turned on the compressor,opened a cold beer, heated the prop nut for a little bit and then poped the shaft nut with a inpactgun. We had the prop pich checked replaced the cutless bearing in the strut replaced the rubber stern hose cleaned up all the parts and slide them in in afew hours we where done. I had all the tools but the Impact gun that we rented I think next time I will just cut the shaft off and by a new one a new hub comes with the shaft from catalina some times you do the work to find out that your shaft is warn in the cutless bearing and cant be used if you cut the prop off the guys at the prop shop can remove the nut and shaft if its left long enough . Ithink catalina told me that thenew shaft is about $155 I Have to do my shaft this spring and I will change all the parts except the prop I have a three blade prop but I was looking at CDIs new composet two blade prop Its cheeper then a brass prop and Its pitch changes with the power of the moter when going slow 1800rpms the pitch is steeper then if you power up to 2400 rpms when the blade flexes and flatens out .I thought I could try it for 180 bucks .My yard wanted about850 to change the cutless bearing, shaft and prop but at my marina the yard men dont like to work on sail boats and they dont ever seem to get around to the sailboats on there work list. My boat has aM 25 disel good luck John
 
G

Geoffrey Jackson

Prop Replacement

I replaced a prop on a Catalina 27 a couple of years ago. I called Catalina to verify the specifications. They were quite helpful. Looks like you are in the San Francisco area so there a probably many shops in your area that specialize in propellors, shafts, couplings, shaft seals, etc. They probably have what you need in stock. I purchased the propellor and coupling and the shop used a hydraulic press to pop the shaft out of the coupling (lots of corrosion after 25 years), checked the shaft, and machined the coupling to fit the shaft exactly. To remove the propellor from the shaft, borrow or rent a prop puller. It's like a gear puller but a lot bigger. With the right tool, it only takes about 5 or 10 minutes of grunt work.
 
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