Pulled my shaft, it's not pretty...

[emkay]

I was expecting this to be hard, but it was very easy, unbolt the flange, unbolt the shaft from the flange (it's not pressed in, maybe that's why it was so easy) remove the top bolt from the rudder, loosen the bolts holding the steering idler (negating all the work I did Wednesday, but I can redo it a lot faster now) and pull the rudder down and out. I wasn't sure if I had to drop the rudder, when I realized I did I sighed and got to it. Also, there is a crack in the rudder, going to have to drill into that, widen it out, see if there is any water in there, and fix it. So, new shaft, dripless shaft seal, cutlass bearing, and rudder repair. Then the two thru-hulls and the boat will float. Then cosmetic repair, that's when the REAL work starts.

The shaft is shot, got the boatyard pricing out a new one now, of course the P.O. painted the shaft and the strut, I know you're not supposed to paint the shaft, what about the strut? No paint there also right?...

This is where the shaft rides in the culass bearing, it's all rough and rusty, where it rides on the packing it's scored with a visible depression, totally shot.

The bearing.

 

[Seattle Scott]

Emkay, bottom paint strut, shaft and prop ( specific prop paint) EXCEPT where the zincs are on the shaft, no paint between zincs and shaft and no paint on the zincs. The prop paint is expensive, so i don't bother painting the prop.

 

[digby sailor]

not bad

emkay gotta say ive seen much much worse Im not sure ide replace anything.The cutless berring im not sure because I cant see it straight on but from what I see it looks good the channels are all visible no obvoius irregular wear from that angle.As for the shaft i would certainly clean it up where the packing rides but other than that she looks good.I did swap mine out for a stainless shaft as it was badly worn where it had been rubbing on the shaft log due to a misaligned strut/worn out engine mounts.But man I would be pleased if I had what you have on my boat would have saved me some $$$.

 

[emkay]

Well I guess the pictures don't show how bad it is. Because it's toast

 

[Ed Schenck]

That's an unusual flange, a clamp instead of set screws. I assume it was bolted and you removed them. Almost a shaft saver, kind of a "shear pin", where the shaft could slip if prop tangled up. But if you have the funds then I would agree, a one-time investment and you are good as long as you own the boat. Definitely replace the cutlass bearing and might also rebed the strut making sure the bolts are good.

 

[kloudie1]

Emkay.. sometimes it is good to reclaim a shaft. A machine shop that can do plasma spraying can reclaim the worn areas using aluminum bronze
.. don't know if it would be cost effective in your case, but I have seen it done a couple of times. The shop would turn the shaft down a little in the worn areas then build back up with plasma sprayed metal, then turn it back to original size. The resulting wear areas are very hard and would last a lot longer than the original shaft material. May be worth a couple of phone calls .. good luck..