Replace cutlas bearing

[larry100]

For the future, Is there a proper way to remove and replace a cutlas bearing on a 1986 27' Catalina standard rig? Had three estimates of two to three hours plus the part. First haul out, facility said their press tool wouldn't fit. Might have to cut the shaft. I said goodby. Second facility tried to pull the shaft with a manual shaft puller. No go.They wound up chipping the fiberglass from the strut mounting bolts, removing the strut from the hull and then the shaft, replacing the bearing, reinstalling the strut and reglassing. Final tally, over twelve hours plus the haul out.
If the estimate was two to three hours and there are a lot of 27' catalinas out there, I'm confused. I have some ideas of my own but why reinvent the wheel. Again, is there a proper method or what has your experience been? larry in Gulfport, Fl

 

[valcour]

I did it myself, but it did take me perhaps six hours. Would have been much quicker with the right tools. Generally the cutlass bearing wears at a such a slow rate that you should be able to swap it out when the boat is pulled for another reason like painting the bottom (and now that yours has been fixed once it should last another 10 years if your engine is aligned properly). I'm sure there are many ways to do it (perhaps with the right tools you can do it with the shaft in place), but this is how I proceeded: Step one, I dug a small hole under the rudder and removed the rudder. Step two is disconnect the shaft from the transmission. Step three, and this was where it got hard for me, is to remove the coupling from the shaft. I had a '77, and the two were well fused together with rust and/or dissimilar metallic corrosion. I had to use a piece of plate between the two coupling halves, then using a socket that fit inside the coupling hole as a spacer and the coupling bolts as jacking screws I pressed the shaft out. This was a slow process 1/4 turn on each bolt at a time. Once you have removed the shaft, the cutlass bearing is easy to remove by cutting through the rubber and metal casing in two or three places, and stopping just when you reach the strut. You can then tap out the separate pieces without putting to much hammering stress against the strut. To reinstall the new bearing, I put it in dry ice, and then tapped into place with a hammer. Once it is started, use a piece of all thread to pull it into the strut. I had my 27 for 15 years and the cutlass was still good and tight when I sold her. Once you replace it the cutlass bearing, make sure the engine alignment is checked when the coupling is bolted back together, and you should never have to worry about it again.

Dave

 

[g1gaumond]

Impressive!!!

Ilario,

I am always very impressed to see how so called "industry specialists" fail to carry out such a simple boat maintenance task. You got "raped" by incompetent people.

Valcour has got the process right, I replaced my cutlass twice on my C30. The only difference from Valcour's process is, since I am really reluctant to use a hammer anywhere near my boat and/or fiberglass, I used a homemade tool to extract and install the cutlass bearing. See this link for more details on the method and the tool: http://www.catalina30.com/TechLib/Cutlass Bearing/cutlassbearing.htm

You might not to do this again in a while but it is good to know that next time you do not need to rely on so called "experts".

Fair winds!

Ghislain
Emilie-Jolie"
C30TRBS, 4708