Replace cutlass bearing in the water?

[pateco]

I have searched through the site, and cannot find a good thread on anyone doing this. My 1983 Hunter 31 has a worn cutlass bearing. The boatyard wanted to replace when I had it out for the move from Baltimore to S Florida, but with the cost of the move, and new bottom paint, it was not in my budget at the time (especially not at their prices).

We have now been using the boat for 5 months, and we are not planning to haul her again until late summer. I am wondering if I can replace it myself without hauling.

I am a certified dive master, and have replaced props on larger boats in the water. I have a brownie's portable hookah system I can run dockside. The boat is docked in warm reasonably clear water where at low tide, I can stand on the sand bottom.

Can it be done? how would you plan to approach this. Any insights or experiences would be appreciated.

 

[Benny17441]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQHLvUUyuE

Check out the above YouTube video on how to do it without removing the shaft. Some come out easy and some don't and the shaft has to be removed and the bearing practically cut apart. It is not a job for doing in the water, I don't believe the hazard and the aggravation are worth the saving in not hauling out the boat. If you can postpone it until your next haul out.

The reference I found for PATECO belonged to a legendary undertaker in the City of Old San Juan where after a plague there were so many bodies that they prohibited funerals. The old guy Pateco would pick them up at the entrance and go bury them. Later on someone would ask "hey how is so and so doing" and the reply might be "not good, Pateco took him away".

 

[pateco]

Pateco is a username I have been using since 1994 When my company was a sole proprietorship. Packard Technologies Company

Now Incorporated for many years as Packard Technologies Inc.

 

[Hunter legend collabsa]

I have searched through the site, and cannot find a good thread on anyone doing this. My 1983 Hunter 31 has a worn cutlass bearing. The boatyard wanted to replace when I had it out for the move from Baltimore to S Florida, but with the cost of the move, and new bottom paint, it was not in my budget at the time (especially not at their prices). We have now been using the boat for 5 months, and we are not planning to haul her again until late summer. I am wondering if I can replace it myself without hauling. I am a certified dive master, and have replaced props on larger boats in the water. I have a brownie's portable hookah system I can run dockside. The boat is docked in warm reasonably clear water where at low tide, I can stand on the sand bottom. Can it be done? how would you plan to approach this. Any insights or experiences would be appreciated.

Did you do it?

I'v done one before but I had to remove the shaft, machine up a bush and then pulled it out using a threaded bar etc. froze the new one but ended up winding it in using the reverse of removal.

I wouldn't recommend it and if you start it make sure you close to the lift incase it goes wrong.

A better thing to get you through would be to pack the bearing out. I used a washing up liquid bottle and a hose clip. Worked for the rest of the season and was still good when we lifted the boat.

Matt

 

[Sailgunner]

They are a bitcxxx to get out on the hard. I would not even think about trying to get the old one out in the water.

 

[Hunter legend collabsa]

They are a bitcxxx to get out on the hard. I would not even think about trying to get the old one out in the water.

I spent 10pounds (UK) and has a piece of bar machined to just under the o.d. Of the cutless. A piece of threaded bar and some big sockets etc.., I was really pleased with how easy it was. I never hit the p-bracket with a hammer once.

It turned an hour I swearing and knuckle crunching into an easy 15 min job.

 

[seadaddler]

Cutlass

I did my cutlass bearing for the first time ever on the hard after watching
Mainsails web page and my bearing was not that bad but I was doing the
bottom among other things and said what the heck let me do it now on the hard and know need to rush.
I would not think of doing it in the water.
Nick

 

[pateco]

Did you do it?

I'v done one before but I had to remove the shaft, machine up a bush and then pulled it out using a threaded bar etc. froze the new one but ended up winding it in using the reverse of removal.

I wouldn't recommend it and if you start it make sure you close to the lift incase it goes wrong.

A better thing to get you through would be to pack the bearing out. I used a washing up liquid bottle and a hose clip. Worked for the rest of the season and was still good when we lifted the boat.

Matt

No, Decided to wait until I haul out this summer.

 

[Sailor_Jeff]

No, Decided to wait until I haul out this summer.

The other thing to consider, you were talking about diving at the dock. If that dock is a marina it is not recommended because of the electric shock hazard of being in the water by facilities with shore power. Not so much your boat, cause you can shut down your power, but many boats have faulty grounds or "leaky" equipment to leaks electricity to ship ground then to water. Apparently only shore power causes this. This means for many feet around their boat there can be an electric field in the water. Frequently it is a piece of equipment like an air conditioner running on shore power it switches on and if you are diving in the vicinity it can, not always, but CAN be fatal.

So, if you must dive to fix a boat, recommend that it be done at anchor away from other boats.

 

[pateco]

The other thing to consider, you were talking about diving at the dock. If that dock is a marina it is not recommended because of the electric shock hazard of being in the water by facilities with shore power. Not so much your boat, cause you can shut down your power, but many boats have faulty grounds or "leaky" equipment to leaks electricity to ship ground then to water. Apparently only shore power causes this. This means for many feet around their boat there can be an electric field in the water. Frequently it is a piece of equipment like an air conditioner running on shore power it switches on and if you are diving in the vicinity it can, not always, but CAN be fatal.

So, if you must dive to fix a boat, recommend that it be done at anchor away from other boats.

Docked behind a private home, not a marina. Most all neighboring boats are outboard powered center console fishing boats or flats boats. Closest boat with shore power is about 5 docks down the canal. Diving it this weekend to scrub the hull, and clean the prop. (I should have painted the prop when I redid the bottom last August.)

 

[fstbttms]

The other thing to consider, you were talking about diving at the dock. If that dock is a marina it is not recommended because of the electric shock hazard of being in the water by facilities with shore power. Not so much your boat, cause you can shut down your power, but many boats have faulty grounds or "leaky" equipment to leaks electricity to ship ground then to water. Apparently only shore power causes this. This means for many feet around their boat there can be an electric field in the water. Frequently it is a piece of equipment like an air conditioner running on shore power it switches on and if you are diving in the vicinity it can, not always, but CAN be fatal.

So, if you must dive to fix a boat, recommend that it be done at anchor away from other boats.

Electric Shock Drowning (ESD) is extremely rare in saltwater (where the OP is.) So rare that it is virtually unheard of. Different story in freshwater tho'.