Strut Design Defect

[Asa Colson]

I have a 1983 Hunter 31. I was conversing with a 1985 Hunter 34 owner who told me that his boat has a design flaw in the strut connection to the hull. He stated that the strut is bolted through a small piece of wood in the stern and can be easily ripped out. He told me that a boat in our marina had nearly sunk a few years ago by simply getting a crab trap line caught around the propeller shaft ripping out the strut. Has anyone heard of this defect does it exist?

 

[Ted]

Hmmmm

My '83 H34 has (I think) the same basic design as your 31.... the top of the strut is basically a flat plate that is through bolted in a recessed well into a stregthened portion of the hull... I recently pulled the strut off to replace the cutlass bearing, so got fairly intimate with this part of the boat!... had to drill the original bolts to get them out... didn't appear to be any wood imbedded in the hull there... it was simply an extra thick fiberglass area.... I don't doubt that a strut COULD be ripped off the bottom of the boat, or crunched up through the bottom if a whale surfaces back there