Where's My Sawzall

[Tom Potter]

I've been keeping an eye on the shaft log hose since I bought my O28, its looking kinda old and swollen. I have decided to take advanage of the forcasted 75 degree weather this coming weekend and haul the boat and take care of a few things.

The to do list:
Replace the shaft log hose - Going to drop the rudder, remove the prop and try to remove the shaft from the coupling. The shaft looks like it might be the original 29 year old bronze shaft. I'm thinking I might just break out the sawzall and cut it at the stuffing box and save time, I expect the shaft is worn in the suspect areas anyway.

Plan to replace the cutlass bearing while I have the shaft out.

Replace two wet thruhull backing plates

Paint the bottom.

A lot to do in 2 weekends.

 

[jibes138]

Tom,
I replaced my original bronze shaft with a stainless shaft. But I had the guys at Deaton's in Oriental do the work. I like your plan to just cut it out, it is likely so bonded into the coupling after all this time you'll have a really hard time getting it off. Make sure you read Mainesails advice on fitting the shaft and coupling including facing it on a lathe. Also you will need a prop puller and then need to fit the prop (lappping) to the new shaft. You will need some special equipment so unless you have a machine shop you will need some help.

 

[Tom Potter]

Jibes,
Made the 3 hour run up the river and hauled out this afternoon. Got the shaft coupling unbolted from the transmission, and the engine cooling thru hull removed before dark.
Talked with the marina and the plan is to send the old shaft and prop to a place in beaufort and have them make a new shaft, fit the new coupling and lap the prop.
So in the morning I plan to make the cut remove the shaft, then try and get some more thru hulls out and drop the rudder.

The weather man is calling for 78 Saturday... Nice!

 

[jibes138]

Tom,
Where do you haul out, at McCotter's?
I was docked for a while with a guy that owns a machine shop in Morehead City and he does shaft work. His name is Jim Bircher and he owns Bircher Inc. Machine Shop. Check out his web page. Might be who you are using. He makes the most beautiful cannon's that fire black powder shells. One would look great on your bow for the pirate invasion next year :>)
Good luck with the project. Weather should help but so far this morning looks a bit foggy. I can't decide whether to play golf or go cut up my fuel tank.

 

[Tom Potter]

Dave,
Yes McCotters. Got the rudder dropped, had to dig what felt like a 3 foot hole to get it to clear. The sawzall made quick work of the shaft. The cutless was difficult as one of the set screws had corroded so bad I had to drill it out. Used the sawzall and split the bearing and it came out pretty easy after that. Once out, I tapped the threads for the set screw.
Got 3 thruhulls out and cleaned up ready to go back in the morning. I'm using 3/4 teak as backing plates.
If all goes a well, I might start sanding so Dave instead of playing golf, come on down to McCotters, I have plenty of Sand paper.

 

[Tom Potter]

Here's a picture of the shaft log hose, my guess is it was the original. I feel better now that I have replaced it. The new shaft and coupling will be here Thursday.

 

[jibes138]

Tom,
Why are you using teak for the through hull backing plates? I would worry a solid piece of wood might crack along a grain. Plywood coated with epoxy seems like a preferable and less expensive choice but a fiberglass disc seems to be the new preferred method for this. Compass Marine has a nice photo series on this if you want to take a look. Just a suggestion.

 

[Tom Potter]

I thought about that, but I used what I had. Used a peice that was 3/4 thick in hopes to prevent cracking. Fitted them pretty good to the hull before installation. My thoughts were they should last longer than the plywood which was 29 years old.

I have a nice stash of teak, my oldest son use to build custom stairs. He built a set of teak stairs and saved me all the left overs. You should have seen the smile on my face when he backed up the pickup truck to my shop with the bed full of teak.