Reading all the threads on shaft misalignment, clearly the vertical shaft
misalignment needs to be addressed. However, I had an experience many years
ago on Thorfinn regarding lateral strut misalignment that seemed relevant to
some of the threads. While I had the boat in the boatyard for a bottom job,
I decided to replace what appeared to be the original shaft, coupler and
cutless bearing. While looking at what needed to be done, I was telling an
old yard mechanic that I noticed the strut was offset about an inch to
starboard and wondered if I should replace the strut too. The strut was/is
obviously the original from the factory. He told me that it was probably
intentionally done that way at the factory. He said that by offsetting it
slightly to starboard that the shaft could be pulled out the rear of the
boat, just missing the rudder, without lifting or removing the engine
assuming you can get it separated from the coupler. Since we were going to
replace the shaft anyway, we just cut the shaft off with a Sawzall between
the coupler and the shaft log. Anyway, the shaft came out through the shaft
log and strut, just barely missing the rudder! If the strut had been
on-center, it would have hit the rudder. We installed the new shaft in
reverse order and mated it to the new coupler once it was installed.
He also told me that if the prop rotates clockwise that the shaft is offset
to starboard (port, if counterclockwise) and actually serves to reduce the
lateral prop walk, particularly in reverse. I'll take his word for that one
since I still have a little prop walk but it is much less than some boats I
have been on.
Robbie Epstein
Thorfinn
'80 C&C 40 TMDK
Fort Walton Beach, FL
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 12:51:18 -0500
From: Tim Rutherford <tim.rutherford.m...@gmail.com>
To: cnc-list <cnc-list@cnc-list.com>
Subject: Re: Stus-List Prop Shaft Strut - Removal, Alignment, and
Re-bedding - C&C 36-1 KCB
Message-ID:
<CAJdE1AQBv33uB=xxmyxfn0o7esubdxdtygpwdrcoedky+xw...@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Hi Mike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Mechanic says shaft to engine alignment is achievable but the issue is that,
with the strut too long, the shaft is not parallel to the log and so
dripless packing alignment is skewed.
--
Tim Rutherford
C&C 36-1 KCB #244 - Chamam?
Tampa, FL
_______________________________________________
Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and
every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal
to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
