I installed a thrust bearing, similar to a car's front wheel bearing, two tapered roller bearings, in a flange mount, on my prop shaft about a foot forward of the stuffing box. It transfers all thrust loads to the boat at that point. The engine is rubber mounted, with rubber (Federal Marine in St Pete) couplings on the shaft.
It has worked very well with no transmission problems in 30K miles of motoring. CV joints are much like U-joints. I considered using u-joints in my shaft early on but on a visit to a commercial u-joint shop I was advised that unless the u-joint had a significant angle to it and/or significant movement they have a short life. I gathered that the bearings in the u-joint needed significant movement for long life. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek FL 30 07.72N 081 38.4W > [Original Message] > From: Ron Rogers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 1/17/2008 9:26:53 PM > Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] opinions sought on flexible shaft couplings > > I have an AquaDrive installed by the first owner. I like the concept that > the prop and shaft push against a steel bulkhead and not the transmission. > If you desire, you can get a power-takeoff from them that can drive an > emergency bilge pump, etc. > > To gain all the benefit from an AquaDrive, you should also install soft > engine mounts to eliminate hull borne vibration and sound. You can also > forget about engine alignment problems as it has enormous latitude in > installation with at least two constant velocity joints. > > Ron Rogers > _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
