Skip Gundlach" wrote

However, I'm baffled, given your prior assertions, that you don't
eliminate the issue by using a solid spacer, as I'm, based on your
scholarly treatise on the subject, going to do.

Good point and touched on in a reply above. Worth expanding on.

I was reporting what the most knowledgeable driveline people I've met
told me. Looking at better pictures of the unit at the link that Evan
sent, I find it a bit harder to understand why they feel that way. My
discussions with them involved engines of 35 times the horsepower
which may bear significantly on the issue.

I still think my boat (and yours) would end up smoother with a solid
coupling and everything trued up as I recommend you do but it is
acceptably smooth to me now. I wouldn't at this stage of refit and
finances, pay for a spacer and all the other machining just to make it
a little quieter. I'll probably do all that before I head off to
Newfoundland in a few years but my priority now is to not find myself
sinking because the stuffing box hose let got while also avoiding
divorce because of the bills. Either would probably result in loss of
the boat.

I also have a wicked clearance issue that makes packing the stuffing
box almost impossible and would much rather invest in the proper
length shaft than a spacer. One thing prompting this is the discovery
that there is only room for one hose clamp on the stern tube. I think
it's long enough but someone lapped the glass on top too much and
covered up part of it. I think I can cut that back but I'll need a
new hose to get enough length for the second hose clamp. Sliding the
hose back enough to pull the coupling bolts is not an option.

--

Roger Long