"Capt. JG" wrote:

"Jere Lull" wrote in message
news:2008062622045443658-jerelull@maccom...
On 2008-06-26 15:19:04 -0400, Rosalie B. said:

We pulled the boat yesterday and Bob said the cutlass bearing was
extremely loose and he is pretty sure that was the problem. He said it
was vibrating again on the way over to the haul slip, and there was
nothing on the prop except some barnacles..

I did wonder whether the barnacles might have unbalanced the prop or
something. It was so hot that I retreated to the ladies room (which
was A/C) while they were washing the boat and bringing it up the hill
to the yard.

Bob would rather have been down by the haul slip, but there are three
or four trawlers there taking all the space. They are from the yacht
club which is across the creek and doesn't have a lift. One of them
said that they tried to get the trawlers up into the yard (where he
would have preferred to be), but the travel lift couldn't get up the
hill with the trawlers because they were too heavy. But the trawlers
weigh 10,000 lbs less than our boat and I know that they've taken our
boat up that hill at least 6 times, Hearing that they hadn't been
able to make it made me too nervous to watch.

If it feels loose, it is.

He had put a vibration damper spacer in and he thinks he didn't get the
cutlass bearing far enough back to account for that.

Hmmm. Sounds like there was an error in installation. Ah well, live and
learn.

I'm not sure what the exact sequence was, but Bob said that when we
bought the boat, the surveyor (Peter Hartoff) showed Bob that the
cutlass bearing needed to be replaced the next time we hauled. This
was in May 1998. When we sailed that summer, we saw that the fixed
prop kept rotating and made the boat under sail sound like a freeway.
So in the fall of that year, we hauled the boat to put on a MaxProp
and replace the cutlass bearing. At that time, we found that the
shaft was deeply scored, so we replaced the shaft too.

When we went down the ICW for the first time in the fall of 2000, our
throttle cable broke when we were in an anchorage south of Charleston.
We went into a marina on Dataw Island (it was the closest one), and
got a new throttle cable, and also paid to have the shaft aligned
because evidently Bob thought it needed it. I do not know at what
point Bob put the spacer in.

However, someone has just emailed me and explained that they change the
cutlass bearing every time they haul the boat as a precaution. (They only
haul about every two years)

I was given the impression that the old (70s) cutlass bearings lasted a
decade easily. The new ones are supposedly better. If they wear faster
than that, I'd look to other causes, misalignment first, bent shaft, then
prop balance. That doesn't seem to be your problem, though.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I agree.. I've seen boats that have gone 5+ years without having to replace
it. Something else is wrong if you have to replace it every year.

They don't HAVE to replace it, at least that's not what they said -
they said they do it as a precaution.

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
"Capt. JG" wrote:

"Jere Lull" wrote in message
news:2008062622045443658-jerelull@maccom...
On 2008-06-26 15:19:04 -0400, Rosalie B.
said:

We pulled the boat yesterday and Bob said the cutlass bearing was
extremely loose and he is pretty sure that was the problem. He said it
was vibrating again on the way over to the haul slip, and there was
nothing on the prop except some barnacles..

I did wonder whether the barnacles might have unbalanced the prop or
something. It was so hot that I retreated to the ladies room (which
was A/C) while they were washing the boat and bringing it up the hill
to the yard.

Bob would rather have been down by the haul slip, but there are three
or four trawlers there taking all the space. They are from the yacht
club which is across the creek and doesn't have a lift. One of them
said that they tried to get the trawlers up into the yard (where he
would have preferred to be), but the travel lift couldn't get up the
hill with the trawlers because they were too heavy. But the trawlers
weigh 10,000 lbs less than our boat and I know that they've taken our
boat up that hill at least 6 times, Hearing that they hadn't been
able to make it made me too nervous to watch.

If it feels loose, it is.

He had put a vibration damper spacer in and he thinks he didn't get the
cutlass bearing far enough back to account for that.

Hmmm. Sounds like there was an error in installation. Ah well, live and
learn.

I'm not sure what the exact sequence was, but Bob said that when we
bought the boat, the surveyor (Peter Hartoff) showed Bob that the
cutlass bearing needed to be replaced the next time we hauled. This
was in May 1998. When we sailed that summer, we saw that the fixed
prop kept rotating and made the boat under sail sound like a freeway.
So in the fall of that year, we hauled the boat to put on a MaxProp
and replace the cutlass bearing. At that time, we found that the
shaft was deeply scored, so we replaced the shaft too.

When we went down the ICW for the first time in the fall of 2000, our
throttle cable broke when we were in an anchorage south of Charleston.
We went into a marina on Dataw Island (it was the closest one), and
got a new throttle cable, and also paid to have the shaft aligned
because evidently Bob thought it needed it. I do not know at what
point Bob put the spacer in.

However, someone has just emailed me and explained that they change the
cutlass bearing every time they haul the boat as a precaution. (They
only
haul about every two years)

I was given the impression that the old (70s) cutlass bearings lasted a
decade easily. The new ones are supposedly better. If they wear faster
than that, I'd look to other causes, misalignment first, bent shaft,
then
prop balance. That doesn't seem to be your problem, though.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I agree.. I've seen boats that have gone 5+ years without having to
replace
it. Something else is wrong if you have to replace it every year.

They don't HAVE to replace it, at least that's not what they said -
they said they do it as a precaution.



If I were going to cross an ocean or some other extended trip, and there was
even a hint of a problem, then I'd replace the cutlass. Other than that,
unless it's really loose, it a slow-fail item. We had a Yamaha 30 surveyed,
and that was the only thing that seemed amiss. It was working fine, but the
pronouncement was that it would need to be replaced in a couple of years at
the latest. Next haulout (2 years as I recall), there was no change in it's
condition, but we had it done anyway.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Jun 20, 9:48*am, Rosalie B. wrote:
jeff wrote:
Rosalie B. wrote:
...
We were motor sailing along, as the breeze basically died (although it
was from the predicted direction), and I was in the aft cabin when
suddenly it sounded to me as if the engine was running away.
...
Was it an exhaust type sound, which could be an exhaust leak or header
problem, or a mechanical sound, like a water pump or even alternator
bearing? *Was there a vibration with it? *As the Car Talk guys would
say, "Can you make the sound for us?"

I thought it sounded like a racing engine as if the transmission had
gone wild. * Yes there was vibration. *

Bob (after he got over the idea that it was a big boat following us)
said it was a lot of vibration which you could hear better in the aft
cabin. *He thinks it is the cutlass bearing that is shot, which will
require that we haul the boat to check and if that is it to replace
it. *He will have to take off the prop which will be a pain as it is a
MaxProp

Bob's most likely right. Could be a small object sucked into the
cutlass cooling groves. You do not have to pull the boat to check it.
Just jump in and try to wiggle the shaft prop from side to side and up
and down.

Fred

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
. ..
Jere Lull wrote:

On 2008-06-22 13:43:44 -0400, Rosalie B. said:

Bob thinks cutlass bearing deteriorating and letting the prop shaft
vibrate. It is about 9 years old.

Oh, just a youngster ;-) We got a new one 15 years ago and it's still
tight -- a check I do each spring just before I change the zincs.

I'm still leaning towards something on the prop. As I read your
account, it sounded like what I hear and feel when the prop cavitates
when we try to punch through waves and get stopped dead in our tracks,
but you didn't have appreciable wind or waves, and you're less at the
mercy of such with your heft.

Keep us up to date, as I'm curious what the cause is.

We pulled the boat yesterday and Bob said the cutlass bearing was
extremely loose and he is pretty sure that was the problem. He said
it was vibrating again on the way over to the haul slip, and there was
nothing on the prop except some barnacles..

He had put a vibration damper spacer in and he thinks he didn't get
the cutlass bearing far enough back to account for that.

However, someone has just emailed me and explained that they change
the cutlass bearing every time they haul the boat as a precaution.
(They only haul about every two years)

The cutlass bearing was deteriorated. I've heard from folks that say
theirs failed in 3 years but normally they lasted them 5-6 years.

Today, he put the cutlass bearing back on the boat, and I came down to
help him put the flange back on. He put ice packs on the shaft, and I
heated the flange up with a torch. He put it on inside the boat and I
hammered it in from the outside. Then we put the Max-Prop back on,
although it took us three or four tries to get it right.

..I took pictures of that which are here - only a dozen photos

Link to view these photos:
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-shar... lb_pml&cb=PW

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
Today, he put the cutlass bearing back on the boat, and I came down to
help him put the flange back on. He put ice packs on the shaft, and I
heated the flange up with a torch. He put it on inside the boat and I
hammered it in from the outside. Then we put the Max-Prop back on,
although it took us three or four tries to get it right.
:
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-shar... lb_pml&cb=PW


Looked at the photos and it does seem that the cutlass bearing was put in
from the inside,as you say.
So, what were you hammering in from the outside?

Several of the pics show the assembly of the Maxprop.
You seem to be using a much thicker grease than they recommend for my
Maxprop.
The stuff they recommend for mine is more like a very thick oil.

"Edgar" wrote:


"Rosalie B." wrote in message
.. .
Today, he put the cutlass bearing back on the boat, and I came down to
help him put the flange back on. He put ice packs on the shaft, and I
heated the flange up with a torch. He put it on inside the boat and I
hammered it in from the outside. Then we put the Max-Prop back on,
although it took us three or four tries to get it right.
:
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-shar... lb_pml&cb=PW


Looked at the photos and it does seem that the cutlass bearing was put in
from the inside,as you say.

He pulled the old one out from the outside (or at least I gather that
he did that from what he said).

So, what were you hammering in from the outside?

Pushing the shaft into the flange inside the boat. It is a tight fit.

I didn't go up into the boat as I have really bad vertigo and I get
dizzy up on the top of a ladder, so I really didn't see it inside.

Several of the pics show the assembly of the Maxprop.
You seem to be using a much thicker grease than they recommend for my
Maxprop.
The stuff they recommend for mine is more like a very thick oil.

I really don't know as I have only looked at the manual while holding
some piece of machinery in my hand in order to figure out which way
was up.

He would generally prefer that I help without talking, but sometimes
talking is necessary, and sometimes even when you don't like it, it
helps. The trick (for me) is to learn what things to say that might
help and when to shut up.

I think this is a male female thing.