<div>Gentlemen, my sincere thanks!
I attacked the cutlass bearing and without your combined
experiences, it would have been a lot to have someone do it for
me. Last week, I rented a $15 dollar prop puller, off came the
prop - 5 mins. Then, I took off the shaft coupling like you said,
4 cheapo bolts from ACE with a long socket wrench as a punch. It
came right off. Then I tried to pull the shaft from within, no
luck. I went to the cockpit, loosened the 4 bolts to the
quadrant, pulled it off, took off the rudder packing nut, went
under the boat, dug a 1 foot deep hole, placed a line from a
cleat on side of the boat,through the rudder, to a winch on the
other,tightened it up, removed the gudgeon and lowered it all -
single hand. 7 bolts in total to get the rudder off. Easy! I then
reversed the shaft, as mentioned, removed the set screws, and
with great luck, a light pull and out came the bearing. I ordered
a new one. It was a "BITE" size 1.25x2x6" - yea right, compared
to others, ours is like major beefy stuff, like the rest of the
boat.
It's all going back together this week with the Prowell Sailprop
hopefully. I am also using that dripless packing Syntef stuff
sold at West that I heard works like a charm. Why pay the big
bucks for a dripless mechanical system? The old stuff works fine
- if it ain't broke, don't fix it...or replace it, right?Again, thank you. This BB is incredible and a wonderful service
to us all - thanks Lenny!
</div>
I attacked the cutlass bearing and without your combined
experiences, it would have been a lot to have someone do it for
me. Last week, I rented a $15 dollar prop puller, off came the
prop - 5 mins. Then, I took off the shaft coupling like you said,
4 cheapo bolts from ACE with a long socket wrench as a punch. It
came right off. Then I tried to pull the shaft from within, no
luck. I went to the cockpit, loosened the 4 bolts to the
quadrant, pulled it off, took off the rudder packing nut, went
under the boat, dug a 1 foot deep hole, placed a line from a
cleat on side of the boat,through the rudder, to a winch on the
other,tightened it up, removed the gudgeon and lowered it all -
single hand. 7 bolts in total to get the rudder off. Easy! I then
reversed the shaft, as mentioned, removed the set screws, and
with great luck, a light pull and out came the bearing. I ordered
a new one. It was a "BITE" size 1.25x2x6" - yea right, compared
to others, ours is like major beefy stuff, like the rest of the
boat.
It's all going back together this week with the Prowell Sailprop
hopefully. I am also using that dripless packing Syntef stuff
sold at West that I heard works like a charm. Why pay the big
bucks for a dripless mechanical system? The old stuff works fine
- if it ain't broke, don't fix it...or replace it, right?Again, thank you. This BB is incredible and a wonderful service
to us all - thanks Lenny!
</div>