Forums › General Discussion › Prop Strut = Bad Day

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    • #68047
      unabated
      Participant

      Over 5K miles of cruising in the last 9 months – no injuries, hardly a scratch, no major problems. On the last day, in the last hour, disaster strikes.
      While hauling UNABATED yesterday in Deltaville, the aft sling caught the tip of the propeller.
      The boat was lifted up about 3 feet before it was noticed. The short story is that one of the prop blades no longer has the same pitch as the other two. The strut is badly bent and possibly the shaft.
      Has anyone ever dealt with the strut before? As in removing it? I am figuring on at the very least that the engine will have to be pulled. (which will BTW give me a chance to fix that nasty oil leak – gasket).
      Where do you even buy  a strut?
      Sucks………….
      ALan

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    • #75591
      Anonymous

      Hello Allan~
      BUMMER! Have you met Chuck Ruble, the project manager, yet! This is the
      Chuck, owner of 424 SEA DUTY, whose valuable listings you have undoubtedly
      read on this net. Try to deal ONLY with Chuck.
      FOR YOUR SHAFT & POSSIBLY THE STRUT:
      Ocran Shaft & Machine Co.
      John P. Tomillon
      113 Windmill Pt. RD.
      Whitestone, VA 22578
      804-435-6301 / cell: 804-833-5773
      John made a new shaft for me 4 yrs ago – great job, on time, on budget
      .Let me know if I can get you around or loan you a car for a day or two. My
      number again is 540-400-2434. I’m back from my Lake home, and here aboard
      CHARISMA. I will be working today at WEST, the one by the supermarket.
      Let me know what I can do.
      BILL

      ~~(__~~ (_~~~fair winds~~ (_~~
      Capt. William Tice, USCG Master, 100 Ton

      In a message dated 6/19/2010 6:29:28 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
      writes:

      Over 5K miles of cruising in the last 9 months – no injuries, hardly a
      scratch, no major problems. On the last day, in the last hour, disaster
      strikes.
      While hauling UNABATED yesterday in Deltaville, the aft sling caught the
      tip of the propeller.
      The boat was lifted up about 3 feet before it was noticed. The short story
      is that one of the prop blades no longer has the same pitch as the other
      two. The strut is badly bent and possibly the shaft.
      Has anyone ever dealt with the strut before? As in removing it? I am
      figuring on at the very least that the engine will have to be pulled. (which
      will BTW give me a chance to fix that nasty oil leak – gasket).
      Where do you even buy a strut?
      Sucks………….
      ALan

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      maillist mailing list

      https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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      https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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    • #75592
      Anonymous

      Dayum, Alan, it sounds like Unabated wasn’t ready to stop cruising just yet.
      I wonder if Pearson might have an old 424 strut laying around in a back
      storeroom. Or they might be able to suggest a source. Worth asking. Also,
      what finally became of that 424 that was wrecked in Hawaii a year or two
      ago. If she’s still around perhaps someone could salvage her strut for you,
      quickly removed with a Sawzall. Beyond these long shots it sounds like a
      custom machine shop job. As for the shaft, I expect any competent machine
      shop with a lathe can do that for you, although I’d use one that has made
      boat shafts in the past. Bound to be at least one in Deltaville.

      I hope that boat yard is paying for all the damage they caused. They should
      be the ones scurrying to find sources for the replacement parts, too.

      Tor
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Silver Heels, P-424 #17
      http://www.silverheels.us
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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    • #75593
      kalinowski
      Participant

      I checked on the 424 that wrecked on Maui last year, as any self respecting Pearson bone picker would. I contacted the harbor people and they said the boat was cut up and buried in the trash landfill. (inaccessable) What a waste.

      Dan Kalinowski
      Lady Leanne II
      Honolulu

    • #75601
      unabated
      Participant

      Well. the bad news for me is that I told the guy where to put the straps…..
      There is black dot where my yard has picked up the boat for the last 7 years.  I thought he centered the straps on the dot…. apparently he’s been putting the straps just behind the black dot. I never noticed that the black dot marks the end of the prop….. sucks  to  be me.
      alan

      — On Sat, 6/19/10, Silver Heels <> wrote:

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    • #75645
      madsailor
      Moderator

      Do you have a ketch? If so, both masts are a permanent mark for lifting the
      boat. I am attaching a picture to show. You’ll have to trust me that the
      forward one is at the mast.

      I know it’s a day late and a dollar short (or several boat bucks) but if it
      saves someone else this problem, then it’s worth it.

      Bob

      On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 10:18 PM, Alan <> wrote:

      Quote:
      Well. the bad news for me is that I told the guy where to put the
      straps…..
      There is black dot where my yard has picked up the boat for the last 7
      years. I thought he centered the straps on the dot…. apparently he’s been
      putting the straps just behind the black dot. I never noticed that the black
      dot marks the end of the prop….. sucks to be me.
      alan

      — On Sat, 6/19/10, Silver Heels <> wrote:

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    • #75609
      Anonymous

      Alan,

      Under the heading of ‘closing the barn door after the horse has bolted’, I
      keep a couple of print-outs of the attached sketch handy in the chart table.
      Every time I have the boat hauled I hand a copy to the lift operator in
      advance and stand there with him until the strap locations are adjusted to
      our mutual satisfaction. Not sure who would then be to blame for a placement
      screw-up, but with the sketch in hand the chances seem remote.

      Tor
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Silver Heels, P-424 #17
      http://www.silverheels.us
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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    • #75630
      RichCarter
      Participant

      Alan
      What a bummer! I would guess your insurance would cover this. As you may
      already know, the strut bolts are under the engine. You can lift the front
      end of the engine to access the nuts. The strut should be offcenter to
      starboard a little bit. This allows the prop shaft to slide aft and pass
      the skeg, though I think it would have cleared it below the skeg anyway. It
      is likely that the shaft is bent, almost certain. The strut is probably the
      least of your worries. My guess is that its OK. They get bent when you run
      over a line and the torque twists the strut.

      Rich

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    • #75633
      unabated
      Participant

      I was talking to Paul L yesterday and he reminded me of the strut offset to Starboard. Maybe the strut is not bent after all. But, How to measure it to determine that it’s not bent becomes the question. What reference points do you use? Maybe all the force was taken up by the prop bending instead of anything else as that would be the least resistant.

      At 8:45 on Friday the plan was to remove the V drive for a rebuild and then remove the engine to JUST replace the pan gaskets to fix the oil leak. I still consider my W58 in good condition.
      At 9:30 I’m looking at removing the engine to possibly replace the strut, re-bend the shaft and strut.
      I am peering down the rabbit hole and trying to figure out how dark and how far it goes.

      I am a little more optimistic this morning thinking that the strut is not bent. Just the prop and maybe the shaft. Still, the oil leak needs to be fixed.
      But like any boat owner I am thinking resale value and how much or how little a new engine would go considering the cost of a repower., even if I did 99 percent of the work myself. Since I am taking the engine out anyhow………mmmmmmmmmm
      a

      — On Sun, 6/20/10, Rich Carter <> wrote:

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    • #75634
      quent
      Participant

      Alan-
      You might check to see if the alignment of the shaft at the v-drive is still OK. If it is, the strut is probably intact.
      Quent
      Cairebuoyant #132

    • #75635
      RichCarter
      Participant

      Alan
      You could check the strut by checking the V-drive alignment. On the hard, things sit differently so it won’t be aligned perfectly. If its withing about .0020, its probably OK. I suppose you could get an error if the prop shaft is bent between the strut and V-drive. That’s pretty easy to check by bringing the shaft to a shop which you probably need to do anyway. So if you haven’t taken things apart so far, disconnect the shaft coupling and measure V-drive alignment. Then pull the shaft and have it checked. While the shaft is out, you might consider replacing the cutless bearing if its got a couple of thousand hours or more on it. If your shaft is an original bronze shaft, it may have needed replacement soon anyway. Consider a stainless replacement. If the shaft was bent so that it threw off the V-drive alignment you won’t know if the strut is bent or not. When you pull the shaft, it should slip just to starboard and below the skeg. A tiny bend in the strut can be compensated for by realigning the V-drive.

      By reputation, the W58 is a good engine. If its running well and seems reliable, why replace it? I’d recommend pulling the engine and have a compression test done on it. If it checks out OK clean it up and repainting it. Replace whatever leaky gaskets you have and inspect/rebuild the accessories (starter, water pumps. alternator). Maybe rebuild the injectors. If the compression check is off, it may just need a valve job which isn’t a big deal unless Westerbeke is holding the parts for ransom as they did with the W60..

      The Velvet-drive transmission is a very reliable piece if equipment too, but if its never been rebuilt, you might consider having that done. Its heavy, but easy to pull. A rebuild should run around $600. Have the transmission heat-exchanger cleaned and inspected too.

      Rich


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    • #75636
      unabated
      Participant

      Thanks Rich, all great ideas.
      The shaft is only 3 years old as is the cutlass bearing. Most of the ancelary  items on the engine are in good shape. I have either replaced them or rebuilt them before I left on my cruise. The injectors were replaced during the cruise (Bermuda). So it’s really in good shape.
      I will probably get the shaft checked first and then check the alignment with the V drive before I remove the drive for a rebuild (I was going to do that any how). See where it goes from there.
      alan

      — On Mon, 6/21/10, <> wrote:

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    • #75641
      Chuck Ruble
      Participant

      Alan, give me a call. 804-514-7442. I’ll do what I can to help you out.

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