Replacing the Shaft

Replacing Shaft and cutlass bearing on the P35

While I had the engine out of the boat I figured it’s a perfect (much easier) time to check the shaft and cutlass bearing. The shaft in the cutlass bearing seemed snug and the rubber didn’t look deteriorated but being my first season with the boat I wanted to inspect as much as possible while on he hard for the winter.

I was hoping I’d be able to get the shaft out through the bilge and avoid wrestling with pressing out the shaft coupling in the boat and try it on the workbench instead. With the engine out, packing nut unthreaded and loose on the shaft and the prop removed (and the boat on the hard), I was able to slide the shaft out thru the stuffing box and into the main cabin. I then had good access to the stuffing box and was able to remove that by loosening the hose clamps while lying on some 2X4’s across the engine bed for the Universal 5424 diesel, seemed more comfortable then trying to get in from one of the lazzerette’s, and standing on your head. The shaft was 1” bronze 32” long and was worn at the cutlass bearing and the area where the packing rides.

Closer inspection of the tube where the stuffing box hose attaches showed some wear on the lower section of the fbg tube. It also looks like the cutlass bearing looks worn on the upper area around 12 o’clock but shows little wear at 6 o’clock, leading me to believe the motor was probably out of alignment. So I decided to replace the shaft and cutlass bearing and maybe give some thought to one of the drip less stuffing box’s. And raise the engine a bit and realigning it when I reinstalled it.

I had replaced several cutlass bearing on previous boats, 2 with strut’s and 1 full keel boat like the P35. The bearings in the struts weren’t to bad to replace and a friend had made up a tool to help pull them thru the strut using pipes washers and threaded rod. It worked well in one case but I had to use the hack saw and chisel method on the other 2. This was much harder to do on the full keel boat with the bearing molded in to the keel. I was hoping to get lucky and be able to tap it thru from the inside of the boat thru the tube for the stuffing box.

Since purchasing the boat I was curious as why there was seizing wire in the area where the cutlass bearing sets screws might normally be scraping away paint and filler allowed me to remove the seizing wire and find the sets screws (made them easy to locate) except I only found one and a bunch of filler on the other side. I'd have to re-glass and tap the side of the tube that was missing the set screw before reinstalling the new one to have 2 set screws.

I then went into the main cabin and was able to tap the cutlass bearing out thru the fbg tube by using a ¾” piece of pipe.

Cutlass bearing 4”L X 1-1/2” OD X 1” ID (for 1” shaft)

I found a 1” SS shaft at a marine consignment web site and ended up getting a 35” prop shaft that was brand new delivered for @ $75. I would still need to have it cut down 3” and have a new keyway milled in for the coupling by a local machine shop.

I will finish the job in the spring when the temps get warm enough for me to be able to fbg in the set screws