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Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 02:32:00 GMT
Cutlass Bearing
Spent the day in the yard.
Hi, Sam and I spent the day in the yard working on the cutlass bearing and
the seacocks. We pulled the propeller and pushed out the shaft tube/stern
tube. Then we pulled the prop shaft. That was a bear. Putting it back
in was harder than getting it out. Sam will do a video of as much of the
process as possible. The prop will just barely come off and only if you
tip it and twist it the right way. It's like a puzzle. Then the same
with the shaft. We had to push out the shaft tube to allow enough tipping
of the shaft to pass it below the forward shaft and down through the bilge
then up by the grey water tank. We also used the time to bead blast the
stuffing box and tube and repack everything. That took most of the day
for sam and I, but in between times we managed to free up the forward
seacock in the vberth and disassemble the two forward cockpit drains.
A bit about these bronze seacocks. I love them. That being said,
especially if they have not been excersized they will freeze up. Getting
them free can be a real chore but here are two methods that have worked
for me without fail. 1st: Use a pully puller. Put the fingers on the
back of the housing and press the center on the narrow end of the barrel.
This will press out the stuck barrel without banging and other terrible
methods you see on the internet. Loosen the nuts on the end just a little
bit then put pressure on it with the pulley puller until it snaps. It
makes a terrible sound that will scare you when it pops but it's a super
easy way to free them up. However there are times when the nuts on the
narrow end are up against a bulkhead and you can't use a puller. In this
case BE PATIENT! Use a good penetrating oil like Kroil and tap on the loosened
nuts. Put oil in the small holes on the sides.
Put pressure on the handle and tap... do this over and over. After
24-48 hours she'll loosen up. Don't smack it with a 5 pound hammer. Don't
put a breaker bar on the square nut. It is not necessary. Be patient.
The oil will do it's work and the tapping even if swift and strong will
eventually push out the tapered barrel. Don't tap on the threads. Make
sure you back the nut off till it's flush with the threads. Two of my
most severly frozen seacocks that had not been moved probably since the
boat was new came free with this method. They were completely green
totally frozen and clogged with barnacles and corosion inside. I tried
first to turn them with a 12 inch wrench to no avail, They were frozen
solid. I didn't want to
break them off or pull out the bolts holding them to the hull. I didn't
want to flex or damage the fiberglass. All the abusive impatient methods
are dangerous and damaging. Just keep putting oil on everything and keep
tapping. She'll come free. BE PATIENT.