Stern Tube & Cutlass Bearing Questions

[Idon84]

OK time for my next question.

I've been contemplating on what to do with my cutlass bearing and stern tube. I guess I'm totally at a loss of where I should start in pulling this apart. Here is a picture to start with. Having issues actually uploading the pic so here is the link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Idon84/Cosm ... 4640271506

Engine is removed, new motor mount is to be installed, template made and shaft aligned with the tube. But after that I have to fix this ugly leaking mess. How do you remove this? I do not see any set screws or anything like that. Some kind of puller? Threaded rod with washers?

Thanks for the info!

[Tim]

What's on the inside of the boat? Just a protruding tube, or something else?

[Idon84]

The tube extends through the stern approximately 15". It's quite deep.

This is the best picture I have of the inside part of the tube. Shaft is long gone and now just the tube protrudes out and ends right before the grease coupling in the picture below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Idon84/Cosm ... 5670946610

[Peter]

No help on the stern tube, but ....Bryon, I looked at all your photos ... h*ly cow! You've certainly taken the boat right down to the basics. Looks like you're doing a thorough job with the rebuilding. I found a tip on making epoxy fillets look good in my Easport Pram manual, from CLC: When the epoxy is just getting firm to the touch use a gloved finger dipped in methyl hydrate to rub the fillets smooth ... works like a charm if you can hit the epoxy at just the right time, leaving a smooth shiny fillet.

Keep the pictures coming, and I hope you really enjoy Cosmic Dancer when she's splashed again!

[Tim]

I've been contemplating on what to do with my cutlass bearing and stern tube. I guess I'm totally at a loss of where I should start in pulling this apart...How do you remove this? I do not see any set screws or anything like that. Some kind of puller? Threaded rod with washers?

Big channel locks on the outside to twist, some gentle heat, and blunt persuasion on the inside?

The trick will be to get the bond between shaft log and hull loosened. From that point, removal will be more straightforward, and based more on tenacity than anything else.

Can you get at, and remove, any of the tabbing that appears to be in place in your second, interior, photo? The more you can get out there, the less overall bonding there will be to force free in the part you can't access.

Sometimes the only way to get stuff like this out is to cut it out entirely, but I wouldn't go there just yet.

[Quetzalsailor]

I swore that I had seen the exhaust pipe sticking out of the transom on our Morgan 27. I knocked against it with the dink and swore that I'd knocked it inwards, since it no longer protruded. Next time the boat was out of the water I tried to get the now-recessed stub out to re-seal it. There was no sign of movement on the interior. I used 1/16" drill bit and attempted to cut the thing clear (cutting a groove with the drill bit). No dice, so I gave up and ran a bead of 5200 around it. Was fine for the rest of the 9 years we had the boat.

I observed that the exhaust, cockpit drain and stern tube were all the same sort of externally-knurled 2" or so bronze pipe. All were mounted in goop-fulls of polyester filler (complete with fingerprints). All had at least 2-3" of embedment. I decided that the exhaust protrusion/non-protrusion must have been a hallucination or a 1" long cheater that fell off.

Your stern tube might have 6" of engagement, judging from the photos. Tim's idea of heat might do ya', if you could get it warm enough over its full area of engagement. I don't know how much heat it would take to destroy a little polyester (well within the range of a hot air gun), a couple hundred degrees does it for epoxy. You might consider preloading it from the inside (wedges, jacks, etc, pressing from something unmovable against the end of the tube). Then stick a honkin' large roofers' soldering iron into the bore and leave it there until things are warm (my antique honkin' iron is, I think, 300 watts, about 1 1/8" in dia and 3+" long at the heating element).

When you give that up, buy the right size hole saw, weld an extension tube on it and saw the stern tube out.

You're doing extraordinary work!

[Idon84]

Got it. Channel locks & I'll try heating the bearing from the outside and run some kind of threaded rod with washers on the inside of the tube and try some gentle persuasion.

Getting to the tabbing on the inside would be tight but it is possible but I want to try to keep the stern tube intact and just remove the big bronze cutlass bearing. I'm hoping I don't have to remove the tube after reading Tim's section on replacing a stern tube on one of his rebuilds. I would need one heck of a deep hole saw!

We'll keep you up to date on the progress... I still need to mount the engine template and hope that the shaft lines up with the tube well. If not then I have no other choice but the hole saw.


Peter, thanks for the words. I'm just a bit crazy I think. But on the other hand I have no kids, little social life, a 5 year free place to keep her, sailors and other sailboats to use, this FINE forum full of knowledge, and my wife is 110% behind and helping me. My goal is to buck the trend of most people starting a job and never finishing it. On the other hand I have NO intention on rebuilding the BCC to PRISTINE new condition with fine woodwork and extravagance on the interior. I prefer to have a basic, simple interior that is easy to maintain without all of the "Lipstick" and fancy systems.

I'll have to try your fillet technique. Getting the right fillet has been tricky. It seems that when I find the right consistency it still has some small pot marks when finished so using your technique may be better than using a thickened epoxy for the first layer of tabbing to fill those pot marks.

Thanks again,