Hi Kelly --
Well, I was in the yard for bottom paint. Noticed that the prop was wobbly on the end of the shaft. Turned out that the shaft taper was out of true. Also, the cutlass bearing was worn from slight mis-alignment. So... we dropped the skeg and pulled the shaft and replaced it with a new one. The Shaft coupling was pretty badly corroded, so I had that replaced, and as long as everything was apart, replaced the stuffing box with a dripless shaft seal. The yard recommended changing the motor mounts, and I'm glad I did, as I see a significant reduction in vibration.
All in all, I have a lot more confidence in the boat, which is good as I plan to be offshore a fair bit, up and down the Washington coast once a year and the West coast of Vancouver Island.
Jay
_________________ Jay and Muki Kerr Tartan 37 Betty Lou (formerly Rainbow) Hull # 118, fin keel St. Helens, OR Betty Lou's Blog
|