Strut movement

[gctj]

I have my 1990 hauled for a bottom job. After the pressure wash, we noticed that the shaft moves up and down quite a bit and it appears that a new cutlass bearing is needed. We also noticed that there was a slight movement from side to side in the strut. I am talking about a small movement. There is also a small crack on each side where the strut goes into the hull. Is this slight movement a serious problem. Should I have the yard "clean out the small cracks and refiberglass the area?  Other suggestions? Thanks.

[Ted Pounds]

There should be NO movement of the strut.  Any movement of the strut may have contributed to wear of the cutless bearing.  I would have an experienced guy look at and first figure out why the strut is loose.  Then go from there.  And when they fix the strut change the bearing too.  Just my thoughts...

[Ron Hill]

gc : I'd call Catalina and get some advice from the factory, before I'd let any boat yard start screwing around with "tightening" the strut.  A thought.   

[Ken Juul]

The area around where the strut enters the hull is hollow.  Water can get trapped in there.  If the strut is really loose, perhaps there is some delamination going on around the bolts.

[jfssail]

I replaced my strut and shaft last spring due to a bent shaft. First make sure you do not have any bend in the shaft caused by the play in the cutlass bearing.
I obtained a dwg from Catalina showing the new way they enclose the sides of the filled area around the strut. It is now reinforced with glass cloth. After checking the strut bolts under the centerline water tank to make sure they are tight, grind out the crack outlining the filled area and apply glass cloth and then apply VC Tar2 barrier coat over the the area before applying bottom paint.

Jack F Stewart
1993 C36 #1233 "Windancer"
Port Clinton, OH

[tonywright]

Jack is very right. Look for other potential causes of the problem. How long since you checked the alignment of the engine/shaft? Are the engine mounts worn/loose at all?

I had a totally worn through cutlass bearing on the boat I acquired, even though there were only 40 hours on the engine. We believe the problem to have been caused by the PO's yard applying antifouling overy everything below the waterline, including the shaft, cutless bearing and propellor. If the cutlass bearinjg is painted with antifouling, then the little grooves in it can no longer channel water to cool the shaft. This will destroy the bearing very quickly, as mine was.

I replaced shaft and bearing, installed a J-prop (I painted none of them), and had the engine aligned. After a year of use, no sign of wear at all.

Tony

[gctj]

Thanks for everyone's advise.