Is that leak coming from the packing box.

[MarkT]

A part of my spring time ritual is to loosen the nut on the packing box and check that all is behaving properly. Well this time after adjusting the packing I found a steady stream of water coming from behind the packing box in the area of the stern tube. Needless to say this quickly became a cause for concern. Zip ties, rags and the flow is now a drip.

Next morning we are getting hauled out! The cause of the leak was that the shaft has been running in the bottom of the stern tube and has worn a hole. The shaft is supposed to be centered in the tube and the engine then aligned to the shaft.

The fix that we settled on was to remove the shaft far enough back to cut the stern tube and then epoxy a new one in its place. Then reassemble and go back to sailing. Needless to say the job finished up being more involved. Once the shaft is free of the engine coupling it becomes clear that it would be wise to replace the cutlas bearing while we are doing this. And it is just as easy to buy a whole new stuffing box as it is to rehab the old one. Thank you to all the info in the wiki on cutlas bearing replacement, the only addition I have is to say that the three jaw puller from Advance Auto (free loaner) was invaluable. And why does Catalina choose to use a strut that can't be disassembled from the boat and taken to the press to change the cutlas bearing.

I'm happy to say we are back in the water and the boat motors beautifully.

Mark Tamblyn

[KWKloeber]

Mark

Because there's no need to go thru pulling and taking it to a shop to press out/in!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa78umBAUAc

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BKdBXHIyC8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQHLvUUyuE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsAO5yE1Kw

https://youtu.be/LzTGKVqeTSA

Ken

[Ron Hill]

Mark : Don't forget to include your Hull # and production year in your posts !!

A thought

[Dave Spencer]

Mark,
Thanks for posting.  Wearing through the stern tube is something I had never thought about before. (Yet another thing that can sink my boat.  ). Do you have any pictures or any other information on how far off centre your prop shaft was to cause it to wear through the stern tube?  Epoxying in a new stern tube sounds like a pretty major job that requires quite a bit of precision.  Where did you source the stern tube?  Did you do the work or hire a yard to do it?

[MarkT]

I did the work myself.
The yard helped me source the materials. They are great !

As far as precision.. The shaft was in good alignment with the engine so I centered the new tube on the shaft and held it in place with some thickened epoxy. Next day the whole area got several layers of epoxy and fiberglass. If I was to do it again then I'd get the tool to remove the cutlas bearing without removing the shaft. But this wasn't exactly a job that had any forward planning.

I guess I thought my profile had all my details.
1987 C34 #326
Gloucester Point VA

Mark Tamblyn

[Dave Spencer]

Thanks for the info Mark. Do you have anything on how far off centre the shaft was to wear through the stern tube. Before and after pictures would be great. I don't recall this topic being covered before.