Battle of the Cutlass

One of the recommendations that the Marine Surveyor made when we purchased Zingara was to replace the Cutlass Bearing.  This is the bearing that supports the drive shaft and is located just in front of the propeller.  The standard procedure to remove this bearing is to first remove the propeller then the drive shaft and then the Cutlass bearing.  The only problem with this procedure is you first have to remove the Rudder in order to get the drive shaft out.  Vicki calls the rudder her BFR for good reason, it’s big!

Being, I admit it, Cheap and under a time limit I decided to try and remove the bearing with the drive shaft in place.  I made up a special puller and after two revisions to the puller the cutlass bearing is out.  I can now also remove the drive shaft as there is enough play in the strut to get the shaft by the rudder. I will also replace the stuffing box with a new PYI Dripless.http://www.shaftseal.com/en/product_categories 

Vicki here…We had friends come up & visit our boat, they brought a nice lunch aboard, which we shared with a nice cabernet wine.  The weather was lovely, still snow on the boat, but came off easily with our trusty red dustpan!  I took the heat gun & partially melted the ice from the cockpit drains, which was a success as the water started draining nicely onto Joe & Doug below.

 

Great news!  We are now off of the waiting list….we have our dock assignment!!!

We will be on Pier 1, lucky dock #13, Port Whitby Marina.

Today we are packing up as our dirt dwelling days are numbered…..

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention….there was some spillage on Saturday….you’ll know what I mean if you ever share a glass of wine with Doug : )