Maryland 37: Cutlass bearing

[Patisa]

Hello,

Tried to replace cutlass bearing on Fountaine Pajot, no success.
Our boat is a Maryland 37.
I tried replacing with a hard shell bearing manufatured in North America and I am not having any luck, the bearing will just not go in.
A all rubber bearing was there, I should have thought about this better but I could not find an all rubber bearing here.
All bearings manufactured in North America are standard sizes.
My shaft is 40 mm.
Standard bearings are 55mm for a 40 mm shaft.
The hole is not quite 55mm so this new bearing will just not go in.
Any insights would be appreciated.
We are in Canada in the Pacific North West.

We are new to this forum, happy to be part of the community.

Isabelle and Patrick

[rabbi]

Have you actually asked the builder or your local dealer for either the part or a part number so you can source it yourself?

I had mixed results with FP a few years ago, but for example Lagoon has sold me a few hard to find parts at reasonable cost - but shipping was a rip off (UPS).

[motion30]

Have you measured the ID of the strut with a set of calipers? Perhaps the strut is not metric at all it could be a standard size. There should be a slight interference fit in that bearing sometimes you can freeze the bearing and it will shrink several thousands or even use dry ice.

[chris95040]

FYI, it's a "cutless" bearing, as in "cut less". Might have better luck googling suppliers with this spelling.

Also, are you sure it was an all-rubber bearing in there originally and you didn't just leave the sleeve behind?

Also, just holding the part in your hand and going over it with some fine grit sandpaper / emory paper can take a surprising amount of material off to help with a tight clearance fit. Sounds like maybe you've just got the wrong size part though. No such thing as a "standard" bearing AFAIK. They come in all shapes and sizes. You want the one that fits your shaft and your hole.

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "We are in Canada in the Pacific North West."

We don't have a CANADIAN "Pacific North West" We have British Columbia consisting, essentially, of "The Lower Mainland", "Vancouver Island" and "The Interior". On the "Lower Mainland" and on Vancouver Island, cutless bearings are a dime a dozen, and they come in all different internal and external diameters. You buy them too long for your bracket and trim them to length. They are called "cutless" because they do not get "cut" (abraded) when grit gets into them. The grooves in them cause grit to be washed right out again.

On the Lower Mainland, one chandler that can supply one is Martin Marine in North Vancouver. Osborne Propellers, also in NV, should also be able to supply. On Vancouver Island, Harbour Chandlers in Nanaimo can supply. Further up "the Island" in Comox, Campbell River, and Port Hardy there are chandlers that cater to commercial vessels mainly, but they can order one in for you if you give them your measurements.

Provide the chandler with the diameter of your prop shaft. Use a vernier caliber to measure it just aft of the cutless bearing. The two pointy bits sticking up off the scale are used for taking INTERNAL measurements. Offer them up to the bracket and take the measurement twixt where bronze meets plastic on one side of the shaft to the same place diametrically opposite on the bracket. That's your OUTside diameter of the cutless bearing. You can read a vernier caliper to 1/10th of a inch which is good enuff for this purpose.

If the pointy bits on your vernier caliper won't reach high enuff, because the shaft interferes, use a plain caliper to take the distance between the two point described above, then use the vernier caliper to take the measurement twixt the "legs" of the caliper.

TP