Cutlass Setup Has Boatyard Stumped!

[tackdriver]

I'm swinging from a crane tonight, as I arranged to have my engine alignment done and ended up getting hauled. We've pulled the shaft out and found the cutlass bearing setup is pretty odd.

This is bad for two reasons. Firstly I already paid to have the bearing changed in Florida, but it seems those guys found the difficulty we've now found and just stuffed the old parts back in and pretended they did the job.

Secondly no one knows what to do now.

There seems to be a bronze pipe glassed into the hull about 2 feet long. The inside diameter of this is roughly 39mm (1.55') the shaft is 30mm. The bearing that was in there and has now disintegrated was rubber only - no brass shell.

We are left with the question - do we get another rubber only bearing and glue it in. Do we cut out this tube and glass in another one (seems drastic). Is there a brass backed cutlass bearing with these unlikely dimensions?

Any help appreciated - especially any Beneteau owners who can confirm this setup is normal or otherwise.

Thanks
James

[Cheechako]

hmmm.... seem like some really odd dimensions... metric I guess... have you tried to find a cutlass with the correct ID and have the OD machined to fit?

[Vasco]

Call Ward Richardson at Beneteau USA and get it straight from the horse's mouth. Beneteau is usually very helpful.

[Christian Van H]

I would contact Beneteau immediately! Something doesn't sound right.

[imagine2frolic]

Wouldn't hurt to mention the thieves name too. We know where to go, and where not to go.......i2f

[Chief Engineer]

I don't think they let us publish the names.....There should be a website....
www.boatyardpyrates.com

[blgklr]

Would make sense if bore of brass is 40mm. shaft is 30,5 mm thick rubber insert (outside diameter 40mm, inside diameter30mm) . Try running 40mm reamer through brass. Get a piece of Thordon bearing material machined to proper clearances and install.Get specs from manufacturer Will probably outlast the boat.

[sundown]

I don't know if this will be of use for you or not but I used to have a commercial troller and would get about 6 years (1200 hrs) out of stern bearings made from Lignum viatae (wood). They were dry fitted into a brass stern tube, wore well and were really quiet. I would suspect that dense high oil content woods like iron wood or gum wood could be substituted ( I do know of guys using Arbutus).

[Pblais]

I don't think they let us publish the names.....There should be a website....

Nope. FWIW, You personally can be on the hook for libel. It's been done and been collected (not here try Facebook). Good news is we (CF staff / Andy) won't be hurt - only you will. We still won't let you do that - it's bad PR for us. Our reputation matters more than yours - to us. We are not a court of law. You can't use us to pass judgment on others actions. It's in the rules. If you have a beef go for it, to the folks that did it, and don't quit until you win.

[imagine2frolic]

Litigation is one of the many deaths to America. We are slowly shooting ourselves in the foot. It's a pity when can't tell the truth, so we live behind lies pretending everything is ok.......we are so screwed........i2f

[tackdriver]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. In the end we decided to machine the shaft down to an imperial size with a matching cutless with an OD that fits in the in-situ tube. The guys in the yard are happy to have turned the metric shaft into the 'right' size. Actually its a pretty nice job.
cheers
James

[Sailndive345]

That's great news, Tackdriver... Sailing a Beneteau myself, I was wondering: Was yours built in France or South Carolina, USA? I just want to better understand if this is a widespread "challenge" or just an odd case...

Fair winds to you!

Sailndive

[Dedzaboy]

Not sure about the 390, but we used to have a Beneteau Oceanis 400, 1993, that had a similar glassed in metal tube within which the shaft spun. The outside (prop end) of this tube had a top-hat shaped black rubber sleeve that loosely fitted into the tube and was secured with a plastic screw. The inboard end used a Volvo water fed seal instead of a stuffing box. Seems to me it was a great system, it never failed or leaked, although I did replace the "top-hat" sleeve once since I couldn't figure out whether it was worn or not!

I wonder if you haven't perhaps just inadvertently replaced this system with a more conventional cutlass bearing?

[Dedzaboy]

If your setup was the same as my one detailed above, is it conceivable that the Florida boatyard had in fact done the job correctly, and maybe poor engine alignment caused the failure of the black rubber sleeve? Just a thought worth considering before starting WW3!

[tackdriver]

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense. The issue I think was that the previous owner left it go for so long that the tube was bashed out of round. When I ran it with the Florida fitted bearing, it was making a pretty bad noise from the get-go which suggests the alignment wasn't really the main problem. There were a bunch of other issues, the prop nuts didn't have enough thread left to tighten them up. Anyway its quiet and smooth now, so regardless of who did what, I have a solution, and the replacement bits will be easily available for the next person, rather than a proprietary part.
cheers
James