Why, you may well ask, are we out of the water again. Taipan is wondering if shes a sail boat or a rock. Well we sailed north from Fernandina with the expectation that a
niggling knock we have lived with somewhere in the stern tube had been fixed. (You
cant know this for sure till you are back in the water.)
Ever since we have owned Taipan she's had a knock in the stern tube or somewhere which we have never managed to locate. It became somewhat worse after we put in a new shaft in South Africa, which instead of being 38mm went to 40mm. Long story but basically a lack of available shaft material there and we were already well down the path.
It was certainly a lot less aggravating after modification in Fernandina and we could do 2000 RPM comfortably but above that it would start knocking again. We had resolved that one way or another we are going to fix this once and for all. Its annoying! All the alignment has been adjusted and is perfect.
Well we decided to haul out at Bock Marine. They have very good expertise here having been in the industry over 30 years. They once built steel boats here. Their price is very competitive, which becomes pretty important when you keep hauling out!! The are also the only marina we've ever been to which has a complimentary car for the use of patrons. Its available for 2 hrs at at time and you just replace fuel used. (Not quite true... there was one in north Queensland years ago.)
So out we came out.....and out came the shaft..... again and this time a good look up the stern tube with a torch revealed a 5mm collar in the bronze casting which was apparently there for the old packing gland system. I don't believe Taipan ever had a packing gland but it was a standard stern tube casting. Expert opinion was sought and it was decided it should be removed to allow more clearance. So armed with the trusty Milwaukee 18v drill and a hole saw of the correct size on an extension......An hour later it was out. We can see where the tube has been rubbed by the shaft in the removed ring of bronze. so now there is a full 5mm clearance around the shaft. Fingers crossed!
 |
| Offending bronze casting. |
Now just fit a new cutlass bearing to be sure to be sure.... old one seems fine but......
Then we splash again and try it out!
