running gear 1988 40 ft trawler

[mudskipper]

Good morning and a happy spring renewal holiday of your choice , Easter Passover or dancing around a oak tree naked for you Druids. I was down at my boat to start sanding the bottom a few days ago. The rudders had some bad barnacle burns which I took down to bare metal. Also did shaft supports which were beautifully made stainless. Two questions for our expert panel. what should I coat the rudders and shaft bearing supports with ? Also noticed in the past that the S. B shaft and prop are distinctly hard to turn compared to port side which turns pretty easy. Last year I had new motor mounts done and trued twice afterward. Boat yard guy took soapy water and basted the bearing under the boat. He said it was ok but I want to know if I should replace the cutlass bearing. Also had props retuned during winter. Boatyard said bearing clearance was ok. Thanks in advance Jay on Aquarius Oceanport NJ

[C lectric]

Differences can often occur bewteen shafts in the difficulty to turn by hand without there being a problem. There could still be a minor tweak needed to the engine alignment. It won't take much to make it tight. The engine could be a hair high, low or sideways and it may take pulling the shaft to check how the cutless bearing lines up to the gear output flange. That tight cutless bearing could be a hair smaller id than the other.

However, before you start changing things, keep this in mind. Your boat is blocked on land. The hull could be slightly twisted throwing even the best alignment job out of whack causing a bit of bind. The blocking is probably fine for storage but not necessarily for checking alignment without more study.

Normal procedure is to do an initial, rough alignment , splash the boat and then two or so days later when the boat is fully water supported and settles, then redo. This is very important on wooden boats but even so it is applicable to frp boats.

To check a cutless bearing examine it and look at the shaft clearance. If it appears even all the way around at both ends then the bearing is probably ok. Grab the prop and try move it, up/down/sideways. It will move a bit as the rubber compresses but only if there is obvious slop does it need to be changed. Of course the shaft wil be sitting on the bottom so there will be a tiny bit of upward movement.