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Cutlass Bearing Issue
?When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed. |
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When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed.
2nd question: Our bilge is a toxic waste dump of 50 years worth of old diesel and assorted other gunk. We have the ability to totally contain our bilge outflow. What would be the quickest and easiest cleaner or chemical or method to use to emulsify all the gunk and get it out? The smell of diesel is overwhelming. Our goal is that if we drop a sandwich in the bilge, we can pick it up and keep on eating. Scott |
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Scott, I replaced?Kiltie's?cutlass?about 6 years ago. She did not have set screws, although I have heard that some T27's do. The rubber is bonded?to the?bearing and is at least?2" long. I would not restrict the water from getting into what is left of the bearing with?the zinc. The easiest?way to remove it is of course first remove the shaft. Take a saws-all?and cut inside the bearing to just before?touching the shaft tube. Then take a chisel and curl the bearing in. It should crack and get loose.?This should work even if you have set screws. Now, inserting the new one can be a pain. With mine, even after using a brake cylinder?hone to clean the shaft tube to the point it was shinny, the new bearing greased up bearing did not want to go in . Even with a lot of pounding with a sledge with a piece of oak against?the bronze. I ended?up putting ?a 3/4" threaded rod through the tube with washers?and nuts on the ends and pressing it in. This was a lot kinder to the old fiberglass. If you do have set screws, you should see where they are from inside the tube. Good luck. John = > ¡Â On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 1:43 PM SCOTT ROSASCO via <srosa25043=[email protected]> wrote: When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed. |
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Hi Scott,
Welcome.
The cutlass bearing should be 4" long, inserted into the deadwood of the keel (there is no strut which is a metal thing that hangs down from the hull to hold the shaft that does not exist on a Tartan 27').? If you look up cutlass bearings you should be able to find a model called "BALE" which is just a code name given to a 4" bearing with a 1' ID shaft and probably 1-1/2" OD.??
The rubber from inside the bearing is not supposed to work it's way out of there as your pictures show.? The rubber helps form the seal around the shaft and without it, well, not so good a seal and your stuffing box could leak a bit more than usual.??
In the short term I think you should cut the rubber away and fasten a donut shaft zinc there which should help keep the rubber from coming completely out.? In the long term, you can replace the cutlass bearing yourself - we did it - it wasn't easy but we did it.? There may or may not be a set screw holding your cutlass bearing in place.? Ours did not have one.? You can't really pound the bearing out of there without destroying the surrounding area so you have to press it out.? This requires a bit of ingenuity and a length of "all thread" and various washers, bolts and cup wrenches.? You tighten the bolts to push the bearing out of its press fit.? First you have to get the shaft out of the way and we found this to be nearly impossible so we cut the old bronze shaft in half and removed each piece separately.? A new SS shaft was about $250.? We re-used our old shaft coupling but you might want to replace yours with a split shaft coupling which makes it easier to insert and remove.? I have some pictures from that effort:??
2nd question.? Bilge.
It sounds like your T27 was equipped with a diesel at one point, which is a good upgrade to the old Atomic 4.? The old Atomic 4 being a gasoline engine didn't stink so much since if gas leaked out anywhere it either flashed off or started a fire but the bilges are still pretty deep and narrow and will catch any spilled oil.? Diesel fuel smells much more distinctly than gasoline and is much less volatile so it won't evaporate.? I used to use a Bilge Boom gizmo which is about 2' long by maybe 4" circumference tube of absorbent material.? You let that float in the bilge water and it is supposed to pick up most of the fuel and oil.? Similarly they sell those oil-absorbent rags that are used for engine work.? These can be used to wipe up the perimeter of the bilge (what you can reach).??
You mentioned "emulsification" which reminded me that Dawn Dish Detergent (the blue stuff) is used as an emulsifying agent for diesel spills.? You might get a bottle of this for your boat.? Wipe down all interior surfaces and inside lockers and bilge.??
Finally, Raritan makes some cleaning products that are more bacterial based, such as "CP" and "KO"? (clean potty & kills odors).? I have used the "KO" liquid for both holding tank treatment as well as general cleanup and odor killing.? Using heavy detergents will kill the bacteria in these cleaners though so use one or the other, not both.
Baking Soda can also absorb odors as it does in your fridge.
Lastly, Practical Sailor must have done a comparison of bilge cleaners.? They are like the Consumer Reports for boating materials & practices.
Where are you keeping your boat and what hull # is it?
Good luck.
Caleb D T27 #328
-----Original Message-----
From: SCOTT ROSASCO via groups.io <srosa25043@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, Mar 24, 2021 1:05 pm Subject: [T27Owners] Cutlass Bearing Issue When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed.
2nd question: Our bilge is a toxic waste dump of 50 years worth of old diesel and assorted other gunk. We have the ability to totally contain our bilge outflow. What would be the quickest and easiest cleaner or chemical or method to use to emulsify all the gunk and get it out? The smell of diesel is overwhelming. Our goal is that if we drop a sandwich in the bilge, we can pick it up and keep on eating.
Scott
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Having just read John Bailey's remarks on removing the old cutlass bearing I am reminded that the method he describes is exactly how we did it.? Cut the bearing with a Sawzall metal blade and peel it out.? Sounds easy enough.
Good luck.
Caleb D T27 #328 -----Original Message-----
From: John Bailey <john.bailey50@...> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, Mar 24, 2021 3:37 pm Subject: Re: [T27Owners] Cutlass Bearing Issue Scott,
I replaced?Kiltie's?cutlass?about 6 years ago.
She did not have set screws, although I have heard that some T27's do. The rubber is bonded?to the?bearing and is at least?2" long. I would not restrict the water from getting into what is left of the bearing with?the zinc.
The easiest?way to remove it is of course first remove the shaft. Take a saws-all?and cut inside the bearing to just before?touching the shaft tube.
Then take a chisel and curl the bearing in. It should crack and get loose.?This should work even if you have set screws.
Now, inserting the new one can be a pain. With mine, even after using a brake cylinder?hone to clean the shaft tube to the point it was shinny, the new bearing greased up bearing did not want to go in . Even with a lot of pounding with a sledge with a piece of oak against?the bronze.
I ended?up putting ?a 3/4" threaded rod through the tube with washers?and nuts on the ends and pressing it in. This was a lot kinder to the old fiberglass. If you do have set screws, you should see where they are from inside the tube.
Good luck.
John
= > ¡Â
On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 1:43 PM SCOTT ROSASCO via <srosa25043=[email protected]> wrote:
When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed. |
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Hi Scott,
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If I haven't already (it's been a looong year), welcome, and congratulations on the new-to-you sailboat. Deep Blue Yacht Supply seems to have a good selection of cutlass bearings: From that, 3-6". You can pull it yourself. Major hurdels are getting the prop clear of the rudder, the shaft out, then the bearing out. Do not use a "slide hammer" or any kind of hammer for any of those steps. Cracks around my abused prop tube were leaking, I had to haul out for that, and the repair is now no where near "new". A slide hammer can easily ruin your transmission too. A gear puller may be able to pull the prop off the shaft but if can clear the rudder (with some finagling), just leave it on the shaft. Removing the transmission coupler from the shaft is harder. I can dig up a link if you like, but the method for removing the shaft involves getting long bolts and a socket the same size as the shaft or so. You unbolt the coupler, remove the bolts, put the socket (which is only used to take up space to force the shaft out) in front of the shaft, put the longer bolts in, and start tightening them round-robin to force the shaft out. It's a huge pain. There are pullers for the cutlass bearing. You could probably fabricate something too. You want to pull outwards, pulling against the inner edge of the bronze tube body of the bearing. If you don't want to buy or fabricate something to do that, call around and find a mechanic that has one in your size. If shaft vibration is noticeable, putting it off would not be ideal. Otherwise can't say if blocking it with the zinc is a good idea. Likewise on the nasty bilge. My own finding was that there was no substitute for a little scrubbing. I used acetone and alcohol in various places when prepping surfaces (cleaning the bilge floors before putting more fiberglass over where someone put screws all the way through the fiberglass in the bottom of the bilge to screw a bilge pump down... one step forward, ten steps back... for example) but a strong soap detergent probably works as well. Letting it sit and soak helps. Because some scrubbing action is required, uneven places in the fiberglass won't clean up easily. A good assortment of brushes including toilet brushes helps. I saw one recommendation for steam cleaning to deal with that. Please don't pump overboard. The bilge pump discharge line can be re-routed to empty containers to go to hazard waste or whatever is recommend. I did a lot of wetvac'ing. Guess if you're on land now, not pumping overboard is the default. Help that helps! Cheers, -scott On 3/24/21, Scott Rosasco <scottrosasco@...> wrote:
?When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter |
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To remove the cutlass bearing, you can carefully use a sawzall with metal cutting blade to cut a notch or two into the circumference, then collapse the metal into itself and pull it out. Just be careful when sawing radially outward so that you stop when you reach or nearly reach the full thickness of the metal.? Brent S/V LOLA T-27 #438 Cataumet, MA On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 9:13 PM aksjghkajshd <scott@...> wrote: Hi Scott, |
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When I cleaned my bilge I used Star brite Super Orange Citrus Bilge Cleaner and a wet-dry vac. I used used the cheap $25 bucket head shop-vac from home depot which fits on the 5 gallon buckets. I had to get some extension tubes so that it could reach the very bottom of the bilge. Also needed some scrub brushes with a long handle. - jeremy On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 1:43 PM SCOTT ROSASCO via <srosa25043=[email protected]> wrote: When we hauled our ¡°new to us¡± boat for the first time for winter storage, we noticed this oddity on the shaft. It appears to be the rubber part of the cutlass bearing, working its way out of the bearing. My understanding is these are attached to the metal sleeve and the whole sleeve was inserted into the strut. There is about an inch+ sticking out. Does anyone know how long the bearing is, or how much of the rubber is still inside the boat? I am aware of what would happen if the whole thing came out, so our short term solution is to cut that rubber piece off and attach the shaft zinc as close as possible to the strut to keep it from further escaping. Long term, can we replace the bearing ourselves? Can we pound or pull it out? Is there a set screw buried under bottom paint holding it in? Pictures enclosed. |
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Congratulations on your new boat!?
We also inherited a toxic dump in the bilge. It probably had not been cleaned in a generation. The best we could do is what others suggested
Lee and Traci #663 Dawn |
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