Quote Originally Posted by jim rosenthal View Post
Perhaps some builder design a boat without shaft log cutlass bearings? Hard to imagine though; I have never seen a boat built as such. A cutlass bearing in that area to support the shaft and preserve alignment would seem essential. I guess you would just use a smaller diameter sterntube if there was not going to be a cutlass bearing inside it.
Does yours have cutlass bearings in the shaft log? On my 53 there is a little mini-strut located immediately after the shaft log right where the shaft pops out of the boat. So if there was a boat that didn't need them, it would probably be this one. But I want to know for sure so that if it has one I can make sure it gets replaced. The problem on my boat was bad enough that you can't turn the shafts by hand, one of them you can't even turn with a pipe wrench, and I was having issues with engine stalling when changing gears.