I've never had a bad cutlass bearing...

[rsmith]

Get the tabs working and run it hard. The SOP for Detroits in the ops manual is to bring them up to WOT stabilize and pull back 200 rpm for cruise. It’s a good possibility your engines are coked up from low speed operations and sitting. When we bought the Endless Summer she was 9 years old with 500 hours. RPM Diesel in FtLauderdale condemned the engines for low compression. Sea trial the boat wouldn’t run over 1800 rpm WOT. The overhauls were factored into the price and we took possession memorial weekend 1976. Scheduled the OH for later in July and headed to Bimini to fish the tuna bite. Every hour we ran them the engines got stronger. Ran into some people headed to Chubb where the Blue Marlin bite was hot. We ended up fishing Chubb for 2 weeks. By the time we pointed the bow back towards Lauderdale the engines were turning 2300 WOT no smoke. Canceled the overhauls and ran another 9000 hours and 20 years before we finally rebuilt the engines

[JuiceClark]

Get the tabs working and run it hard. The SOP for Detroits in the ops manual is to bring them up to WOT stabilize and pull back 200 rpm for cruise. It’s a good possibility your engines are coked up from low speed operations and sitting. When we bought the Endless Summer she was 9 years old with 500 hours. RPM Diesel in FtLauderdale condemned the engines for low compression. Sea trial the boat wouldn’t run over 1800 rpm WOT. The overhauls were factored into the price and we took possession memorial weekend 1976. Scheduled the OH for later in July and headed to Bimini to fish the tuna bite. Every hour we ran them the engines got stronger. Ran into some people headed to Chubb where the Blue Marlin bite was hot. We ended up fishing Chubb for 2 weeks. By the time we pointed the bow back towards Lauderdale the engines were turning 2300 WOT no smoke. Canceled the overhauls and ran another 9000 hours and 20 years before we finally rebuilt the engines

Holy Christmas - that's the feel-good story of the Season! 9k hours ?!

Gone through almost eveything. They feel lively and ready to go. We'll get it, soon. But yeah, this boat hasn't been running up on plane for at least five years. A nice 1,900 rpm trip to Key West and back is in order when we get it sorted out.

I was almost on plane at 1,300 on the way home Friday, but I didn't have the time head out and run. With the tabs down, she'll pop-up and I can just her run for a few hours....and I'll hope to make a similar report.

[rsmith]

Just watch the engine temps and make sure your cooling system is good to go. Every catastrophic Detroit failure I’ve seen has been from failed hose clamps or RW impeller failures leading to overheating.

[cww]

Bill,

How do you change the cutlass bearings at the shaft log without pulling the log fitting? I want to replace all 8 cutlass bearings on my 47 Commander before dropping the Cat 3208s in and lining them up. I will pull the shafts as I need to have the couplers modified anyways.

Thanks

Wait a second, ya'll are worrying me.

My boat is out of the water right now getting the cutlass bearings changed because as I posted earlier in this thread I've been having the same issues. The marina says there's only 6, and all I can see is 6.

What is this about there being 8 of them? Where is the 4th one on each shaft? The boat is out of the water with the shafts out of it, so if I was gonna do it I need to know now.

[cenger]

You should have 6. While it's out, if you have dripless stuffing boxes, now is an excellent time to have them serviced as well. Also, have them check the runout on the shafts. I just had mine done and the yard recommended having one of the shafts trued. It turned out the shaft had a crack, so I was glad to correct it all at in one shot.

[ageless]

for those that haven't researched bearings I would strongly recommend looking at composite, I went to them my last haul out and have been extremely happy, thus far. Like most marine products, they're not all the same. If you're interested in where I got mine send me a PM and I'll put you in contact, the company owner is also a Hatteras owner

[JuiceClark]

So glad I had that done. (at DYS in Ft Myers Beach, FL) I could hang from a blade on the port prop and it would barely turn.

They slid a couple of those composite bearing on each side and you can spin the prop with one finger...before connecting to the trans.
I also had the no drip logs put on. A quick wipe-down and coat of paint erased 39 years of dripping.

That was an expensive haul-out, but it was the important stuff.

[warrenw]

Wait a second, ya'll are worrying me.

My boat is out of the water right now getting the cutlass bearings changed because as I posted earlier in this thread I've been having the same issues. The marina says there's only 6, and all I can see is 6.

What is this about there being 8 of them? Where is the 4th one on each shaft? The boat is out of the water with the shafts out of it, so if I was gonna do it I need to know now.

Chris,

The 4 cutlass bearings per side is on my 1972 47 Commander that had 1.75" shafts and Cummins VT8-370Ms. I didn't believe it when someone told me there were bearings in the shaft logs, but sure enough he was right. Hopefully there aren't any there on your 53 Hatteras MY, as they appear to be a real pain to remove.

I also plan on going with composite bearings - they will be custom thin wall to allow me to upsize the shafts without boring the struts.

[cww]

Chris,The 4 cutlass bearings per side is on my 1972 47 Commander that had 1.75" shafts and Cummins VT8-370Ms. I didn't believe it when someone told me there were bearings in the shaft logs, but sure enough he was right. Hopefully there aren't any there on your 53 Hatteras MY, as they appear to be a real pain to remove.I also plan on going with composite bearings - they will be custom thin wall to allow me to upsize the shafts without boring the struts.

Oh you’re not crazy at all, the marina says some boats have shaft log bearings and some don’t. They thought mine should have one because they work on a 58YF that has them. I keep hoping I’m not missing something because you just know if there was one it’ll turn out that it was the main problem all along and I’ll have to haul again. In the hunt I sent them on for this 4th bearing they were poking around the shaft logs and said the hoses and clamps that make up the outside of the stuffing boxes are original and need to be replaced. They’re shrunken and have some cracks and may start leaking soon. I guess better now while they’re already in there. I wonder why some of these boats would have log bearings and others wouldn’t ? Is it that the shafts in the 58’s are longer?

[jim rosenthal]

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.