Haulouts, bent shafts, and other fun stuff!

[rustybucket]

Hey guys, sorry I have been mia for a while, business got REALLY busy and pulled me away from the boat for a few months. Probably best b/c I could definitely feel a little burnout coming on.

Long story short, we went down to do a seatrial (first real one since being back on the water) about a month ago. Had a very bad vibration on stbd side, so much so that I didn't really want to get her up on plane. So we limped back home and started scheduling a quick haul.

I've always felt like we had a vibration on the boat somewhere, but I never could put my finger on it.

So we haul out, props look mint, pull the props off and setup clamping dial indicators at various points along the shafts and sure enough, stbd side was showing 12 thousands wobble. Port was showing 3 thousands.

So we pulled both shafts and carried them over to Whistler in Mobile.

Here is the homemade puller we used to pop the couplings off, worked like a dream.

Got all the brand new paint off the shafts with a knotted wire brush on a big dewalt grinder. Used a chain hoist and big ratchet straps to pull the shafts out. Two of us (helper in pic) pulled them and loaded them up in the excursion. I would not suggest 2 people trying to do this project, these 2.5" shafts are HEAVY!!! I'd guess 400-500lbs easy.

After we got the shafts out we cut out all 6 of the cutlass bearings. Actually 2 we didn't have to cut, were able to drive them out. We used a 12" Diablo carbide tipped sawsall blade labeled for 'thick metals'. I've cut out cutlass bearings before but the diablo carbide was a very consistent controlled cut and the saw had a lot of backbone so it made cutting at the tip a breeze. Highly recommend this $30 blade if you gotta do this project. We stripped out the piece of bearing rubber everywhere we cut so we could get a good visual on the cut.

 

[rustybucket]

According to Whistler the shafts were out 14 thou stbd and 9 thou port. Spec is good for anything under 5 thou.

Luckily there were no cracks or any other issues with them, so Whistler Machine in mobile was able to bend them back straight and got them both to within 3 thou. Total cost for them crack checking and straightening them was around $1500.

No idea what bent the shafts, the only thing that makes sense is they were bent when we bought the boat, and new cutlass bearings hid the vibration until they started to wear and presented the vibration. To my knowledge we have never hit anything or wrapped anything other than 130lb mono in the props.

But regardless, Whistler got us fixed up and I had the shafts back in a week.

6 new cutlass bearings installed and all struts checked for alignment, all checked out good. Cutlass bearing install was an absolute breeze. We put the bearings in the freezer for a few hours, it shrinks them down, then (quickly) pull them from the freezer and slide them in place with your hand. We only had to tap one lightly with a block of wood, the rest just slid right in. After 30min they were press fit tight and could not be moved.

Couplings getting prepped for some fresh paint.

Since this was an unplanned haul I was able to tackle a few projects that were on the list for next year's haulout. This was a big bonus! We removed the existing scoops and put in the buck scoops that do not require an internal strainer. So we were able to remove the internal strainers and free up a TON of engine room space. I'm probably way more excited about this than I should be! lol.

One roadblock we ran into removing the internal strainers on stbd side was that the hot water heater was in the way BIG TIME. I never had been happy with where it was located on the outboard side of the engine about where the engine/trans meet. Basically blocked off service to that rear outboard side of the engine, not to mention the strainer. We had to cut the hot water heater in half to get it out. Not exactly sure what I'm putting back in yet, but obviously it's not gonna be a round hot water heater lol.

This water heater had only been in service 3 years and was caked up with buildup, it's kinda amazing it was still working. Flush your hot water heaters!! This thing had about an inch of white sludge in the bottom of it.

 

[rustybucket]

The weather last Saturday Morning was pretty Shitty!

Had two very severe thunderstorms hit at 4am and 6am last sat morn. We were in the boatyard on the boat. 70mph winds and sideways hail. The boat was shaking on the stands. Not a very settling feeling having the boat move under you when it's on land. Luckily we had no damage but a couple sail boats tipped over.

We used wire pulling lube and a 2" ratchet strap to slide the shafts back in place. Funny that they went back in soooooooo much easier than coming out. They just slid right back in and could be spun by hand. That was a good feeling...

 

[rustybucket]

With the shafts back in we buttoned everything else back up and slapped some paint on. The black paint on the shafts and props is Petit Running Gear Guard. It's a new product, so I'm kinda a guinea pig on it. It was much cheaper than Prop Speed. Only time will tell how it does.

I know I'm weird, but I love working in the boatyard at night.

You know you're getting close to splash when zincs start going on!

Dang she got a sexy rear end!

 

[rustybucket]

Launch day called for storms until lunch and the weather man got it right. We woke to terrible lightning and rain. Lightning always stops the travel lift, so around 10ish I get the call that they are going to give it a go.

I had planned on taking good pics of the running gear, but man the weather was nasty.

At the shipyard dock staging for seatrial.

Not gonna lie... it felt damn good to push the hammer down... hear the detroits spool up.... and not a vibration in sight!! Gotta love it when you actually fix something!! SUCCESS!!

We ran her for about 30 miles on the shakedown, everything was great. We are still a tiny bit overpropped. I'm heading down this weekend to advance our injector timing a little to hopefully pull a few more ponies out of her and get us to 2350 WOT heavy loaded.

 

[rustybucket]

In total we were hauled for 3 weeks, with 2 weeks of actual work and 1 week waiting on shafts.

 

[motoryacht lover]

Good looking boat. I am impressed by you doing the work yourself.

 

[JuiceClark]

Wow, sweet ride.

I'm a noob, just about 2 months into an 84' 52C and really enjoy seeing pics of every inch of other 52s as I go through it all.

One of the good things the previous owner did was put in an instant water heater. It hangs on the SB wall right behind the battery charger. (hope it doesn't leak) Getting back to that SB corner isn't too bad, but I can see where the old heater used to sit.
Of course, after seeing some other wiring projects on this boat, I'm afraid to turn on that water heater because it might start melting. I'll get to it later.

Another month or two and I'll be able to put the hammer down...can't freakin' wait.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Out standing report and pictures.
Please keep us up on the tune up (timing advance) also.
I would like to know more about this.

 

[madhatter1]

I’m no “expurt” but I believe you should only adjust governor to achieve rated WOT RPMs. Cranking up an overloaded engine would just make things worse for wear. If you have full unloaded RPMs and are off loaded you need to look elsewhere. As told by my mechanic to me as we were sorting out my full RPM issues.

 

[dsharp]

Did you take the couplings in with the shafts and have them faced? Have the wheels always turned inboard? Was that the same weather that flipped that lift boat off of Fourchon?

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

In total we were hauled for 3 weeks, with 2 weeks of actual work and 1 week waiting on shafts.

Interesting post. Know anyone with a Snap-On injector tool?

 

[rustybucket]

Wow, sweet ride.

I'm a noob, just about 2 months into an 84' 52C and really enjoy seeing pics of every inch of other 52s as I go through it all.

One of the good things the previous owner did was put in an instant water heater. It hangs on the SB wall right behind the battery charger. (hope it doesn't leak) Getting back to that SB corner isn't too bad, but I can see where the old heater used to sit.
Of course, after seeing some other wiring projects on this boat, I'm afraid to turn on that water heater because it might start melting. I'll get to it later.

Another month or two and I'll be able to put the hammer down...can't freakin' wait.

Very interested in hearing about your instant hot water heater. You happen to have any pics of it? Or know what model/size it is? I'm definitely leaning that way but it's all a tradeoff. The instant units pull a load of amps and I'd have to run new wire and new breakers. Not a deal killer but definitely a bit of a pita.

 

[rustybucket]

I’m no “expurt” but I believe you should only adjust governor to achieve rated WOT RPMs. Cranking up an overloaded engine would just make things worse for wear. If you have full unloaded RPMs and are off loaded you need to look elsewhere. As told by my mechanic to me as we were sorting out my full RPM issues.

I'm not adjusting the governor to get more rpm's, just advancing injector timing which will cause the fuel to be injected a little earlier in the cycle. This should add a little hp as well as other positive things (hopefully). We had our injectors rebuilt to be 5670's last year by rpm diesel in lauderdale. These are 145mm 9 hole tip injectors. I timed them to 1.508 when I did the full tuneup. After talking with RPM diesel after our seatrial they suggested we advance the timing to 1.484. We also have other symptoms of too retarded timing like egt's higher than I would like to see (700-800ish).

According to RPM our engines should be 675hp as they sit now. After re-timing them we should be at 715hp.

If that bump of 80hp does not get us over the hump it sounds like we could do a blower bypass mod and get to 780hp and just leave the existing props on and run the engines way underloaded.

The blower bypass mod definitely interests me b/c you are not boosting hp based on more fuel, you are essentially removing the parasitic drag of the blower at high rpm's when the turbos are boosting higher than the blower can flow. So in a high rpm state the turbos boost then the blower basically slows the air down. So in essence the blower bypass isn't adding horsepower, it's just taking away (bypassing) the load of the parasitic state of the blower at higher rpm's. But..... You can only do the blower bypass mod if your blower has the port for the blower bypass valve. If your blower doesn't have that port you should be able to replace the end cap of the blower with an updated end cap with the blower bypass port. I'm not certain if my blowers have the port or not, will find out this weekend. If they do not have the bypass port this mod will have to wait til winter.

Here is a blower with the bypass valve port.

Here is a blower without the bypass valve port.

And here is what the blower bypass valve looks like

Whether you need the extra hp or not the blower bypass sounds like a good mod to me. I cannot find any reason why taking an unnecessary 60+hp load off an engine (that is already heavily loaded) would be a bad thing.....

Our current cruise speed at 1950 is 19-20knts. I REALLY like that speed as a cruise speed, the boat is up on top and feels really nice there. So instead of going down in prop size (and loosing cruise speed) at this point I'd rather just get some more HP so my cruise speed stays at 20knts. It may not sound like much but when fishing 100+++ miles offshore a few knots cruise speed makes a HUGE difference.

 

[rustybucket]

Did you take the couplings in with the shafts and have them faced? Have the wheels always turned inboard? Was that the same weather that flipped that lift boat off of Fourchon?

Yes, the couplings went with the shafts to be faced. The wheels only started turning inboard after we put the engines in on the wrong sides . The lift boat happened the day after our storm, it was like groundhog day a few days in a row, each morning with crazy storms, just the luck of the draw where they hit.

 

[rustybucket]

Interesting post. Know anyone with a Snap-On injector tool?

Yeah buddy!! The bag's coming out this weekend!!

 

[rustybucket]

Good looking boat. I am impressed by you doing the work yourself.

Thanks, I enjoy some of the work, some of it is a pita, but in the end, if I'm doing it, it gets done. If I were relying on contractors I'd likely still be hauled out.

Virtually everything I've ever tried to contract out on boats has turned into a shit show. Several projects I contracted out I either had to re-do myself or hire another contractor to do it correctly.

 

[doc g]

What's the white on the props and struts , Velox???.................Pat

 

[rustybucket]

What's the white on the props and struts , Velox???.................Pat

Petit Vivid in white. The white is VERY close to a hatteras white.

https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...MIzcOIw5eN8AIVjI7ICh2lRQXAEAQYASABEgINiPD_BwE

 

[Eddieclemons]

Thanks for sharing, great work.