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cutlass bearings

scott_duerring

Regular Contributor
I know that this is not a crusader specific question but, was out today in the boat happily cruising along, and suddenly I felt a shudder and then I had a vibration that seemed to come from the starboard powertrain, engine running fine, since I had brand new props last year, high brow fancy ISO things, and new engine mounts for starboard engine and starboard shaft pulled and turned within specs, the only thing I did not do was replace the cutlass bearing, it is 10 years old and when inspected last year the mechanic said it was "showing some age" but the shaft was still tight in the bearing... could the shudder and vibration be caused by a bad cutlass bearing? After docking I went down into the engine room and found my starboard packing gland leaking a steady stream of water, I tightened it down about half an inch... I am assuming the vibration caused the gland to loosen???
 
Probably not, but what you picked up in the prop made the vibration. It's probably gone by now, but I'd take a swim and check the prop and strut out regardless.

Jeff

PS: When this hapens, going into reverse strongly tends to "unwind" what you picked up.
 
I am surprised that you would continue to run the engine when you felt something go wrong. In the future it is best practice to shut down and promptly check out the problem. Continuing to run the engine could have resulted in huge damage, but fortunately in this case, didn't. Seeing how it was bad enough to shake loose your shaft packing, it would seem like whatever it is (pot warp, netting or whatever) is still there and needs clearing. You should probably pull the boat out of the water to have the shaft inspected as well as the strut, cutless bearing, and prop.
Better to limp home on one engine than to shake the strut loose and have a major leak.
 
I never even thought of the possibility of that Jeff... I would have stopped immediately and dove to look... I keep a mask on board just for that, but the seas were pretty rough and getting worse, would have probably gotten beaned if I would have done that, but I was thinking cutlass bearing all along... I agree with the shutting down but immediately after the shudder I then powered down to enter a marina to fuel up, after leaving the gas dock and powering back up is when the vibration was really felt. Turned around and worked my way back to home port in rough following seas..
 
Scott,

This exact same thing happened to me on Fri night. Boat full of people heading out to dinner, perfect timing. I immediately thought Cutless bearing as well, I have one that I need to do in the fall.

Anyway, dove under yesterday and pulled off a nylon clam sack which was wrapped around the prop and shaft. I keep a mask onboard and would have done that when it happened but it was dusk and I was in 3' seas getting bounced around.

Next time I'll know that a sudden vibration is probably something tangled around the running gear.

Bob
 
We've all been there! Just a week ago I "found" a ten foot long strap with a metal buckle on the end that fell off someone's boat. Took several dives to remove that SOB from my port prop!

Jeff
 
Same here.....too many times.

Quite possible the induced vibration didn't lossen your packing gland but actually compressed the packing. keep an eye on it. If the 'leak' returns, I'd repack it.
 
My experience was the nylon anchor rode of a neighboring boat. The rode wrapped a number of times and was well on the way to melting before I could shut down the engine. Managed to get it out with about a dozen dives under the boat.

Chuck Hanson
 
One thing we do not see when gazing out on the water is the crap below it. Here in NJ there are places where, when the water levels drop, you see all kinds of trash, shopping carts, tires etc. Imagine if you could recede the oceans for a few hundred feet and see what is lying below. I wanna start in Key West
 
In my USCG Aux boating course, I stress the importance of "local knowledge" to my students. We who boat in an area know--eventually, sometimes by painful trialk and error--where NOT to go! It takes time and effort to learn these things.

Jeff
 
Just wanted to thank you for your wisdom, hit the nail right on the head, I cut off a big tangle of black nylon line from my port prop this weekend... cutlass bearing seem fine, shafts tight...
 
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