[Public-List] shaft coupling parts in bildge

[Greg Wallis]

 Hi to all, and thanks for your replies.

I got to the boat last night and took a look with fresh eyes and a camera.

On closer inspection, the round things that fill the holes are bolts with
no thread, with a very hard rubber structure around them.  The unit has 3
of these, all of which were fished out of the bildge.  You can see in the
picture that it has a head on it to fit a large socket or wrench.  This
suggests that it was meant to be tightened like a bolt.  However there is
no thread on the bottom of the bolt, and the end of the bolt is actually
concave, to fit against the round shaft.
Here is a picture of the bolt I am talking about:
http://def.dyndns.org/boat/20190429_bolt_closeup.jpg

Here is a picture of the "round aluminum thing" that the drive shaft
terminates inside of.  There is 3 opening for the bolts.  This picture
shows one of the openings.  You can also see the remains of the duct tape
that was wrapped around the outside edge of the round thing.
http://def.dyndns.org/boat/20190429_bolt_out.jpg

Here is a picture with the bolt installed.  Note there is no threads, so i
just gently tapped it in with a hammer and some grease.
http://def.dyndns.org/boat/20190429_bolt_installed.jpg

After installing the 3 bolts, I then clamped the whole thing together in a
plumbing sleeve to prevent the bolts from flying out from the certrifugul
force.  (I think that this was previously being done using ducttape).
http://def.dyndns.org/boat/20190429_clamped.jpg

Clearly this all need to be redone, but I am pretty sure this will at least
get me home without the prop shaft falling falling out in reverse.

Does anybody know what type of coupling system this is?  It's on a 1965
Alberg 30 with an Atomic 4.

Thanks
Greg

On Sun, Apr 28, 2019 at 11:45 PM Greg Wallis <gregwallis at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
> Recently purchased my first real sailboat "woodwind" hull 165.
>
> crane-in in 5 days so i find myself in a bit of a pickle
>
> i grabbed the propeller shaft and noticed it could be pulled out pretty
> much as far as you can pull it. it hits the rudder if the rudder is
> straight and if rudder is turned it can be pulled further out.
>
> behind the gearbox is a 5 inch aluminum (i think aluminum) round thing
> that the shaft terminates in.  this thing has 3 large holes. this thing was
> wrapped in ducttape.  what goes in the 3 holes were found in bottom of the
> bildge. 3 heavy steel round things that fit into the holes perfectly.  so i
> gently hammered them back in and now the shaft seems to be holding.
>
> questions
>
> 1. what is this 5inch aluminium round thing called? who makes it?
>
> 2. what are the 3 things that fill those holes called? they fill the hole
> and also fill the opening in the shaft coupling inside
>
> 3. what prevents the 3 things that fill the holes from coming out?  it had
> duct tape wrapped around it but with all the oil it seemed to come loose. i
> am thinking of putting a fernco or pipe clamps on there from plumbing
> department
>
> thanks
> greg
>