Shipyard Project No. 3: Replacing the Coupler and Cutless Bearing and Re-Bedding the Strut

Many props to our prop for hanging in there with us for so long (even though we were blind to her suffering!). We’ve been battling this problem for several years now and simply did not know what the underlying problem was. We did not know the “key” to the issue was the fact that the key kept coming out.  Here’s what we were dealing with:

Our prop shaft and coupler both have a matching notch that fits a key which helps the shaft sit tight in the coupler so it can be rotated smoothly by the transmission.  You can see the key here.

Yes, the one with the red goop all over it.  That’s Loc-tite, what we thought would be the answer to this problem.  You see, this key kept coming out.  Phillip and I are pretty diligent (we try to be, at least) about checking on our engine.  We always check the oil, transmission fluid, and coolant levels before starting.  And, if we are motoring for a significant number of hours while underway, we try to make a habit of pulling back the sink (which gives us access to our engine) and checking on Westie as he is motoring along hour after hour.

We look for oil or coolant leaks, water leaks, any loose parts, etc.  And, during our trip down to Cuba and our fantastic sails back up along the coast to Pensacola in early 2017, we noticed this key kept coming out.

Often we would find it halfway out, spinning around like a wild tea-cup ride at Disney, as the shaft was spinning.  Or, we would find it spit out about six inches forward of the transmission into the bilge. Phillip and I would start to wager bets as we would be trucking along under motor and heading down to check on the engine: “Do you think the key is halfway out by now, or already spat to the bilge?”  (Most times it was already jettisoned by the time we checked.)

Phillip and I knew this key issue was a sign that some bigger problem was likely the cause and that there was something going on that wasn’t right with our coupler or shaft.  We just did not know what.  I can’t tell you how many times we located and re-Loc-tited that sucker back in place. Dozens, if not more.

While this little key popping out might seem like a minor problem, we were worried, if it continued or worsened, the transmission could potentially lose the ability to turn the shaft.  That would be a huge problem.  So, the key was legitimately discerning.  Our first thought was to have a new key machined that stuck out a little further past the end of the shaft, with a hole drilled through it, that would allow us to run some seizing wire through it to prevent it from coming out.  That would solve the problem, right?

If that was the root problem.

As we continued cruising, to the Bahamas this past season in 2017-2018, and watching further changes occur with our prop shaft, we soon learned it was not.

Our first discovery: There’s a set screw for the key!

I’ll just have to admit, we did not know that.  For whatever reason, each time we were checking and re-hammering in this stupid little key, we just didn’t see it, or if we did, we did not know it was a set screw for the transmission key.  So, “Aha!” Moment No. 1 was making this discovery, finding the set screw had indeed rattled itself far too loose, and re-tightening him down onto the key to hold it in place.

And, of course, we goobed that guy up with red Loc-tite, too.  That seemed to be our solution for many boat problems at the time.  “Just Loc-tite it.  It’ll never come loose.”  Right, cause that’s how it works on a boat.  Nothing ever rattles.  Nothing ever breaks free.  At the time, we were using the same method with the three nuts on the back of our rudder post cap underneath the cockpit floor and you now know, from our rudder post reinforcement post, we have since come up with a better-than-Loc-tite solution there as well.

When the set screw, much like the key had, started to break free from its repeated Loc-tite baptisings and allowed the key to continue to spin out, we knew we were going to have to do something else when we hauled out in 2018.  At the time, machining a new key was the best conceivable answer.  And, in the meantime, we just continued our “locate and Loc-tite” drill to get us back from the Bahamas to Pensacola to really troubleshoot and solve this issue.

But, then something funny started happening.  Not only did the key continue to drift forward and come out.  Toward the end of our Bahamas voyage, the shaft itself began to move forward.  Yes, the shaft.  This is not the best angle, but in this photo it is sticking about an eighth to a quarter of an inch out.


This movement of the shaft itself (not just the key) prompted Phillip and I to inspect the coupler further.  We found the set screws on the coupler had also rattled themselves a bit loose, so that the coupler did not have a good tight grip on the shaft.  Phillip tightened these down.  This was during out trip back up the west coast of Florida on our way back from the Bahamas.  And, to get us back home to Pensacola so we could haul-out and investigate this further, for good measure I cinched them down with seizing wire.

At least I thought I did. Turns out I’m not the best cincher. Or maybe it would be seizer … I’m sure I’d make one helluva Ceaser!  But, knowing what I now know about how to run seizing wire (which I just learned from the boys at the yard – thanks guys!) I know this is a total useless loop.  Hell, that design probably helps both screws loosen one another …

Way to go Seizing Wire Annie.  Thumbs down.  But, I can confidently say my seizing skills have since improved after we got a custom lesson from the boys at the yard.  This is why we love working with them.  I’ll show you the trick when we get the coupler issue figured out.

Cue the haul-out!

When the boys at the yard got their hands on our boat, they noticed several things immediately that were adding to our issues with prop shaft movement.  First, they could feel and, actually with their hands alone, re-create the forward and backward movement of our prop shaft inside the coupler.  Again, not the best quality video, but it was sent to us from Shane at the yard and you can easily see the movement of the shaft in and out with just Brandon below pushing and pulling it.

 

This was their first cue that something far more serious was going on with our prop shaft than a loose set screw on the transmission key.  The boys could also feel that the strut had a little play in it, as they could physically move it from side to side—just a hair, but hairs can make a mess out of things offshore.  They recommended it would be best to remove, clean, and rebed the strut for a more secure fit to the boat and tighter hold on the prop shaft.

That was a fun morning I spent unbolting that guy.  Can you find the Annie in this picture:

Thankfully, I will say, almost every single part of our boat is accessible.  While it may be uncomfortable and require the talents of an inconceivable contortionist, it is reachable.  We can access, remove, and repair just about any part of our boat, because it was designed to do just that—be accessed, removed if need be, repaired if need be, and otherwise worked on!  It’s one of the very great features of our boat.  I was happy to find our four strut bolts were (with just a smidge of boat yoga) rather easily accessible right behind Westie on the engine room floor.

 

The shipyard guys, when they disassembled the strut, also noticed our cutless bearing was worn out.  While this surprised Phillip and I as we had replaced that cutless bearing only a few short years ago in 2014, if you consider the amount of play we had in our prop shaft, and the number of miles we put under our keel while that play was occurring, it made sense.

Lastly, when Brandon removed our coupler, he found the coupler itself was wallowed out with the movement of our shaft and it simply (tightened down its full capacity) could not get a good grip on the shaft.

When Brandon removed both the prop shaft and the coupler from the boat, he showed us the movement he could exert with his hands on the shaft.  Brandon explained the coupler should slide on and have an absolute snug fit with no movement.  He and Shane also said we were lucky the shaft was going forward.  This happened when we were in forward gear because the propeller is trying to work itself forward through the water.  If we had backed down hard enough in reverse, the prop would have been working to move itself backwards through the water and could have worked its way right out of the boat with the condition our coupler was in.  Now, I have a new boat nightmare.  Thanks boys.

Here is a video of Brandon showing us the movement in the coupler and having fun at my expense. You will be surprised by the play in our coupler.  You can hear it audibly in the video.  You’ll also enjoy Brandon’s response to my joking that he had “purchase discretion up to $800.”  “Oh, it’s $799 then.  $799!”  Gotta love those guys at the yard.

 

So, with this revelation, we were in for a re-bedding of the strut, a new cutless bearing, and a new coupler.  But, if we were going to replace the coupler, we wanted to re-engineer it so the coupler would not allow the key to come loose or the shaft to try to move forward again after the many more miles we plan to put on our boat.  For this reason, Brandon hired a local machinist to create a cap that bolts onto the end of our coupler to hold the shaft in place. He kept a window hole in the cap so we could see the shaft and visibly confirm its location in the coupler.  The machinist also included a threaded hole in the center that we could use to twist a bolt down to pop the shaft out if it had, for whatever reason, seized up in the coupler.  Overall, it was a better, stronger design for our boat and eliminated all movement in our prop shaft.  Here is the new coupler!

And, fun little lesson for all you boat project fanatics today.  Notice Shane’s method for fastening seizing wire in the photo above. While everyone can do it differently, I definitely liked his idea of purposefully routing the wire in a way where one bolt’s attempt to unthread and turn to the left would result in a tug on the other bolt toward the right, and vice versa.  Meaning, as the bolts try to loosen themselves they are, in fact, tightening one another.  Thanks Shane!

Little things like this can make all the difference out there on a two-week passage where you are working all systems so hard twenty-four hours a day.  Phillip and I know we will sleep better and have more peace of mind knowing this system, too—our prop shaft, the coupler, the cutless bearing, and the strut—have all been inspected, re-mounted, secured, or re-engineered to be stronger and more stable for our rough passages.

This is the reason Phillip and I decided to devote the time and money this summer to haul-out and do these “mission critical” repairs and upgrades as we have some big cruising plans this fall.  And, some big destinations to announce!  We can’t wait to share our plans with you (you know, the ones written in sand at low tide ; ).  But, next up, we’ve got some more cool shipyard projects to share with you.  Hope you all are enjoying our boat labor this summer!  You get to pick next week’s topic.  Because:

I can’t make heads …

… or tails of it!

Would you like to see our swap to the composting head or re-painting of our Westerbeke engine.  You decide.  Leave your vote in a comment below!

May 24, 2013 – The Crossing Finale – A Trail of Tears

We woke Thursday morning to the sound of gerbils.  Angry, evil, little warbley gerbils.  (Yes, that’s a word.  If it in any way conveyed the throat-rattling, turkey gobbler-like sound they made, it did it’s job.  It’s a word).  You might think gerbils are these cute, cuddly little creatures, all soft and innocent, but I’m here to tell you they’re not.

Evil Gerbils

They’re loud, mangy, annoying little boogers that woke us up at 5:15 on Thursday morning.  Or, whatever it was sure sounded like gerbils, at least how I would imagine they would sound, if four of them were stuffed in a sock together, all wrestling and rabid.  For your benefit, I tried to capture the lovely sound that morning so you could truly understand.  Listen very closely:

http://youtu.be/1J0GBY2HB4A

And I would apologize for the language, but it was early and they were annoying and we are sailors, so …   I make no excuses. 

Okay, so you have probably figured out by now that they weren’t gerbils.  They were birds.  Angry birds.

Angry Birds

I’ve since learned this particularly noisy breed tends to inhabit lots of marinas and they like to wake you up at four in the friggin’ morning with their warbley, sock-wrestling mating calls.  Effin gerbils!

And, just as an interesting aside (so you get the benefit of all my hard blogging work), every time I Googled for images of gerbils, Richard Gere kept popping up.  Yes.  The actor.  Richard Gere.  I mean, every time!  There were even pictures of him with gerbils. 

richard-gere-2 

I know … creepy, right?  Which is why I decided to look into it.  And, you gotta love Google because I found this little gem.  Enjoy:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/celebrities/a/richard_gere.htm

Gere

Richard … you old dog, you!  And, to add icing on this glorious cake (and this will be my last mention of ole’ Richard, I swear), Phillip got a big kick out of the fact that I had never heard this “gerbil rumor” before and had to conduct an independent investigation.  I guess my age is showing.  As several of you reminded me after my last post, I am, in fact, younger than MTV (http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9807/31/encore.mtv/).

So, the angry birds did deny us a nice, leisurely rousing that morning, but it wasn’t too much of a sacrifice as, if you recall, we had planned to wake up early and get under way before sunrise.  Gerbils, or birds or angry roosters, we were ready to jump out of the v-berth regardless and get our beautiful boat a-goin’.

We checked the fluids: gas, oil, coolant and transmission fluid (of course!).  Like I said, we will never again, until our little sailing hearts stop beating, NOT check the transmission fluid before we crank the engine.  Whether it’s been a half hour or four days, we want to see that dipstick coated in sweet, pink nectar before we’ll even thinking about turning the engine over.  So, with the fluids in check, we readied the sails and tossed the lines and headed out into the Carabelle River.  We puttered along (knowing full well this time which side of the river to stay on http://havewindwilltravel.com/2013/07/08/april-17-23-2013-the-crossing-chapter-seven-right-of-the-river/) and made it out into the Gulf right at sunrise.  And it was like she rose just for us:

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Or it seems that is how sailing can make you feel sometimes.  Like the world is spinning just for you.

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And, this time it was just Phillip and I.  Me and the captain, off on our first couples cruise.  I was feeling like one incredibly lucky gal.  I mean, could life really get any better?

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Perhaps just a little, with a warm mug of heavenly hazelnut coffee I suppose, but just a little.

We brewed up some coffee and enjoyed the sunrise, and the sail, and the feeling of finally having her back out there in blue waters, headed home.  There wasn’t much wind, so we were motoring most of the morning, but I could have spent all day in that cockpit, holding the helm, or curled up with a book (or my laptop!) just watching the water float by.  I was perfectly content.  But, that’s why I’m only the first mate and Phillip is the captain.  Thankfully, he had the wherewithal to think to check on the engine.  I mean, she had been sitting for a month, she just had a new transmission put in, and we had been running her for about an hour and a half.

Phillip gave me the helm and went down below to see how things were looking under the “hood,” which in our boat, is akin to looking under the sink.  In order to access the engine on the Niagara, this “L-shaped” piece that houses the sink pulls back to give access to the engine, like a-so:

Sinker (2)

In place:

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Pulled back:

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And, the cool part is the sink hoses are all long enough and run in a manner that doesn’t require any unhooking, etc. to pull the sink back.  You just pull it back, lean it gently against the table (we put a pillow in between to cushion it), do your business under the “hood,” then tilt her back down gently in place, and the sink is none the wiser.  It’s really quite handy and, unlike many other boats which require removal of covers, plates, hatches, screws, etc. to get to the engine, this little “flip-top” contraption makes for very easy access when you’re underway.  I tell you all of this because it was a feature we were about to become incredibly familiar with and incredibly thankful for.

As I held the wheel, I could hear Phillip down below pull the sink back, set it against the table and click on a flashlight to take a look at the engine.  I saw his light moving in and around the engine and I could hear him wiggling some things and tinkering around.  I wouldn’t have thought much of it had his silence not continued for just a little too long.  Minutes passed and he he didn’t pop his head up and give me a thumbs up, or say “Everything looks great,” or “Good to go,” or anything like that.  He was just quiet.  Too quiet.  I wanted to ask him how everything was going, but I knew he’d tell me when it was time, and a part of me didn’t want to know.  I was perfectly content to sit up there at the wheel, watching the water dance by, pretending we didn’t even have an engine, or fluids, or any of that.

Engine?  What engine?  I’m just sailing along up here.  Doop-de-doo:

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But, Phillip finally raised his head in the companionway and gave me the exact look I was fearing.  Something was wrong.  He told me to put on the auto-pilot and summoned me down.  I came down the stairs, and he handed me the flashlight without saying a word, which worried me even more.  Although after the initial leg of The Crossing, I was certainly far more familiar with the engine than I was before, I was no diesel mechanic.  If the problem was obvious enough for me to SEE with my naked eye, it was probably bad.  And … it was.  Underneath the engine and slithering on down to the bilge was a bright, pink trail of fluid.

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leak (2)

Phillip and I were hoping it was just some of that famous Westerbeke Red paint Mechan-Eric had sprayed on the transmission to make it match the rest of the engine.

Paint

No, big deal.  Just some paint.  Surely that’s it.  But, as it always seems, life can never be that simple.  Having run the old transmission slap out of fluid the last time, we were all too familiar with that pink viscous liquid to be pretty darn sure what was trickling out of our engine was more likely than not transmission fluid.  Phillip showed me what he had found during his wiggling and tinkering,

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The leak:

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Leaking (2)

Little red drops kept forming, one after the other, under the shifter arm, and falling to a grey grave below in the bilge.  There was no denying it.  Our brand new, bright red, painfully expensive transmission was leaking.  We were two hours from Carrabelle, twelve hours from our next stop, with little wind and only a half quart of transmission fluid to get us anywhere.  I felt like I could have cried too, a little red trail of tears right down to the bilge.

May 23, 2013 – The Crossing Finale – Oysters and Beer

The day finally came.  May 23rd, and we were headed back to Apalachicola to finally bring our boat home.  We hitched a ride again with our sail groupies – you remember these guys – Phillip’s fabulous folks:

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We loaded up the truck again with all the tools, supplies and food (aka, the “provisions”) we would need to make another passage.

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I also had the pleasure of opening a few little gifts on the drive over as it seemed yours truly had a big “day” coming up.

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That’s right, I saw fit to grace this world with my presence during the early morning hours of May 28, 1982.

Me (2)

“Delivers only the best … ”   You’re damn right they do!

The gifts were great.  I certainly do enjoy birthdays.  I  couldn’t help but notice, though, they were all different versions of soaps, scrubbers and other self-cleaning products.  Perhaps Mary was trying to tell me something??  She’ll be glad to know I put them to good use on that trip.  For five minutes after each of the 1.5 showers I took during that 5-day passage, I was fresh as a daisy!

We stopped back in Apalachicola before making our way over to Carrabelle to check on the boat and spent a delightful afternoon walking around downtown, poking our heads in quaint little shops and, basically, just smelling the roses.

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We came across some neat old relics:

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Some creative artwork:

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And some fitting words of wisdom:

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That Ben Franklin sure was a smart guy.  Alcohol always makes me happy!

But, we had a lot to do to get the boat ready for the last leg of The Crossing, so it was off to Carrabelle to check on her and get her all packed up.

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How’s that cockpit looking Mary?  “It’s ready to go!”

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How about the crew Paul?  “I don’t want this one to go!”

As I look back through these photos, it seems Phillip did most of the “checking” while me and the groupies just engaged in a fun photo op.  Sorry Phillip!

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Yeah, that’s me, doing wildly inappropriate things behind Phillip.  Very mature … 

We did meet with Mechan-Eric to take a look at the transmission he had put in and saddle up, of course.  Funny thing how they want to get paid after doing work.  I mean …   Eric was great, though.  He had done a good job for us and had finished up the job just in time for us to sail her home.  He walked us through what all he had done and cranked the engine.  It was the first time we had heard her turn over in a month.  She grumbled and sputtered and started purring!  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more glorious sound.  She was running!  Eric showed us the transmission, which he had painted a bright, cherry red to match the signature color of the engine, and shifted her through the gears (drive, neutral and reverse) so we could see the transmission at work.  Everything looked great.  We gave it the old Roger Ebert and we were ready to go!

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We decided to celebrate and polish the evening off with some oysters and beer (is there any better way?) at Eric’s family’s salty sea bar across the river – Fathoms.  And, I tell you, I’m not really an oyster fan.  I mean, they look like snot rockets in a shell, but I have to say, these were the best darn oysters I’ve ever slurped down.

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Not snotty at all!

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The oysters, that is.  These two here are pretty snotty!

We ate our fill and admired our boat across the river.

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Yep – that’s her!

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I swear I could see her little stern wagging.  Like a sad-eyed puppy at the pound that had finally been picked!  We were going to scoop her up and take her home with us!  First thing in the morning, too.  And, I do mean first thing.  Phillip and I were planning to get up and going before sunrise, so we needed some rest.  We bid our sail groupies adieu, enjoyed one last Carrabelle sunset in the cockpit and shut her down for the night.

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April 29, 2013 – Oh the Irony!

While I could easily entertain you with what we did that weekend, the food we ate, the movies we saw, all with cleverly-timed quips and supporting Google images, this is, in fact, a sailing blog, and I imagine (scratch that, I know – because several of you have pestered me about it) you all are far more curious about the boat and what the heck is going on with the engine than anything else.  Well … join the club.  The boat was our main concern too.

Thankfully, Mechan-Eric called on Monday and said he had found the problem.  It was the transmission.  Of all things.  Turns out we had run it completely out of fluid and it over-heated and locked up.  While we certainly appreciated the news, it was not well received by the lawn mower focus group.  We were still standing around scratching our heads:

 Transmission 2

The transmission?!?  That thing ain’t got no transmission!

(And, just for fun – check out this creative bunch of eligible bachelors):

KOH losers

KOH

Some people clearly have too much time on their hands.  They must write blogs or something.

We really were surprised by the diagnosis, though.  I mean, like a car, the transmission fluid is not something you regularly check on a boat.  At least not as much as the oil or the coolant.  And, we’d had a survey done just a few weeks prior (which we assumed had entailed checking the fluids).  We had also had no problems with the transmission – no issues shifting gears – no sign at all that the transmission was struggling.  Like I said before, that engine ran perfectly, up until the moment it didn’t run at all.  So, needless to day, it was incredibly irritating to find the reason we had to call The Crossing and leave the boat docked up at a diesel mechanic’s marina in Carrabelle was a lack of transmission fluid because: a) it’s super cheap, like a buck forty-nine a jug or something, and b) we had some on the boat anyway.

What’s worse – and this is Mitch’s ultimate redemption – when Phillip was checking the fluids that fateful morning (the oil, the coolant, the gas, etc.) he asked Mitch to hand him the engine oil so he could top it off, and Mitch had inadvertently handed him the transmission fluid instead.

Irony

Yes, irony – the opposite of wrinkly.  And, when used in a sentence:

Irony

No, Doug, I don’t think your elbow handshake is awkward at all, I just want to know how Ted here got his shirt so crisp and irony.

While that usage is fun (obviously I’ve had a little too much fun with it), I meant it just as Alanis intended, like rain on your wedding day.  When we looked back on it, we couldn’t believe Mitch had almost saved the day.  Almost.  But, more so, we couldn’t believe we had run the thing slap out of fluid.  Really??  Thirty-eight cents worth of that pink nectar dumped in there and it would have saved us?  But, we learned a very valuable lesson.  Always, ALWAYS, check all (and I do mean ALL) of the fluids before you crank the engine.  We do it every time now – even the transmission fluid.

Of course, that is now.  This was then.  And, we were looking at shelling out another $2,500 for a new transmission (not to mention the labor to have it put in).  Kind of sucks, don’t you think?

Alanis

And yeah I really do think.