Blanking Off A Old Prop Shaft

Beth_1934

Beth_1934

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Hi All,

This is my first post on here so be gentle /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ive got a little bit of a problem as i have just enherited a nice little day sailer from my girlfriends grandfather and some has decided to bend the prop shaft so its know knackered.

Anyway basically what i want to do is take the stuart turner petrol engine and prop out and just use the newish seagul ive hot for her and what it will leave me is a ruddy big hole in the stern of her to blank off.

Does anyone know of what to do with blanking it off perminantly??

I'll try and load a pic of what she looks like and what damage has been done...
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Welcome to the forum. Personally, if it were my boat, I would get a new propshaft and remove the outboard bracket. Outboards mounted on a transom bracket tend to come out of the water if the waves are of any size at all, but an inboard mounted prop will always be submerged. If you do remove the inboard and propshaft, it would pay to fill in the rather large propeller aperture.
Peter.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Welcome to the forum. Personally, if it were my boat, I would get a new propshaft and remove the outboard bracket. Outboards mounted on a transom bracket tend to come out of the water if the waves are of any size at all, but an inboard mounted prop will always be submerged. If you do remove the inboard and propshaft, it would pay to fill in the rather large propeller aperture.
Peter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi

I agree. I've had some experience with outboards on yachts, both mounted over the side and on the transom, and while they work okay in a flat, they're useless if there's any sea going. Pretty well makes the engine unable to you out of trouble if you ever need it to and that defeats the point IMHO, 'nother yottie needing a tow home......

Anyway that's a pretty little boat, she'll look a lot better without an OB hanging off the back.

I'm no great fan of Stuart Turners either, but my first boat was a Silhouette fitted with one-- I sailed that boat for years and I'm still here. Whether outboard or S-T you're still going to have to have petrol aboard, after all.

BTW S-T's actually can be made to start and run reliably, at least mine did, and a few others I "helped." It requires skills that once all car and bike owners had but now are fast disappearing, but I can give a few pointers if required.
 
Yep me too.
I had a Seagull on a 21 footer once, terrible thing.
The Seagull was fine, but perched on an outboard bracket, as has been said, it's out of the water more than it's in.

Get a new shaft and tweek the ST so it starts every time.
Can be done. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

(Wish I had a girlfriend like that. Don't think the wife would approve though...) /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Hi All,

Not that I am completely for the outboard alternative, but where is the boat being used? I've used outboards on sailboats in lakes and rivers with little problem as have many thousands of others.

I've also tried to use them at sea in rough weather and you are all right about the difficulties of that. When an outboard doesn't work in rough weather it really doesn't work.

In balance I would look at getting the propshaft straightened. The hull is quite a nice shape for inboard power.

But if there are lots of other inboard problems apart from the bent shaft getting in the way and your local sailing grounds make it acceptable to use an outboard - then .. why not.

Then if you need to bung up the hole do it with some wood with the same grain orientation as the skeg and don't put it in too firm as it might swell. I'd use sikaflex and make the timber piece a bit undersized.

Those are my cautions, but someone might have a recommended way that is better - but still allow for expansion of the wooden plug!

Best wishes
Michael Storer

Best wishes to all
Michael Storer
 
Are you planning to remove the stern tube? If not you can leave the shaft in with the inboard gland tightened up, plus something to stop it sliding out into the boat, but the shaft looks bent enough for that not to happen. You or some future owner might decide you need an inboard after all.
 
thanks guys, believe it or not ive been up most of the night thinking about this and didnt really want to take the engine out as its only three years old but hasnt been used for the last two and a half years.

So with changing out the prop shaft, where would i go to get one as she was built in 1934 and basically i wouldnt know where to go go and what sizing etc to get???
 
Well there's a coincidence. Only a couple of weeks ago I was surveying the Parker 2 boats down to your right, and I saw your little predicament.

It looks as though someone has used the prop shaft as a tying down point: it is almost certainly the original bronze shaft (bronze was often used for prop shafts before the advent of stainless steel), which has suffered from galvanic action and softened. An identical stainless steel bar would easy to turn up, and be much stiffer, and all the present fittings could be transferred straight across.

When you pull the shaft out, thoroughly inspect the interior of the deadwood: your stern tube has been pulled out and down, so expect some repairs to the timber in that area.

AS for the engine, although Maldon is quite sheltered, you can get a fair old chop further down the river, and the seagull wouldn't have a long enough shaft to cope. I second Fairways, and they're not too far from the boat. I still have the original S-T in my old 6-tonner, and it has run very sweetly for the last 10 years. Although they have a - ahem- reputation, 9 times out of 10, any problem lies with the magneto, not the engine intelf. Just remember
1. To take the magneto home with you and keep it snug in the airing cupboard.
2. The engine will coke up if idling for long periods, so always run it under load.

What a nice man to give you such a lovely boat - happy sailing.
 
You would need to get one made up. The information you will need is the shaft lenght and diameter and taper details.....better still take the old one to the engineers and let them measure it all for you. Someone can suggest a supplier near you.
 
ive just had an email back from Fairways and they recon roughly £150 should get me a new prop but i need to get the old one down there first.

Is that a good competitve price??
 
One of my friends is a Stuart Turner enthusiast.

He loves tham and calls them "Stupid Turners" out of affection.

He has had some of the magneto innards replaced with solid state circuitry - it isn't cheap but increases reliablity markedly.

I know nothing about the technical details of either normal magnetos or solid state ones except for the claimed higher reliability. And the three owners I know who have had it done are happy.

Best wishes
Michael Storer.
 
3 yrs ago replaced shaft & prop, reckon full cost was £350 for 8' shaft & 12X9 3 bladed prop, supplied from vetus catalogue. (1 1/8" 316 close tolerance sourced from anglia stainless, Machined locally, prop supplied pre bored as per catalogue, so shaft machined to suit prop) best thing I did but now need shaft anodes as changed bronze for ss.
 
What a pretty little boat,iwould agree with other posts and get the inboard going again,but i would be tempted to leave the outboard bracket on as backup.
 
in place of the outbourd bracket should be another original stay so im thinking of putting back as she was originally and without the outboard but it al depends how reliable the current stuart turner engine is lol /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
in place of the outbourd bracket should be another original stay so im thinking of putting back as she was originally and without the outboard but it al depends how reliable the current stuart turner engine is lol /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Looking back over the 30 years to my last ST I'd say they were pretty decent tackle for their era; like all petrol engines they need regular maintenance and the bad rep probably has a lot to do with the absence of same.

Magnetos are fine as long as the contact points are clean and properly gapped and the timing is bang on (especially on a 2-stroke, which the ST is, of course) In the old days the internal insulation used to break down after about 10 years which would stop you, but a recent new or recon one should be okay. If you get a decent spark at hand-crank speed, all is well. Renew the HT cables, plug caps and plugs annually and set the plug gap per spec.

Have the carb serviced once a year or do it yourself -- only use compressed air and carb cleaner obviously, no poking things down the jets. Use new gaskets and set the float height bang on...Marine carbs are prone to getting water in the bowls because of ingress to the fuel tank, that's a sure stopper-- should be a drain screw on the underside of the float bowl, clear into a cup (NOT the bilge) once a month or so...less than half an egg-cup will clear any water, if it needs more you're already submerged..

Make sure you make up the petroil mix just right-- too oily will coke up the head in no time, not enough will knack the mains. These engines are more sensitive to over-oiling than high-revving OB motors. Like all 2-strokes it will need to be worked a bit from time to time to break up any coke build-up, and a head-off decarbonise every few years won't hurt. (If the engine shows any sign of "running on" after you ground out the mag, this is a possible cause.)

IIRC they didn't like to be flooded on starting and if you did that they were a PITA. IIRC mine had a Solex carb with a "tickler"-- very easy to flood an engine with these, use the choke first and only tickle if necessary. NEVER tickle a hot engine.

If all was well mine would start on the first couple of cranks and it's an easy engine to swing. It powered my Silhouette-- beamy 17'6"--very nicely and pretty quiet and smooth, too.

I would suggest you spend some time getting to know the starting drill before you need the engine.....

BTW that shaft could possibly be straightened and trued by an engineer with a vee-block press and a dial gauge-- the guys who straighten accident-damaged motorcycle forks have the kit. Get a marine engineer's opinion as to whether this would be a safe repair first.
 
Price sounds OK for a new shaft. Slightly concerned about the comment that the outer bearing is damaged/detached. It is screwed onto the stern tube and locked in place with 2 bronze woodscrews into the wood. If the tube itself is bent that is more difficult to fix.
Endorse the general comments about ST engines. Once you get the hang of them, they work well. So do Seagulls, but much less effective on your kind of boat.
 
If you have problems with your ST, I happen to be long on a 2 cylinder ST. It is sitting in my garage having been removed from a sailing club rescue launch a couple of years ago. Not tested myself but apparently working well when replaced by modern diesel.
Complete with dynastart (electric).
 
no worries bud over the next coupl of weekends im going to give a her a good service and hopefully get her turning over but, if get any issues i'll give you a shout and we might be able to come with some sort of a deal /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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