Propshaft hole

[Guest]

We are changing our Snapdragon 24 from inboard to outboard. We have removed the old engine and purchased a new outboard with remote controls. So far so good. Has anybody any advice for me about the best way to plug up the hole where the propshaft used to go through the hull? There seems to be loads of advice about for people installing an inboard, but nothing for those of us going the other way! Any help much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Linda, Remove all shaft seal/stuffing box bits from the stern tube inside the hull. Remove all cutlass bearings. Grind off the old stern tube at least flush with the hull both inside and outside. Clean the inside of the stern tube using a rotary wire brush on an electric drill also clean an area about 6"dia inside the hull around the stern tube. Clean away the dust.Cut two discs using woven roving one an inch greater dia than the stern tube, the other six inches in diameter. Cut a further disk about four and a half inches in diameter using CSM (chopped stranded mat). Coat the inside of the stern tube and the internal cleaned area with neat mixed epoxy resin. Make the remainder if the epoxy resin into a very stiff putty using a combination of microfibres and coloidal silica. Fill the stern tube with this putty and smooth it off at both endslay the smallest fibreglass patch inside the hull centrally over the stern tube. Using a one inch paint brush and a stipling action soak the patch with neat epoxy resin. Repeat with the second patch and the third patch only add a little microfibres and coloidal silica to the epoxy used when saturating the top patch. Smooth off the top patch inside the hull then allow it to set. It is better to use a metal roller as well as a paint brush but not essential and some woven rovings could be mixed with the putty. Clean the outside of the hull when the epoxy has set and antifoul as required. There are other ways of sealing the stern tube, but the way I have sugested will work and not give trouble in the future.

 

[Guest]

It's a Snapdragon - there is no external stern tube. The prop shaft comes out through a flush plate in a sort of miniature keel. The plate is SS and is secured by SS setscrews. Surely the best solution would be to have a new SS plate made up but with no hole in the middle. Sikkaflex, screw it up flush and presto - no more hole.