Removing prop shaft under cockpit floor

Hi!
I am fixing up a Ballerina MkII wooden sailing boat, designed by Robert Tucker, which came with an inboard and a pitch-changing propeller. When I first got her last year the gear was in bad shape so I got an outboard which worked very well. I have now decided to remove the inboard, which was easy enough, and I want to remove the stern tube and all the shaft mechanism. The boat has a self draining cockpit but I can't see any way to lift the floor to access the hull at the proper point. Does anyone have any experience with this design and could you suggest how to lift the cockpit floor? Should I just cut the tube and bracket with an angle grinder and patch up the hull?

 

Welcome to the forum.

This is a common setup for sailboats and though I'm not familiar with your particular boat, removing the tube, shaft and gear isn't much different than other boats.

As a rule you'll probably find everything so frozen up, that fastener removal will be the real test and leaving the tube in place the best option. The shaft should pull out once the coupling is removed and the packing gland nut is backed off or removed. Of course it's not going to like it, but some "convincing" is usually necessary.



This coupling should already be unbolted from your transmission.



With the coupler shaft bolts removed, you can push the shaft aft, once the gland nut is removed.

http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/pages/sternglands.aspx

To remove the fasteners, try a 6 point socket first, but don't be surprised if the head break off. Once they do, drill the fastener shank and use a bolt extractor on each. It's important to get the fasteners out, so they don't cause issues with the surrounding wood.

Once the gear is removed, plug and seal the fastener holes and instead of pulling the tube, just plug and seal it. You may want to go back to a inboard at some point or possibly the next owner might. As to acess, welcome to the small boat world. If you got the engine out, then you had enough access to remove the coupler to trans flange bolts, so you have enough (often very tight) room to get at the stuffing box and related stuff.

Can you post a picture of the inside, where the engine used to live?

 

Thanks for your help, and for the information.
The motor came out forwards behind the removed companion way. I will take some photos in the next few days and post them. My problem is that the tube disappears into a bulkhead and then reappears out of the bottom of the hull. What fasteners are you referring to? If I leave the tube and remove only the shaft I guess everything connected to the hull (supporting wedge and bracket) stays, no?

 

No, everything attached to the hull comes off, the strut, rear bearing, etc. The tube can remain and it'll be all but impossible to remove anyway. Trim flush if necessary, plug and fill, so the hull doesn't leak. The tube just protects the shaft and deadwood assembly or keel. The rest of the gear comes off or else it's just drag and corrosion waiting to hamper sailing qualities and surrounding wood health.

 

I found a photo of the engine as it was a couple of years ago.

 

Though this image doesn't help much, it does show that if it's been removed, you should have access to the stuffing box.

 

Yes, there is access to the stuffing box. I spoke on the phone with Tony Tucker (whose father designed the boat) and he also suggests leaving the tube in and plugging it. I will cut the strut close to the hull without removing the bolts and leave the log and a stub of the tube, plugged at both ends.