broken propeller bracket

[cocos]

Hi everyone,

I have a small 32' monohull Peterson and noticed the other day, that the bracket above the shaft that was fibreglassed into the hull, has broken off...

I'm new to these challenges, and live on Cocos Islands in Australia's Indian Ocean and I cannot lift it out of the water.

Q1. What would have caused this? Maybe shuddering of the shaft? Bent? I'll take a video to check if I can fix the vertical bracket.

Q2. Is there some aqua bond that anyone can recommend to fix this to the hull?

Or any other solutions appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Tony
Surfer Girl
Cocos Islands

[billknny]

Originally Posted by cocos

Hi everyone,

I have a small 32' monohull Peterson and noticed the other day, that the bracket above the shaft that was fibreglassed into the hull, has broken off...

I'm new to these challenges, and live on Cocos Islands in Australia's Indian Ocean and I cannot lift it out of the water.

Q1. What would have caused this? Maybe shuddering of the shaft? Bent? I'll take a video to check if I can fix the vertical bracket.

Q2. Is there some aqua bond that anyone can recommend to fix this to the hull?

Or any other solutions appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Tony
Surfer Girl
Cocos Islands

Surfer Girl,

I feel your pain... been there done that.

What could have done it? Maybe wrapping a line around the prop? Hitting an obstruction? Corrosion? If your prop shaft is bent it could be a cause, or a result of this failure.

Do not motor the boat with a broken strut. You WILL bend the shaft, and things flaying around can cause serious damage to the hull. You might be able to get it stuck in place with something like splashzone epoxy, but not in any way that would allow you to run the engine. Alignment and strength are critical here.

I hope there is someone smarter than I who will argue with this, but I do not think there is no way to repair it "in place", you'll have to haul the boat and dig out the strut.

If it is bronze (probably) there is a chance it can be welded back together, but do not count on it. Bronze is porous and after decades of saltwater exposure it can be contaminated internally with enough salt that it might be impossible to weld. That's what happened to mine. Everything melted together nice and neat, but as soon as it started to cool, a crack ran right down the joint. The salt contaminated metal was so brittle it could not hold together.

It is unlikely you could find an identical replacement, but if you can, you have used up a LOT of karma points!

My ultimate solution was to have a new strut make from carbon fiber and fiberglass and I fiberglassed in into the hull.

Be very careful of alignment with this goes back together. If you get it wrong, you'll never be able to align the engine and shaft.

[cocos]

ok thanks for the feedback.

I'll check what's it's made from and go from there. I have it strapped at the moment and will try to tension the bracket to the hull. then have someone put it in great and observe....

cheers

[Bill O]

On a previous boat the bronze strut broke and had it re-welded. It was stronger than it was originally. Any competent welder should be able to do the job correctly.

As mentioned, trick is to keep the alignment exactly the same otherwise you will go through cutlass bearings very quickly.

If its bronze, its more than likely through bolted to the hull. Uncertain why it would be glassed to hull unless someone previously added fairing/glass to reduce drag.

Don't know if a butyl tape will work UW, but aquabond appears to make some products that could work to seal the strut base.
Bill O.

[Pete7]

Do you have any tides? Do you have a really flat piece of water?

I have seen a similar sized yacht (Sigma 33) lifted at the stern by placing about 9 lads on the bow. The boat was quite stable and the skipper used a dinghy to get under neath and take a rope off the prop. Whist the boat was tied to a pontoon it was only loosely to allow the boat to tip. So do you have a watertight compartment under the v berths at the bow? if so that is your start point to fill with water and metal to lift her.

Pete