Broken strut

[Rwhitham]

Broken strut looking for help I have a Pearson 28.2 the Bill Shaw I picked up a hiker a crab pot in South Carolina on the ICW it sheared off my strut I’m going to replace the PSS On the stern to because it took some abuse propeller shaft seems to be in good shape but I can’t find a strut to hang back on does anybody know who manufactured them where are they were cast where I might be able to find one I can’t go any place until I do this does anyone have any ideas

[Luvboats]

Hola and sorry to hear of your troubles.

Do you have all the broken bits and pieces? Is it simply broken into two sections, which I found to the the most common failure mode, or is it in many pieces? If you have all the broken portions in my past life at a boat yard we were able to send them off to a foundry and have a new one cast using the old one as a pattern to create the sand casting.

It is also possible to have the broken one repaired but no doubt you will get many many many opinions on if or how this should be done and whether or not it is a good idea. I can assure you I have seen more than a handful of boats, both power and sail, with repaired struts surviving many hundreds of hours of usage.

I realize that yours is broken but as an aside I have also seen, and even participated in the procedure of straightening bent struts with long levers, hydraulic presses and/or the judicial application of heat. Sometimes a combination of all three. Sometimes when you are in remote areas of the world you “fix” it in ways that the textbooks don’t necessarily endorse or teach.

You might also take some good photos, with dimensions included, and contact any of the various boat salvage yards……..might get lucky. Depending on how yours is attached, a picture or two would help get good advice offered here, you can possibly use another strut with similar dimensions and shim/grind/cut/drill as needed to make it a reasonable facsimile of your original. Obviously the shaft size and “Cutlass” bearing must be a match as far as diameter. Longer or a little shorter is not a problem as long as you have the room.

Lastly, in my experience , broken or bent struts often result in bent shafts. Even though yours might look to the naked eye to be straight, might be a good idea to have a prop shop check it for run out and true it up as needed. Especially if you are installing a new dripless seal and “cutlass”. Better to start with a nice and true shaft now than to learn later that it wasn’t and have to haul and replace parts prematurely.

Just my two cents and food for thought. I hope anything I offered might be of assistance. If not, I hope you get the issue resolved regardless.

Safe Journeys,
~Jeb

[Rwhitham]

I’ve got everything taken apart there’s nothing more I can do now except for look at it look for this part no I might try the welding but understand it’s not welding it’s brazing in the metal merely sits on top it’s not fused it has too many pot medals zink copper
Since there’s nothing more I can do but look I’ll keep checking the Internet looking for foundries scrapyard salvage yards consignment stores but if that fails I have to recognize the worth of a boat they can’t sail

[Danm1]

Try this salvage yard. A couple of possibilities, including
Pearson 28' Strut - Mass Marine Parts

[fstbttms]

Maybe you can buy some punctuation while you're at it.

[Manateeman]

Miller Welds has an excellent video on TIG brazing bronze.
Not every welder has the equipment or experience.
If the boat had an electrical issue or a pink prop, you cannot braze bad metal.
As posted above, sending the parts to a foundry gives you a new strut with full strength. Junk shops are a toss up on quality sometimes. Your choice.
Send the prop, shaft and coupling to a good prop shop so they can get it straight and balanced. Worth the money.
Check the engine mounts and alignment.

This post is written by manatees and may contain DANGEROUS ERRORS in spelling, grammar cracker crumbs and pun chew way shun due to their excessive beer consumption.
Happy trails to you.
Da manateee crew...:facepalm @ offgassing.com