J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Prop Shaft Strut replacement

Hello - looking for leads on getting a replacement prop shaft strut. Pulled it off to re-bed while replacing the shaft seal, and found that it had completely cracked off at one corner. not enough left to repair.

3/4" shaft.

Tried the Prop Dr in Key West that was referenced in an old post, but they are no longer in business.

any help appreciated, would consider used as well.

There is a for sale thread of a decommissioned J/30 in the classifieds. Good first bet.

What do you mean "cracked off at one corner"? Cracked a corner of the base off where the mounting bolt is? If you can't replace, you could probably glass over it to secure it.

The Prop Doctor in Key West is still in business. I talked to him today. Try calling him @ 305 292 0012 on Tuesday. You might want to consider having the shaft and cutlas bearing checked for wear when repalcing the strut.

Thank you , I will give him a call. I had a number from the old post that was for a different company.

I am getting the shaft checked for balance, and replacing the cutlass bearing and shaft seal. Hopefully that will be it for this part of the boat for a couple years.

I emailed the parts boat, but no reply. One of the corners broke off, meaning the entire corner and bolt hole. I found a welder today you thought it could be repaired. But even he suggested a replacement as the bronze is deteriorated and flaking and crumbling in several areas.

Thanks for the reply!

over a year ago Horatio, our local fiberglass guy and TPI factory employee back in the 80s, recommended that he fiberglass the strut on 526 completely in ... for nearly 30 years this had been a problem for me and required fairing each year. he claimed it was the only final solution ...

this is photo of it one year later ... not showing any signs of problems. Somewhere I think there is a photo of it unpainted on this site from last year.

I faired over mine this year with a strong epoxy mixture. But if it goes back to leaking, I will glass right over next time. I noticed one bolt appeared to be stripped, but after tightening all three and epoxy fairing, it feels solid. Of course, less vibration now too, and no leaking anymore (fingers crossed).

Where were you seeing leakage, into the boat itself? Hull core??

Never had any problems with mine (maybe I should be worrying about this too

-dan

As Vic had mentioned to me before, it is a common thing for the prop strut bolts to leak. This does not get into the core because of the solid mold for the strut. After running the boat, My bilge would fill up every 12-24 hours until the algae growth would cover the bolts again and slow the leak. I could not find where the water was coming from anywhere as it was not the stuffing box and somewhere under the cabin liner and only happened after running the engine. After mentioning it here, Vic said it was the strut bolts. After fairing it two weeks ago, no leaks after running the engine.

I guess owning two J/30s makes him twice as smart. Thanks Vic!

Problem now is that I forget half of what I learned ... so am constantly learning stuff I learned before ...

quote of the year: "I knew that!"