Beneteau 43 Cutlass Bearing question

[James Taylor]

Hello all
Name is James and my wife and I are the owners of B43 hull#19 . Had the boat hauled a couple weeks ago and noticed a little "jiggle" of the prop shaft (about 1/16" movement up and down but no movement sideways).1. Anyone have any issues with the cutlass bearing and 2).I s removal and replacement as simple as removing prop, removing grubb screws and pry out bearing with prop shaft installed?
I plan to have the yard look at it but I thought I would get other owners opinions as well.

[Mike Brown]

James, I haven't even checked the shaft for play. The engine is as smooth as can be and with the boat being new I wouldn't expect anything else. What led you to check it? Did you have drive train vibration? As far as replacing it I've never done one but understand it's as you stated. Have you checked for warranty coverage yet? If it's worn already then I would expect the engine to drive shaft alignment will need to be checked and adjusted. Keep us posted.
Mike

[James Taylor]

Hi Mike
The drive train operation is very smooth. I have had no vibration at all. When the boat was hauled I decided to grab the shaft to see if it had any play and I noticed a very slight up and down action. Will have it checked by AYS when they return from vacation.

[Mike Brown]

James, let me know how it turns out.
Mike

[David]

Hi James
I had mine replaced at my last slip.
I had run over a mooring line about six months earlier and at the time cut the line from the fixed propeller and thought no more of it.

But when the boat was slipped the bearing had been pushed into the stainless tube about 5mm and a small amount of line had melted and was still around bearing.

They told me it must be replaced as its water cooled from the engine and may have over heated and be damaged internally.

Mine was difficult to replace as it had been pushed in so they needed to remove propeller shaft to get it out.

It is a rubber tube about 100mm long with grooves in it to allow water flow for cooling.

I didn’t see it done but would think normally it would be easy to replace, just remove the propeller and the screws and pull it out!!!.

I am no expert but unless you have done many hours, could the cooling system be blocked??

[James Taylor]

Hi David
Our B43 has 300hrs on the engine. I did run over a crab pot last season and there was some rope on the prop shaft when we hauled her.
The cutlass bearing does not appear to be displaced though it is possible the rope may have caused some movement. Will have the yard check it and r&r the cutlass bearing if need be.
The shaft lubrication nipple from the engine to the dripless coupling appeared to be fine and I very seriously doubt if our engine or dripless coupling overheated. The boat has been vibration free and the engine operating tempreature remains normal. At worse I may have to replace the bearing and possibly an engine to driveshaft alignment.
James

[Ricardo Negrini]

We fouled a nice nylon cable, and when we hauled boat, the entire cutlass were pushed into the stern tube, and replaced by the melted rope. After removing it in pieces, we discovered this is made of rubber only (no outter bronze ring). We had to cut 1/8' of metal tube (it was damaged and difficult to reshape perfect round). Now we use a standard cutlass bearing with outer bronze ring, same 120mm long. Regarding the cooling, the stern tube is imersed in water, and it lubricate the Volvo dripless bearing, not the engine, be carefull when splashing back, as there should not have air on the dripless. It can be achieved squeezing the internal rubber around the shaft, allowing some water to come in, making sure there is no air bubble to compromise the lubrication.

[James Taylor]

Yes the stern tube is immersed in water but there is also a line from the rear of the engine that attaches to the dripless. This tube is off of the raw water intake line at the rear of the engine on our version of the Yanmar 54 4jh4ae. I am quite sure, though not completely 100% positive, that its purpose is to supply additional lubrication to the dripless. One of the very first modifications Beneteau authorized on this particular engine was replacement of this line since they had a number of failures (leaks) with the original diverted line.
This particular engine also has been known to become difficult to start and Beneteau will pay for a modification that involves removing the priming fuel filter holder and replacing it with a non priming fuel filter holder and also install a more powerful electric fuel pump. After having this mod our hard start issue was resolved. There should be no issue with priming the engine since 1). The electric fuel pump pumps more than enough pressurized fuel and 2).the fuel return line (to the tank) is routed by way of the fuel filter to allow easy priming. I have read on a number of different sites (cruiser net etc) where others have developed hard starting with this particular engine.
Will definitely "burp" dripless once we drop her in. Thanks for the reply.
I will be replacing that cutlass bearing as soon as it warms up a bit. Did you do your on replacement? If so how difficult was it to remove the prop and bearing? Did you use a prop puller?

[Ricardo Negrini]

In fact, I replaced the original bucket, oooops, I mean original propeler, by a Kiwiprop. I should had used a puller but with some delicated bumps I managed to pull it out. As I said, the bearing was completely destroyed by the nylon rope, so I had to remove it in pieces. A painful job to the boy we contracted during 2 long days, as he had to scratch inside the tube to recover the ruber pieces, very careful to not damage the stern tube, neither to misshape even more the metal tube. As the bearing is not a real bronze one, I think a rubber only unity is easy to replace. Pic #3 shows a half collar made of melted nylon rope. We navigated some 2,000 miles without any noticeable vibration ....

[James Taylor]

Thanks for the info and photos. That melted nylon rope really did leave a mess.
I am sure you will continue to enjoy your boat.
James

[sam]

I have hull #9 with about 275 engine hours. I just pulled the boat for a bottom job (nice to be on the Gulf Coast in Feb!). The yard says that there is excessive play in the cutlass bearing, so I have agreed with the yard to change it. I will have an engine alignment a week or so after splashing (to allow hull to re-set to water shape). I did find that both of my front engine mounts top nuts were finger tight just a week ago. I may have allowed the engine to run mis-aligned, thus shortening the cutlass life, but I never noticed any vibration. Any one have experience or opinion on flexible shaft couplings? Pros / cons??
I should know more soon.

[Ricardo Negrini]

Used one on my second boat. Didn't notice any improvement on vibration, but mechanic might find it useful by not having to be 100% aligned when I contracted him for. Major reason I installed was to stop some galvanic current corroding engine, but sold boat before testify its usefulness. I don't think it is necessary to have one on your Bene, I have hull #64 and now 790hours on it, and don't feel significant misalignement. May be you could install one to get some more clearance at propeler to install real shaft zinc ....