Strut and driveshaft replacement

well there are 2 points here and they are not completely directed towards you, alot of guys are not capable of doing what your doing and i use the insurance angle as an option for them because i dont want them to assume insurance does not cover the equivalant of a car wreck, as to a prop hit. they may assume its not covered and pay out of pocket. and you also can work with the repair shop on the cost of repairs to the value of the boat. i guess its meant to be read by everyone and if they dont have the repair it themselve option they wont have to pay out of pocket for the repairs

Eric,
I have a brand new strut, it just doesn't quite line up with the old holes. I'm not really interested in paying to have my old one straightened unless absolutely necessary. I already spent money buying new. My question is how to get the new strut to fit? At this point I think I'll take Petes advice and fill/re-drill. The holes are not off by much.

I was able to turn the prop just fine (one-handed) and there really wasn't much vibration....at least not enough for me to think something was seriously wrong. Honestly, for as bad as the strut looks the alignment wasn't that bad off. I'll check the coupling next time I'm up, but nothing looked out of the ordinary on that end. I'm sure there is probably damage to the trans but that is another expense for [hopefully] another day. Right now she shifts/drives just fine.

Again, you bring up insurance. Is boat insurance different than a car? b/c if I go by your numbers they would simply total the boat. Also, this happened before I purchased the boat....so I'm guessing my insurance probably doesn't cover it. Eric, I do value your input, but lets be realistic here. If it were a newer boat worth $20k or more I would definately consider the insurance option, but on a boat that books less than $7k, just about any significant damage would total it. The insurance is only there to cover lawsuits and/or medical care I might incur if I were involved in an accident.

Besides, I enjoy fixing things myself and I plan to keep the boat for a long time. I'm hoping my first born (due in Aug) learns to ski/board behind the little CC.

Ryan, I would epoxy (with filler added) up the old holes and then re drill the holes. You will need to be very carefull with the fore to aft position of the strut. Check before drilling new holes.

Edit: No one answered the polished shaft at the cutlass bearing question! Sorry, Mike it out and compare the OD to a original area. I doubt it is worn and if a couple thousand's under it would still be OK. How did you check the shaft for straightness? Remember that using the feeler gauge between the coupling halves will only check straightness down to the cutlass and not in the prop area. Get the shaft into some V blocks and check it out with a dial indicator.

Bremson, sorry , I stand for the lashing , please only ten not the twenty normaly used for stupid answers.....LOL
I assumed you were talking of elongating the strut and not the "glass".I wonder as to why the holes are that far off?????
That drive took a Hell of a shock to bend the strut at that angle...Eric has posted before on the subject of failure down the road of some tranny related parts,drum and plataries maybe. Maybe he will chine in and alert you as to these issues..
That is a hard call as to modification of your boat or try and find the "CORRECT" strut...........Boat dr

This is gonna sound dumb, but did you see any water at all when you pulled the strut? I got an unpleasant surprise when I raised the bow and made the strut location the low point.

Use the stock strut and replace the cutlass bearing only,a lot cheaper and no issues with half assed job .Do not elongate the holes, you will have a simple job now , do not complicate it further. in stall new bearing 5200 to seal and get a good bond finish the simple process of alignment.
   Boat dr

There's no repair there, I have an 84" barefoot and it looks the same, and the boats never been touched. that is stock!!!   Also in 84" the shaft is 1" by 41" stock.

I'll have to look into a check valve. I've been pulling the hose from the strainer on the RWP side because my intake is directly over a bunk. I'd like to come up with something cleaner while I have the whole thing pulled apart.

Footer, my '88 looks just like that.

I guess what looks like a repair because it doesn't match the texture of the rest of the hull is because it is cut out and glassed in after the hull is removed from the mold. Almost every one looks like that in the bilge area to a degree. I would be worried if it all looked the same inside of the bilge as that is a sign someone has done glass work or stringer work and covered up what the factory did orginally.

what plywood? that's all glass and gel-kote looks all factory to me.

Alignment of the strut.

I went through this once with a reputable propeller shop and found that all they do to straighten a strut is mount it in a fixture and use an old shaft to align it. They just bend it with a bar and tell you to finish the job after it is mounted in the boat.

We can do the same thing without even removing it from the boat. That is unless you tried to drive the boat over a stump.

1. Use a good shaft and align it to the transmission flange. If it is off, then adjust.
2. Use an old shaft to bend the strut in the direction of misalignment. Over compensate as needed.
3. The most difficult part of this is getting the feel of the process.
4. I would of thought that the strut would have required heating, but not so.

Footer, Take a closer look at this plywood you are seeing. You may be correct that at one time the boat got damaged. From your description, to me it sounds like a amateur repair was made and plywood was used on the inside of the hull as a reinforcement. If so, it is not a sound method. Extra layers of glass and epoxy resin should have been used. Post a picture.

Welcome to the site and happy footing!

Hey guys,
I was wondering what diameter prop shaft you have. I have a 1987 Barefoot Nautique with 454 in it. I bought it 2 years ago. My shaft dia is 1 inch. Should it be a 1-1/8 inch dia? Do you know what the '87 BN boats were built with (new)? Also, I was looking at prop port and can see plywood edge of the hull, no glass or gelcoat covering it. This has me wondering if boat was damaged. The hull has no other markes or cracks around this area, doesn't look like prop struck bottom of hull either.
Thanks

Eric, no insurance on this one. With the deal I got on the strut the total cost will just barely be over my deductible. I was just curious since if the double tapered shaft is worth the extra cost due to ease of installation. The whole pressing, heating, cooling stuff never seems to work for me. Something always goes wrong. I appreciate the installation instructions. I'm hoping it goes smoothly.

Pete, the strut I bought was a NOS item and has the cutlass already installed. The strut on the boat is visually bent (~1/8-1/4") so replacement is necessary. The shims you speak of and getting the new strut to line up with the shaft was the reason for my post. It got me worried this project might not be cut and dry.

thanks again fellas.