Alignment

After reading the posts by Eric Lavine on the importance of a proper alignment I decided to check mine last weekend. I just bought the boat, a 1979 Ski Nautique three weeks ago. There is nothing obvious indicating the alignment is off, the boat doesn’t vibrate, there is plenty of power (if the speedometer is accurate I had it up to 50), the coupler, packing nut and strut bearing (is that what is called a cutlass bearing?) are not loose, I can turn the prop by hand but it takes at least two fingers, not just one. I can turn the propshaft by hand but I have to grab with both hands.

I removed the engine cover and rear floorboard. With some effort I was able to remove the four bolts holding the coupler together. I didn’t loosen the safety wired bolts holding the prop coupler to the propshaft. I tried to separate the coupler but it wouldn’t budge. I tried tapping with a rubber mallet – no effect. I took a large screwdriver and tried to pry them apart – no luck. I could not see anything that was preventing the propshaft from sliding rearward but maybe I missed something. I took a small hammer to the screwdriver and with a few light blows I managed to see the coupling begin to separate but it looked like I was marring the coupler on the prop side. I believe in “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” so I stopped. I was able to get a feeler gauge of .012 in the gap on top, left and bottom with a .015 gauge barely able to fit on the right side. Places where I marred the coupler I couldn’t stick the gauge in at all. Now I don’t think this was really an accurate measurement of the gap. As I rotated the propshaft, the motor coupler would spin with it so I don’t think I separated the two halves. Again I didn’t want to pound on it to get it to separate and maybe cause a problem when I didn’t have one in the first place. Did I miss something when I tried to separate them? Are both couplers supposed to spin freely independent of each other when the bolts are removed? Was I too timid with the hammer? I have this image in my head of the movie Splash where Fat Jack tried to fix the outboard with a hammer and didn’t want to be that guy.

So in the end I just reattached the four bolts and thought I would ask advice on this forum before continuing. I will attach a picture but not sure if that will help. I did loosen the packing nut an 1/8 turn and now I can turn the prop with one finger. I took her for a test run and no vibration or any noticeable difference. Of course I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first powerboat.   I did have a friend who is knowledgeable with boats and he didn’t notice anything. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

BTW you should add another hose clamp on your water intake.

xjglen,

I appreciate you pointing out the hose clamp. I should have picked that up from my sailing days. All hull through fittings get 2 clamps.