E28+ strut loose

[Gary G]

I have a 1983 E28+ that needs a new cutlass bearing. In looking into doing that job it appears that there is some play in the strut so it needs to be tightened up. There is no way to directly access the nuts on the ends of the bolts that hold the strut in place as they are glassed in. Should I grind off the fiberglass on the outside to get access to the bolts in hope of being able to tighten them? Or is it better to work inside the boat and grind out the glass to gain access to the nuts and try to tighten things up from there? Any advice on how to approach this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Walter Pearson]

Prop Strut

If your strut assembly is similar to my '76 E27, there may be no nuts to tighten. My strut had threaded holes and there were four bolts securing it with the hex heads buried in some 'material' and the fiberglass inside the hull. The retention was mainly from the strut and bolts being imbedded in whatever compound was used to 'pot' the whole affair.

If my old strut had been only loose, there might have been the possibility of drilling down to the area around each bolt and injecting some epoxy to fill any voids. As it was, mine needed to be replaced - which required major access modifications and repotting and reglassing.

I have a dimensioned sketch of my strut and also a cross section of the way mine was installed. They are not in an acceptable format for attachment here, but could provide them to you if you are interested.

Walter Pearson