• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

E35 Propeller Shaft size

gareth harris

Sustaining Member
Something I have been wondering since I got the boat, but have never asked before:

What size prop shaft have most people got on their E35 for an A4? Mine is 3/4", but when I replaced the stuffing box, the only size available in the chandlary that fit the boat was intended for a larger shaft, and I had to improvise with the size of flax packing.

Is there any history of 32 year old 3/4" shafts breaking without warning? I am trying to reduce the number of things that could go wrong when I am half way between Greenland and Iceland.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
shafted

There should be no reason to worry about the 3/4" shaft provided:
1). Engine mounts good
2). Alignment good
3). packing gland area securely bonded
4). You have the right prop (which I'm sure you do).

Unless there has been unusual fatigue you should be fine-maybe you need a new shaft, but the size is fine. I would be more concerned with insulation, cabin heat, cockpit drainage and companionway hatch integrity (that old chesnut!)
than the shaft!

I would love to hear about what you have done to the rig/deck layout, and sails for this trip!
Safe muddling,
Seth
 

gareth harris

Sustaining Member
Seth - The alignment of the shaft has been good since I have had the boat, but I do not know about the first 25 years. The stuffing box I took off was connected with the wrong size hose, clamped down tight with hose clamps, which suggests a lot of neglect previously.

I have been taking pictures for the owners/projects section of the upgrades, such as the old cockpit drains, which were glassed in; but I plan to finish the work before making a post there.

For heating and insulation, I just plan to go in the summer.

Gareth
Freuja E35 #241 1972
 

jmoses

Member III
3/4 inch shaft & glands

Gareth,

I too have a 3/4" shaft on me ol 1972 35 with A-4. I replaced the shaft and packing gland two years ago. The new shaft was $195.00, the new PYI dripless packing gland was another $205.00, with new cutlass bearing at $25.00. I did ~90% of the removal & install myself. The alignment was pretty straight forward. Also, I installed a CDI composite prop four years ago, which was ~$200.00. All said and done? $650.00 in driveline improvements (less Drivesaver.....see below).

Why a new shaft? The old one was buggered due to many years of someone putting a monkey wrench on it and I wanted to put a dripless gland on. There are 3/4" packing glands out there as I replaced mine when I bought the boat 6.5 years ago......it did take some hunting around though. I found it at an old fishing boat chanderly for $30.00! The owner said he'd never sell it and had had it for many years, so he was happy to part with it for $30.00. Quite the steal!

One item I noticed that made a difference was a "Drivesaver". It was installed from prior owner as he couldn't get an alignment. If it's any indication, my A-4 was badly out of alignment when purchased due to bad engine mounts, rotten engine bed, and, well, neglect. The engine was sagging aft and downward due to the above mentioned problems. As a result, P.O. put in a Drivesaver and he was happy with it....Me? Not really. It vibrated to a degree, but D.S. did a pretty decent job of minimizing the misalignment problem.

After the new shaft and gland, I left out the Drivesaver (D.S.). Although I had the engine aligned to ~ 0.03" after the new install (based on 0.01" per inch of coupling diameter), it still had a very slight vibration. So, I stuck the old D.S. back in and it all but disappeared. I give the D.S. creidt where credit is due.....it's smooth as silk now.

As for a 3/4" packing gland, try Buck Algonquin Brass Works or for about the same price, a dripless may be in order (they come in 3/4"). I think it's part
# PB-75 or BUC 0075......? http://www.buckalgonquin.com/

John M.
 

Brisdon

Inactive Member
Just this last weekend I replaced the stuffing box on my 35-2 with a PYI drippless seal. I had seepage between the hose and the fiberglass tube that it clamps to. I had assumed that the seepage was the result of a rotten hose with a scored surface that wouldn't seal to the tube but boy was I wrong. When I pulled the hose off, the whole top of the tube was worn away by an improperly aligned shaft. I should have pulled the shaft log and inspected the shaft tube sooner. Now that I know how little clearance there is to the shaft and how delicate this tube is (thin), I would encourage any one who hasn't made this inspection to do it on the next haul. The top of the tube on my boat was completely ground away to within an eighth of an inch of the end of the hose. If you have damage like this from a previous owner's alignment mishaps, it can just sit hidden under the hose until it finally seeps or gushes. The PYI dripless is wonderful by the way. It's so weird not having that pesky 2 inches of water in the bilge. It's just dry, dry, dry. I've had no problems with the 3/4 shaft on my boat, I have no plans to change it out for a bigger one.
 

jmoses

Member III
update on alignment

Opps. The alignment should read 0.001 and 0.003 as in "thousandths" and not 0.02/0.03 as in "hundreths."

Also, Brisdon is correct, the shaft log is mighty thin stuff and worth checking when hauled out. Should be standard procedure actually when changing packing gland material or inspecting hose/bellows bi-annually.

Also, with the dripless glands, it's good practice to put a small hose clamp on the shaft next to the rotor once it's set in place for back-up. Although there are set screws to hold the rotor's position on the shaft, there's a slight chance vibration may loosen them up. Now there's at least the hose clamp affixed to the shaft in front of the rotor assembly to keep it in place if the set screws let loose.

Hate to have a 2" hole in my boat!

John M.
 

Brisdon

Inactive Member
I just installed the dripless system and I have the same insecurity about the set screws coming loose. I installed a zink behind the thing instead of a hose clamp because I figured it won't slice my hand like a spinning hose clamp, and it's always nice to have an extra zinc stored somewhere.
 

Intuition

Member I
Stuffing box tube size

As a number of people have done, on my E35 MKII I want to install a dripless stuffing box. However, without hauling the boat I don't know the diameter of the fiberglass tube as I need that measurement to order in the new stuffing box. Can anyone remember the size of that tube or the model number of the dripless packing so that I can get the same.

Thanks,

David
 

Brisdon

Inactive Member
The fiberglass tube on my 35-2 came through the hull and far enough into the bilge that I was able to cut the end of it clean and mill the new end to a fresh, true surface without all the tabbing glass and resin in the way of the new rubber boot. I would say to establish what that diameter will be once yours is trued down, and order accordingly.

On my boat, at the advice of the dripless manufacturer, I ordered for a 1" shaft to install on my 3/4 shaft. It's been in about 8 years without a hitch. I'm not sure if they still suggest that, or that I should give this advice with my limited knowledge of the system,but it hasn't sunk my boat and the 1/4 slip face seems to create an eliptical rotation that keeps things tighter and wears more uniformly across the faces of the contact plates.

This was the theory at least. It has been absolutely dripless, so it's worth mention. Maybe ask about this when you order.

Apparently the units are all shipped now with the bleed line attached, but mine is one without this feature. It's less to sink your boat if it fails, but the one caviote of installing without the bleed hose is that you have to remember to burp it before you moter off, because air trapped in the friction zone with burn out the plates.
 

Intuition

Member I
What I was hoping to do was to order in the new PSS packing before I haul the boat so that I don't have to pay all the extra time on the hard from taking off the old packing gland, measuring the tube and then ordering the gland and then waiting for it to arrive. I'm sure that all of the old E35 MKII's came with the same tube size and I can't measure mine while it's still in the water. The existing tubing is clamped up tight to the hull and I can't get a reading without loosening the old stuffing box and sliding it forward - something I don't want to do while the boat is still in the water.
 

robjpowell

Member II
I did this replacement over winter on our boat (1976 35-2). Unfortunately a new shaft here in the North East is somewhat more expensive than others have mentioned. The PSS I used was the 3/4" shaft 1.1/4" log (#02034114). This was the closest log dimension I could get for our boat. While a touch smaller than our log (IIRC I think I measured it at 1.5/16) I felt more comfortable with a tight fit rather than a loose one that only sealed with excessive hose clamp tightening. In order to mount it I had to remove the inner log adapter (the outer bellow is a somewhat standard dimension and then they glue in a spacer for the final shaft log dimension. Note that the adapter is lightly glued with what appears to be a contact cement and in fact it had worked itself free just from the effort of me trying to place it over the log as a complete unit. Having the adapter separate allowed me to stretch it enough to get it over the log (a tight fit). I could then get the bellows piece over the adaptor and hose clamp it together as per the instructions. To date I only have 5h on it but it is working fine.

Rob
 

Intuition

Member I
Rob:

Thanks for your response. That was exactly the kind of information that I was looking for. I am going to the boat tonight and will do a rough measure over my hose (stuffing box hose) and subtract the hose wall thickness to give me an approx. measure and I'm sure I'll come up with your numbers. It will be nice to not have the constant little bit of water coming into the boat and having to adjust etc. etc.

David
 
Top