Shaft Logs... Fix or replace?

Had a vibration in the shaft(s) on Tinker Belle. According to the machine shop, one shaft looks like a snake and the other is cracked. So I'm getting new shafts. Figured I'd remove the shaft logs too since I was there and it looked easy enough. I wanted to get the corrosion off and clean them up. The 1/2 that's under the boat had barnacles from hell packed in them. This is what they looked like:

What is the phone type wire on second pic?

L

I took the logs out and had them sand blasted. Severe corrosion and even a hole where something ate through. Question is should I repair with epoxy or just get new ones at roughly $300 (x2)? Tried to get them welded with silicon bronze welding rods and it did not work. Welder tried and was afraid he would burn a hole in them. Called West Systems and they said a repair with their G/flex product would be as strong as the bronze itself. Thinking about filling with G/flex and then a couple of coats of 105 epoxy.

What do you say? Repair or replace?

The thing that looks like a phone wire is #12 stranded bond wire that must have been wrapped around a pencil or something to curl it.

The trans. coupling and the strut need to be solid but the log doesn't really support anything so epoxy should be OK. If the shaft is severely misaligned then it might impart some forces to the log by rubbing or via the stuffing box but you will notice the vibration.

You could fabricate the log out of FB or sleeve it with FB.

Personally with all the labor you are already spending, I would replace them so I would not have the possibility of having to take it all apart again if the epoxy didn’t work. I am a big fan of epoxy, but if the bronze is bad in one area, how many other places are almost as bad?

Comodave said:

Personally with all the labor you are already spending, I would replace them so I would not have the possibility of having to take it all apart again if the epoxy didn’t work. I am a big fan of epoxy, but if the bronze is bad in one area, how many other places are almost as bad?

Click to expand...

I plan to realign the shafts. My thought was to coat the entire log with epoxy after coating the worst places with G/flex.

I don't know if you are aware of a product called Belzona.
They make several different epoxies.
We have used these products to fix gouges inside of exchanges heads in chemical refineries. When we take the heads off sever years later the epoxy is still great shape an shows no wear. May be worth a look.
Belzona 1111 (Super Metal) composite

Thanks for reminding me about Belzona. Capstan from Bad Monkey Tail used it on his wet exhaust with great success. I'll see if I can find it.

Kind of disappointed in how much salt was built up around the shaft log...for shame

That being said, it would fairly easy to G10 glass tube and permanently glass in new tubes.

On the other hand, $600 is a drop in the bucket when maintaining a 43 foot long vintage trawler. I'd buy new and be done with it instead of applying some goop to bronze of all things. Think of the time saved by not monkeying around with repairing something that will still be questionable after it's "fixed"

My advice you didn't ask for

Coolbeans, no reason to hide under your chair! I just bought the boat in January and have been bringing it home to Tennessee from Galveston. I was concerned what I might find under the salt deposits so I waited until I hauled out in Demopolis, AL to tackle this issue. Kinda glad I waited, since there is a hole the size of a Q-tip in one of the logs.

I am ordering new logs. I thought that maybe someone on here could say "oh yeah, I repaired my logs and they have lasted 10 years". I suppose everyone on here has had the good sense to just replace their shaft logs so they don't have to redo work and pay for an extra haulout. $600 is a drop in the bucket but as you boat owners know, there are many, many drops in a bucket....

No no Tink, that was a little conceited of me. I'm super anal retentive and stuff like that I see in person or on my own boat(s) puts me in a fit that must be fixed now :lol:

Just to prove my point, would you like a video of me scooping some water out of my bilge and drinking it?

Ok, maybe not

It's terrible the PO let it go that long as the salt creep is what looks to have closed the circuit with the copper lines forming a battery...eating up the zinc and bronze

I need to start a thread called "PO's should be hung"


But good on your for just ordering replacements. It's expensive, but that's one of the lessons I've learned is it's cheaper and easier int he long to just replace with newer/better. So many things on my old sailboat have dozens of hours fixing old doo-dads and it still a half-assed fix on something that is 40 years old. On my new Bayliner I look in the mirror, slap myself, and write the check and my boat is better for it. And, I've probably saved 50 hours this season not screwing around with stuff

Your bilge must be way cleaner than mine if you are willing to drink from it! The PO's of my boat probably never saw it. They had bought a newer, bigger boat and focused their attention on it. I've done the same thing. I know things need to be done but for whatever reason, never get to it. Oh well, I'm doing it now. I wasn't even sure what it was until I started vacuuming it up. I sure didn't want to taste it