Shaft log leak

I have a 1975 Marine Trader Pilothouse 35 that has a leak in the bilge above the shaft log. It's more of just seepage as opposed to a major leak. Plan on hauling out in June to get the bottom done and fix this problem. My question to the group is about the cutlass bearing housing. The attached images shows the housing which I'm assuming is screwed onto the log and then secured using hangar bolts. Removal would entail removing the hangar bolts and then trying to unthread the housing from the log or it may be possible to do it from inside. Has anyone seen this particular housing and confirm this? any thoughts? I want to gather as much information before the haul out to try and cut down on the time I'm on the hard. Will be dong the work myself. Thanks

David

I'm not familiar with Marine Trader, but my shaft log was stainless steel that after 40 years failed and needed to be replaced with a new fiberglass log. $$$. Good luck! The cutless bearing was also replaced, not too bad the shipwright was able to cut/press it out and press in a new one. You will have to remove the shaft and then you can check it for trueness.

Greetings,
Mr. ds. We had a '74 MT with the symptoms you are experiencing. I was able to remove the cutlass housing and determine said housing was assembled as you suspect yours is (screwed on the shaft log) BUT the screw coupling had long since gone away. I was also getting seepage from the bilge above the shaft. I elected to put a couple of extra layers of FRP over the leaks rather than replace the shaft log as Mr. dh did which was the PROPER way it should have been done.

Did I do a band-aid fix? Of course but it worked for me.

I went thru this exact repair 2 winters ago. Your stern bearing housing appears similar. Good luck on the repairs, it's was a pretty straightforward task, for me. I hope yours is similar.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38071

JoshW said:

I went thru this exact repair 2 winters ago. Your stern bearing housing appears similar. Good luck on the repairs, it's was a pretty straightforward task, for me. I hope yours is similar.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38071

Click to expand...

Thanks Josh!! That is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Just gonna have to wait till it’s out of the water to see how bad it is.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. ds. We had a '74 MT with the symptoms you are experiencing. I was able to remove the cutlass housing and determine said housing was assembled as you suspect yours is (screwed on the shaft log) BUT the screw coupling had long since gone away. I was also getting seepage from the bilge above the shaft. I elected to put a couple of extra layers of FRP over the leaks rather than replace the shaft log as Mr. dh did which was the PROPER way it should have been done.

Did I do a band-aid fix? Of course but it worked for me.

Click to expand...

Thanks RT!! If I can get away with it I’m not opposed to it. Will see what kinda shape everything is in once I get hauled.

Consider crush rings if glassing in new so clamps if any may be fully tightened without risk of damage to SL frp.