1982 Marine Trader Europe drive shaft

DHeckrotte said:

Filling the keel full would take a lot of filler! A lot of money. And would produce a lot of heat as it exotherms/cures.

Replace the tube (with fiberglass: cheaper and easy) and forget about it. Add an access hatch (Beckson or similar) to the top of the keel so that you can check for water.

Bear in mind that epoxying the new tube in requires that the surfaces receiving the epoxy have to be clean and dry. A Dremel with a burr might do nicely for the inside surface of the bore.

You'll need enough area for the bond which is usually done with a fillet (like a weld). If your shaft log fitting won't accommodate one perhaps adding an annulus (shim) of, say, 1/2" thick fiberglass sheet would do for you. Glue it in as well, to a clean surface; bore the shaft tube hole oversize so that the epoxy has all the more surface to bond to.

Where are the nuts for the bolts holding the shaft tube? Gotta' install and glass in the bolts before the tube is installed?

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SeaMoose said:

I have done this. The shaft tube is metal it is threaded into the fitting where the shaft comes out, it does fit through the hole in the rudder.

The most common failure point is the aft coupling, because of either poor shaft alignment or bolt failure. The only proper way to fit it back together is to drill two holes in the keel so you can get behind it.

The keel is filed with river gravel and concrete for ballast. What's under the engine is thin, layer. Expoxying this will do you no good. If you live where it freezes you must drain the water out of the keel, drill a few holes...

If you want to talk to me about this project send me a pm.

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SeaMoose said:

Mine did, but there are a lot of variations on these boats. My guy cut the aft coupling bolts and unscrewed that, then unscrewed the tube from the stuffing box assembly, fabricating a pipe cap/ring on the aft end, and then used a come along to slowly work the tube out.

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