Cutlass bearing installation doubt - need advice

[Pbrenner]

Morning ,

We are about to finalize the purchase of our first 350 mkii and during the inspection, the surveyor looked at the shaft and told us it would need to be flush, as it seems to stick out at the moment.

5BE8764B-F584-4366-BF35-0A84410B76D5.jpeg (45.17 KiB) Viewed 669 times

Any visual reference like photos of your shaft, as it will allow us to have a confirmation that obviously we have an issue that needs fix or that is some sort of settings from Catalina.

As the surveyor is telling us that it needs to be fixed before it goes back to the water next year as our boat here in Quebec spend the winter out of water.

As a bonus If any of you had a contact at Catalina so that we could get some level of official position it would be ideal.

Thanks so much

Pascal

[wolfe10]

Though I have never seen one sticking out that far, I bow to Bill (Triumph)'s better inside information.

[Pbrenner]

Thanks we will explore this closely.

We checked and the surveyor told us that if it was slipping out there would be line in the shaft due to the Allen key locking it in place. So in his opinion not a problem in motion but a mounting issue or a different setting.

We are trying to analyse whether it is an issue that could lead to other damage like not keeping the water out for example.

Pascal

[wolfe10]

Excellent contact at Catalina Corp:

Warren Pandy 727 544-6681 ext 275.

Yes, this is a couple of years old, but Warren is THE MAN.

[Triumph]

The Cutlass bearing is CORRECT!! Do not change it. It looks just right to me. I was a part of the initial prop testing and cutlass problem with Catalina.

Problems: Prop was too skinny and the cutlass was nylon. I did the prop testing for Catalina. If this were a nylon cutlass it would simply "crush" when you grab and try to twist it out. That day on a conference call, Frank Butler ask the factory guys why nylon? Duh? The next day the factory changed to bronze.

The only way to get the cutlass out is to be able grab it on the end ( or pull the shaft out which you don't want to do!). It is sticking out this far so the next guy who goes to change it can grab it and wiggle it out. If it is in much further it makes it more difficult. Tell your survey guy it is correct!!

Bill on TRIUMPH

[Pbrenner]

Thanks so much for reassuring us, I guess the limit of the surveyor knowledge.

Of course we will keep a close eyes to it, taking a measure before having the boat back in water, probably dive each month to measure again and definitely measure it next autumn.

[Olivia Mae]

As mentioned above you do want some sticking out to make removal possible without having to pull the shaft. About 3/4" is enough. Interesting to hear the history of what convinced Catalina to get rid of those plastic shelled ones. Too bad it didn't happen before my hull was made. It would have saved me a bit of time and parts. It's all good now, though.

Maybe others could comment on your pic, but I wonder whether the tight space caused by your installation of a donut anode restricts the water flow to the cutlass bearing. I went with a prop nut anode on ours for this reason. Just a thought

[Pbrenner]

I wanted to make sure that I share our findings, huge thanks to Warren from Catalina.
We have confirmed that our installation is likely an original one so the doubt brought by the marine surveyor has now been cleared.

The cutlass bearing should come out of the FRP tube between 5/8” to ¾” inch.
Cutlass bearing should be the Naval Brass outer one.

Note to anyone questioning about the cutlass bearing not being flush, if it was, one would not be able to take the bearing out unless the shaft was removed.

For your reference, a photo of the cutlass bearing on our 2008 350 mkii (photo taken Oct 23)