Thanks Art. Good ideas in your response.
I am sure it's the cutlass bearings and your description of the inspection is accurate. I do scrape my zincs a couple times a year and change them every other year. I have never heard of magnesium anodes and will look into them,. I have the same issues with the zincs in my Diesels and generator. Same issue there? Also you said they don't last as long. Would they last 2 years? - my normal replacement schedule. My zincs are about 90% when I replace them. If they last 2 years there would be no cost trade off for me. (unless they cost more in general) I have a great yard that I have used for years. I think I will give them a call and talk to them about the bearings and the zincs. Thanks again for your thoughts. On Wednesday, August 5, 2015 at 8:45:19 PM UTC-7, Art wrote: > > Hi Bob – Couple things > > > > How did the yard see the cutlass bearing interior surface to make visual > judgement on condition? Maybe they just tried to find slop in the shaft > at that point and because none seemed apparent as well as end of bearing > looked OK they said what they did. 1500 hrs is not way too long between > cutlass replacements… but that is getting to be a few hours, for sure. > > > > I have no idea where the squeal is coming from, or why it is sounding off… > you sure it is the cutlass? > > > > Regarding zinc anodes. IMHO they are OK to use in freshwater as long as > the surface is scrapped clean (calcium haze / galvanization removed) > every three to four months. Once a year seems iffy to me for continual > zinc protection. Magnesium is the best anode for freshwater. They shed > surface molecules more quickly (such as zinc does in saltwater) and do not > need scraping. Mags last about ¼ the time of often cleaned zinc… therein > lays the tradeoff. > > > > *From:* [email protected] <javascript:> [mailto: > [email protected] <javascript:>] *On Behalf Of *Bob S > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 05, 2015 6:13 PM > *To:* UnifliteWorld <[email protected] <javascript:>> > *Subject:* [UnifliteWorld] Squeel in the cutless bearings > > > > Just got back from a month out boating. Great time (retirement boating is > the best) One issue arose. Just before we left and for the first couple > days of our trip we could hear both cutlass bearings squealing when the > prop was free wheeling ( only when we were moving slowly and I put it in > neutral). Just a single note from both until the prop stopped turning. The > sound is a bit like using a wet finger on a wine glass. > > > > The cutlass bearings were replaced 12 years and 1500 hours running ago . > We thought we better have them looked at and we had the boat hauled out. > The yard pros said the bearings looked new. We had NO shimmy or vibration > and have never had any. We decided to ignore it and went on with the trip. > The sound disappeared shortly thereafter and was gone for the month's > trip. > > > > Now its back. > > > > The only thing I can think of is- there must be some difference between > fresh water vrs salt water. We keep the boat in fresh water in Seattle and > go through locks into the saltwater of Puget Sound to vacation in our > Northwest island paradise. The sound came back within 2 running hours of > being back in Lake Union. > > > > Having the boat kept in fresh water has lots of obvious advantages. One > unusual thing about our fresh water is that the lake water builds up a > crust on zincs which must be wire brushed off each year. (beats > electrolysis and zinc replacement every year). I am wondering if the fresh > water is not as good a lubricant for the cutlass bearings as salt water. Or > there might be some lake crust issue? > > > > Has anyone ever heard of this bearing issue? I'd hate to change them if I > don't have to. Or should I change them as a matter of routine maintenance? > I could have it done next year when I haul out the boat. Can you do it > cheaply or do you have to pull the shafts as well? > > > > I always value everyone opinions here. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "UnifliteWorld" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <javascript:>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
