Bob - Please see embeds in your email below -Cheers! Art
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bob S Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 7:15 AM To: UnifliteWorld <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [UnifliteWorld] Squeel in the cutless bearings 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. Depends on many factors such as stray electric current in water where you dock, DC elect seepage from your boat’s battery bank… as well as other things. My zincs are about 90% when I replace them. You mean 90% still remains?? Or do you mean 90% has disappeared? If 90% remains then there is no real need to put on new ones, yet – IMO. If only 10% remains then new ones are past due – IMO. Rule of thumb is to replace anodes when no less than 1/3 of metal still exists. If they last 2 years there would be no cost trade off for me. (unless they cost more in general) Mag anodes do cost a bit more and not as easy to locate as zinc. Good luck!. 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:> . 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