Prop shaft carrier alignment

The offset of the prop shaft to the "carrier" (it's called a strut) is intentional for prop puller clearance.

How about some pictures?? Engine-312? Sounds like this is your first boat so if you have any questions you sure found the best place to ask and get answers. Did you remove the bottom plywood or just coat it with the West?

Hi Pete thanks for the reply. I am still unsure of my situation, are you saying that the carrier and therefore the prop center should not align with the rudder exactly, just to allow room for a prop puller. Wouldent this cause the boat to pull to one side or steer easier one direction or the other. My boat was on Lake Tahoe in CA all its life but had some bottom damage, I think it met some Tahoe rocks at the hands of the last owner, so to repair the damage and add abrasion resistance I filled and faired it with epoxy mixtures then applied 12 oz. cloth saturated with epoxy plus several more coats to prevent print through, followed by STERLING primer and vintage red linear polyurethane for exelent durability, I know its not the best below water line but this boat will be trailered most of the time and will only be left in the water for a few days at a time, and it looks great! The hull sides were peeling and stained so i stipped and sanded to wood, bleached, filled, stained and applied epoxy with clear polyurethane, restored the original white pinstrip that was missing and white waterline {also looks great!} It has a chrysler M 318 B runs stong but had a major oil pan leak, after some research I found the correct gasket and seal kit, pulled the motor and trans, fixed the leak and took the oppertunity to flip the empty boat over for the needed bottom work. This strut and shaft installation are all thats left before flipping it back upright. Sorry in advance to anyone who doesnt like the modern materials approach taken but I believe that I'll get better abraision resistance and less maintenance this way. I'll post some pictures of it in progress and hopefully commpleted soon. This is my first wooden boat and I appreciate any advice and help I can get.

Gary,

I wish you had found us first before you did your project but even if you had, you probably thought we were all glass boats.

There are a few things that really concern me that I'd like to mention.

First though, I'd like you to know that modern adhesives and sealants are accepted with the ACBS judging rules but some judges will deduct points for the addition of the glass on the bottom. Glass on the bottom is considered a quick cover up of a bad bottom and it is only the word of the restorer as to what repairs have been made. What really concerns me is glassing a bottom will accelerate rot in the wood. At least you used epoxy rather than polyester as the polyester won't stick to the wood for very long. I've seen it (and the glass) come off in rather large pieces!! The good thing you do have going is that you said it is a trailer boat but caution you to keep the bilge as dry as possible. Did you just cover up all the bad seams with the epoxy and glass or did you open them up and re bed and re fasten them?

Now the bad one!! Although epoxy is excellent at stabilizing the surface of wood as well as a excellent primer, I feel it should never be used on bright work (stained and varnished). It is used on boat bright work but mostly on wood cold molded epoxy construction or wood reproductions and then only with plenty of UV protection over it. It will turn white from the sunlight without a UV protective coating and even with will still turn white after years of exposure . In the early days of epoxy and the early days of Grand Craft (reproduction Chris Crafts using epoxy) the buyers were returning their now white boats to Grand Craft!! Epoxy can't be stripped as paint and varnish remover wont touch it. It must be abrasively removed. At least with Grand Crafts, being a planked boat they could do this. Your Aqua being plywood you're out of luck because the face veneer is so thin.

Now regarding bright work top coatings, your choice of using the polyurethane is a bad one. Besides not having any UV protection (one brand does have some) polys are too brittle to handle the seasonal movement of the wood. Even though you used the epoxy (brittle by itself without glass or fillers) as a base coat and the fact that it is plywood (relatively stable) you still get shrinking and swelling of the wood pores and seam movement. I even see attempts of using modern automotive type clear coats fail because of their hardness. (I can also spot them from across harbor and know a auto restorer did a wood boat!!)

I recommend you get the sandpaper out and carefully remove as much of the polyurethane as possible and then start over with a high quality marine spar varnish such as Z-spar/Pettit Flagship. It has the highest UV rating and happens to be my favorite. Marine spar varnishes are relatively soft for many years and will move with the wood instead of checking. I would shoot for at least 6 coats, give it 6 months and then put 2 more on.

I hope I haven't really disappointed you but you need to know some facts while there is still time to get some UV over that epoxy.

Ok, Where are the pictures???!!!

BTW, A layer of glass and epoxy isn't going to save it from the rocks again!! Stay away from them and don't beach it ether.

Gary,

I'm glad to here about the deck not being done yet so you can get some marine spar down on it but also don't forget the hull sides and transom. Without the epoxy on the decks, you will want to add a couple more coats to the 6 I mentioned. You will find that because the spar varnish isn't very hard that it isn't the easiest to sand. Between the first 5 or 6 coats, a scotch brite pad stuck onto a hook and loop pad on a random orbit sander works great. All you really need to do is remove the gloss. With the final coats you will need it hard block wet sand to keep the paper from loading up with the varnish. Be prepared to spend more than $35 for the best brush you can find (not from the local Ace hardware!!!) Never let the brush dry out - it should be suspended in 1/2 mineral spirits and 1/2 non detergent motor oil.

If you want to take it all the way to a glass smooth mirror finish I can fill you in on some techniques.

We'll be waiting for the pictures!!