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Oct 11, '04 1:21 AM
by timmck for everyone

Just hauled out for the winter, and the start of the maintenance
season.

While checking round the hull, I noticed a horizontal crack running across
the Starboard side of the P bracket. Pressing against the bracket below the
crack caused it to deflect quite easily, and rusty colored water oozed out of
the crack.

I chipped off the a/f coating to discover that the bracket consists of a
bronze(?) casting attached to the end of a fiberglass spur by three large steel
screws.

The rusty colored water worries me. It suggests steel reinforcing rusting
away inside the fiberglass. Does anyone know how the P bracket is constructed?
Has anyone else met this problem?

Tags: general

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9 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

msn-moonlit779 wrote on Oct 13, '04

I have this problem as well. the strut does not weep, but was lose with a crack. To fix it I let it dry out for a few days and wraped with fiber cloth soaked in epoxy reisin. I did this temp. fix three years ago (fresh water) and seems to be holding. The plate is bronze.

Moonlit Hull779

msn-vcjones wrote on Oct 15, '04

The strut bracket is fiberglassed in, rather than being bolted to the hull. When I took my Ballad down the Intracoastal Waterway to North Carolina to be repowered, I got a crab line around the propeller shaft. The torque actually tore the strut off of the boat. Thankfully, enough of the boat's inner lining remained in place so that we didn't sink.

Since my insurance paid for the glasswork and a new propeller shaft, when repowering, I asked my mechanic to fabricate a steel strut and through-bolt it to the hull with backing plates on the inside. I feel a lot more secure now.

I don't think a fix needs to be as radical as mine. Probably, if you let it dry out over the winter and apply some epoxy filler you'll be fine. I think Marine-tex is a great product to use for those purposes, even below the waterline.

jespermilling wrote on Oct 17, '04

I find this thread
to be very important, but I am not sure I understand what you are talking about.
Does one of you guys have a picture to show?

Venlig Hilsen / Kind regards

Jesper Milling, Fiskerv챈nget 12, DK5600 Faaborg,
+45 6261 8713

msn-bluewaterballade wrote on Oct 19, '04

About ten years ago while entering Crisfield, Maryland I picked up a sunken crab pot float in the marked channel. Before I could disengage the gear the float and cord did it's damage to the strut. The strut has a bronze casting which holds the cutlass. By removing the casting with the cutlass the shop can press in a new cutlass. I think the casting is bolted to a stainless steel spline that runs vetically and then flares out to spread the load. Anyway I chose to repair my strut with wraps of cloth reinforced with thickened West epoxy and refaired it to the original shape albeit slightly fatter. This may not be the best approach and I do wonder if another encounter with a crab pot float will again cause the strut to separate. Also I would be interested in your repair and any modification to the strut. I have thought about glassing a shelf reinforcement inside the hull in case the strut was ripped away and the boat put in jeapardy

Norris

msn-bluewaterballade wrote on Oct 19, '04

Ths bronze casting is fastened by stainless steel screws which thread into the spline. Even before I had the damage from catching a crab pot float I noticed the bronze casting was loose each time I hauled out. I would fill the voids around the casting and it's bolts and on haulout the filling would be cracked and the bolts would be loose. When I repaired the strut I also changed the bolts to a longer size but kept to the metric thread. This allowed me to add ny-loc nuts, i.e. through-bolts. No problems with loose bolts since. By the way, I did this same procedure with the bolts attaching the lower rudder bracket because these bolts also were loose occasionally.

Norris

S/Y Ballade

msn-tarquah2 wrote on Jan 27, '05

We have a Ballad Mk III and have noticed the weeping mentioned in this correspondence and also that the stainless steel fabrication that holds the bush can be moved very slightly sideways relative to the fibreglass spur. We have previously had a severe vibration problem which was solved by replacing the Gori 2 blade propeller with a Gori 3 blade propeller, although it can return with a small amount of weed. Does anyone have a sketch showing how this bracket is fixed to the hull?

msn-aballport wrote on Jan 27, '05

We noticed the same problem when we hauled our boat last fall. I don't know how the propeller strut is attached since we had the ship yard rebed it and replace the cutless bearing. They are sure it was caused by poor alignment and say the job will not be complete until the shaft and engine are realigned after the boat is launched and the rig is set up. In our case we have the original MD6A which is less convenient to align because it relies on shims instead of screw adjustment. It is easy to see how it might have been neglected over the years. Take a good look at your engine mounts and stuffing box while you are at it. If you don't get everything right it will just happen again.

msn-pab137 wrote on Jan 28, '05

Hi

The P bracket has a Y shape at the hull end and these branches are glassed
inside against the hull.
I would suggest that the P bracket has started moving for some reason.
This movement may be normal flexing in the hull, age, vibration etc

The only solution I can see is to cut out and rebed completely as any
attempt to seal will only block
the hole from the outside and not stop any movement which will cause it to
leak again.

Mine was rebedded completely when the previous owner tried to pull it out of
the hull with a spinnaker sheet wrapped
round the prop.

Good luck
Peter Brian
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msn-dugort wrote on Jan 29, '05

The stainless steel P bracket on Vinga -No 270- is a Y section with the
Y faces against the hull through bolted , 3 bolts each side with
backing plates.It doesn't appear to me to have ever been glassed in.
The only problem I've encountered,so far ,has been the 3 machine screws,
holding the bronze bearing to the SS bracket, working loose.We spent a
month wondering what the annoying occasional tick tick from under the
cockpit was until haul out revealed only one screw left.
This was solved by using locktite on the threads and epoxy resin to fill
the cavity at the screw head end.

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