Here I go again...

... On my own

At least for a few days

The mission for today was to remove the prop shaft and stern tube

The tube is already undone and has been left in place only to protect the shaft

I could manage, with difficult, to do what must be done without removing the shaft but pulling it will make life a lot easier

And in any case, having dismantled most of the stern gear already, we've decided it makes sense to bring forward the replacement of the stuffing box gland with a packless seal

That had been on the long term "future plans" list but given the time and expense involved in removing the rudder, prop, cutlass bearing housing and stem tube, it'd be daft not to do it now

So all that remained to be disassembled was the shaft coupling ...

(The gearbox is to the right. The coupling is bolted to the backend of the gearbox and clamps onto the shaft)

The coupling has to come off to allow the existing stuffing "box" to be removed and replaced with a PSS seal. That's the stuffing boz to the left complete with the tube from the remote greaser

The two forward bolts on the clamp came undone easily. However, the aft two bolts are rusted solid. I tried everything in the armoury up to and including heat and a breaker bar but budge they would not.

Tempting though it was to decide to forget about fitting a PSS for now, it's just storing up trouble for the future. Who knows what might happen. We could, for example. damage the shaft in a remote location and need to get a replacement shipped out to somewhere with limited access to engineering facilities

Nope, those bolts have got to come out

The only option was to cut the nuts off. And the only way to do that was with my Dremel type multitool. There simply isn't room to get a hacksaw at them and trying to wield an angle grinder in such a confined space with parts of my body in close proximity to the job was not to be contemplated

I was running short of cutting discs for the multitool so a trip over to Chelmsford to get some more was necessary. On the way I had a blow out on the offside rear tyre at the roundabout below the A12 which cost me an hour changing the wheel and trying to find a tyre depot interested in doing some work instead of standing around chatting.

Ho hum

Back at base at last, the nut came away after about ten or fifteen minutes work but the bolt would still neither turn nor budge when I tried to drift it out. Oh well, nothing else for it but to cut the head of the bolt off as well. Half an hour of cutting and grinding back and the head was off and cleaned up

Still the remains of the bolt stubbornly refused to shift.

At which point I managed to catch the case for the multitool with the mains cable and it all fell into the bilge below the shaft!

After a good swear, and it being late in the day, I called it quits for the night

Tomorrow, I'll try to cut the bolts in the middle between the jaws of the clamp. If successful, that should release the clamp and allow the shaft to be withdrawn. (If not, the only remaining option is to try and drill the bolts out in-situ which will be damned difficult)

I'll then unbolt the coupling from the gearbox and get it on the workbench to drill out the bolts

It's all, as I suspected and feared it might, taking rather longer than I'd ideally have liked and costing more money too. But we'll get there in the end