Prop Shaft Strut Question for Freedom 32 (Hoyt)

[mtryon]

My diver reports some electrolysis going on in the shaft strut on my F32 Hoyt. So I went down there today to take some millivolt readings on some of the underwater fittings, and expected to find a bonding wire or something amiss on the strut's bolts. Well...I can't even see where the bolts are for the strut. I assumed they would be somewhere near the center-line in the aft cabin or the lift-out sole pieces forward of there, but they are not visible. I'm stumped as to the struts location. Does anyone know how they mounted or installed the shaft strut in the F32? Thanks in advance... Martin

[Rick Simonds]

Don't know it for sure firsthand but another owner told me it is under the battery box, under the stairs.

[jschneider]

I just replaced the strut on my 1987 F30. It failed when the mechanics tried to take the cutless bearing out. It split due to electrolysis. First we had to remove the fiberglass covering the bolts from the outside. Then we found the nuts under the fuel tank, which we had to remove. The nuts were also under a layer of fiberglass. It sounds like an impossible job, but it wasn't, once we removed the fuel tank. The most difficult thing was finding a foundry that could cast a new strut. I went through Paul Dennis at Warren River Boatworks who like always was very helpful. The whole process took about three weeks.

[mtryon]

Thanks guys for the information. Sure hope I don't have to go looking for a foundry. 'That sounds horrible. I'm hoping I'm lucky and the strut nuts are under the battery box as Rick suggests. If not I'll have the diver measure forward from the rudder post and that should give me an idea where it is. I hope the nuts aren't glassed over. If they are I'm just going to open up one nut area and see if I can get a bonding wire on it and run that to a shaft brush. That should electrically tie the shaft (with zinc) on to the strut. If for some reason I can't do that then it looks like I'll have to spend some money to drill a hole through the strut and put some sort of a clamshell zinc on it. Probably should have done that when I had the boat out for survey....darn....who knew? Thanks again,

Martin

[sforgey1]

Has anyone replace the prop shaft strut on a Freedom 32?

In my last haulout to do the bottom paint we saw that it is failing due to electrolysis. The yard suggested we fabricate a new one, and this time bond it to the system and zinc.

The location of the nuts under the battery box was really helpful, but the new strut is apparently a must.

Any suggestions? Any way to source the strut ahead of time? That way I can minimized the time/cost of being hauled.

We are going to spend a few months in the keys this summer - so I need to get to it quickly.

Thanks

Scott