Of Mark Twain and cutlass bearings
03 December 2010
I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
- Mark Twain
I'm with Capt. Clemons on this one. I've had more nightmares about cutlass bearings - reading the literature made them sound like you'd have to tear the boat apart to get 'em out or in. I know for a fact my friend Pete had to drop his rudder - and dig a big hole to do so. The online chatter was ominous. I sweated this thing no end.
Turns out like many things, it's not quite what you'd expect. And in the case of replacing Liberte's cutlass bearing, that's a good thing. Boom, off came the prop, bang, out came the old bearing, wham, in went the new one.
Thank you naval architects Berret-Racoupeau and Beneteau for that. For a boy who'd just like to get his boat in the water, it's nice to cross that one off the list.
Why replace it? 10 years on the original part, and a bit of play in the prop shaft. There was also some shimmy in reverse. New part was $33 and a quick bit of work in the boatyard.
Another day in "boat school" - escuala de barco.
We launch at high tide.