Coupling alignment

[bigblockcutlass123]

Any suggestions for a coupling alignment? Mine 370 Carver Voyager in on the hard and alignment looks to be off by a lot.

[Viper]

When you say it looks to be off by a lot, are you talking about how the shaft goes through the shaft tube looking from the bottom of the hull, or did you unbolt the coupler from the transmission flange and take a measurement there?

[km1125]

I second Viper's question.

Is this a V-drive or straight-shaft?

If they are off by a bunch, or you suspect it is, then I would do it on the hard while you can. It is better to do it in the water, but it should not change a lot unless the bones of the boat are weak or the boat is blocked horribly.

Doing it now insures all the bolts and adjustments work smoothly so even if you have to do it again after it's floating you're not wasting any time when you could be boating.

[bigblockcutlass123]

couplings are off. Shaft straighten, It takes a lot of up pressure to get the coupler on the transmission., not v drives.

[bud37]

Did you have some damage from hitting something ?

You can usually tell if the boat is blocked badly by checking door fit.....does your transom door still fit the same as in the water and the sliding door work the same. Boats will relax quite a bit when floating as they are designed to be....any final adjustments should be done after the boat is floating.

Viper should have some insight on your question about the fit.

[km1125]

You do have to compensate for the weight of the shafts. Is there just one strut back by the props? If so, you have nearly the whole weight of the shaft on the stuffing box that needs be taken into consideration. If you have conventional stuffing boxes with short hoses in good shape, they should be able to hold the weight and keep the shaft fairly centered. Then it would seem like your engines are too low.

[bigblockcutlass123]

I have to lift my shaft up to the point I have to work my ass of to get the couple on the Rabbit fit. Then the cutlass bearing is tight on top (middle bearing). That motor could come down about a 1/4 of and inch if not more right now. Here sad there only .002 off top to bottom on that motor with the coupler pushed together. (Port) The other motor checks off about .015 right to left on the coupler and shows it in the cutlass bearing feeler gauge check, Keep in mind There is a mid mount cutlass bearing at the half way point. (starboard)
I just pulled the shafts and straighten them to .002 down the whole shaft. V Block were at or close to cutlass bearing location and shafts are less than .002 run out no matter were you check them. I just installed new cutlass bearings also.
Props are out getting tuned right now.
I would like know know if I should start jacking the motor around on the hard, or is is pointless and should wait till it's in the water?
Something I though about doing is uncoupling them and jacking the back of the boat around on the stands to see if that make a huge difference. if it does, wait, if it don't, do it now?

Before I bought this boat, I thought I read a post on somebody bitching how the hull is not ridged and they had to adjust the alignment all the time. This boat has the hollow stringers. No Wood below the water line.

[Viper]

Where the shaft should roughly end up in it's current alignment is done by finding where she bottoms out at the bottom, and where she stops when you lift her, the half way mark is where she should be to be straight on her current alignment through the tube. Do the same with the shaft side to side. This should be done with another person or by shimming it in the center while you check whether the shaft is going through the center of the tube under the hull. If it is, great, that ensures the strut/s are properly aligned to the tube. If not, the strut/s have to be adjusted.

After you confirm the struts are properly aligned, check the engine alignment by bringing the shaft and coupler to the transmission flange in the same centered position you had to check strut alignment. The gap between the flange and the coupler should be no more than .003" all the way around. To get to that spec, adjust the engine's position as needed to get it close to that measurement. Final check with a feeler gauge and adjustment must be done after the vessel has been in the water for at least a day.