Before the rains came

Wanted to finish up some of the work on the stern bearing carrier before the rains came. Dragged my mockup shaft out of the boat and fitted the parts together to see if I damaged the bearing carrier or cutlass.

First task was to drill dimples into the cutlass for the set screws to lock into. This will prevent the cutlass from spinning in the carrier should the shaft get seized to the bearing.

Dimples cut into cutlass

Used a little electrical tape to protect the threads and prevent me from drilling too far into the cutlass.

Tape added to drill bit to protect threads.

Worked like a charm. Set screws were put back in with some thread locker.

Next up was drilling and tapping for the Spurs line cutter attachments. Little bit tricky as the brass is really soft and if you're not careful the drill bit will wander. As per instructions I drilled right through the cutlass.

First hole drilled & tapped for Spurs attachment

After a bit of tweaking it all came together.

Spurs line cutters & bearing carrier attachment in place.

I did a little spin test of the bearing carrier & cutlass on the mockup shaft just to show it's not damaged. It is smooth as silk!

That's about it for today. More tomorrow.

Standby....