Diagnosing squealing sound - Cutless bearings?

[GnrlPatton]

Took my boat out for the first time since a short run back in January. I had just gotten out of the marina, just above idle speed to let the engines warm up, when I heard this squealing sound like something rotating did not want to be. I took her out of gear and then put each one back in gear one at a time, and found it's coming from the starboard side. I went down in to the engine room and had my wife put it in gear while I watched the shafts, after 2-3 times doing that, the sound went away. I continued on to the bay, which is about a 20 minute slow cruise, and never heard the sound again.

A few times last year, when I would take the engines out of gear, I would hear a slight squeal that would go away after 1-2 seconds as the shafts stopped turning, but this one was definitely different than that. It felt like it shook the whole boat. Or maybe it was the first time hearing it and it freaked me out, I don't know.

My first thought was Cutless bearings, and I know the test for that is to push/pull on the props to check for any play. That would involve either diving on the boat, or doing a haul out. If they are going bad, would there be any noise like I described? I didn't get a video/recording of it, but will next time if it happens again.

Thanks all.
Kevin

 

[carterchapman]

Sometimes noises like that go away with a cutless bearing change, and sometimes they don't. it could be prop "sing" - I've had one do that...no harm comes from prop sing. Cutless bearing check will require a haulout unless you can get a diver to check them...

 

[R-and-R]

Took my boat out for the first time since a short run back in January. I had just gotten out of the marina, just above idle speed to let the engines warm up, when I heard this squealing sound like something rotating did not want to be. I took her out of gear and then put each one back in gear one at a time, and found it's coming from the starboard side.

I had nearly the exact symptoms.
Pulled boat for winter, examined and replaced cutlass bearing.
Haven’t been able to splash yet.

 

[The Bill Collector]

I just replaced my 22 year old cutlass bearings... No noises like you are describing, but if they are 22 years old then it's time. If you do it Tacoma Prop matched my Fisheries price on the cutlass $122 each, the props were in great shape so that was $100 each, the shafts rebalanced and the couplers resurfaced @ $295 each...

 

[GnrlPatton]

I just replaced my 22 year old cutlass bearings... No noises like you are describing, but if they are 22 years old then it's time. If you do it Tacoma Prop matched my Fisheries price on the cutlass $122 each, the props were in great shape so that was $100 each, the shafts rebalanced and the couplers resurfaced @ $295 each...

Thanks Mark, I figured last year with the minor squeals when taking it out of gear that it was probably the Cutlass bearings. Did you do the removal and install yourself or pay the yard to do them? They don't look that difficult, if you have the right tools, which I don't. My mechanic (he's also in Tacoma - Kraken Marine - I think you may have recommended him to me?) told me last year that he's got the right tools that I could borrow, so I may give it a go.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[The Bill Collector]

My buddy and I did it... He is the mechanic and I was the helper. The couplers are a bitch, the giant nut on that end of the shaft is not fun, getting the shaft completely out was exhausting, the cutlass bearing removal was a Sawzall, small chisel and hammer. The install of the new ones was slick with a long all thread, 3" washers, and an impact driver. The shafts went back up with soapy water like a hot knife through butter... While out we did 2 coats of bottom paint, PPG Amercoat 214 it's ablative and it's what the US Navy uses. (yes on Kraken) Kevin, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask and my buddy lives in Fife is $40/hr.

 

[GnrlPatton]

Closing this one out. In July, I had the boat hauled and replaced my Cutlass Bearings. I decided to purchase the removal/install tool, and that made the job so easy to do. It was still almost an all day thing, especially on the first one as I figured everything out (plus I didn't have the right tools to remove the prop nut/prop and fortunately was able to borrow them from S3 Marine at Canal Boatyard).

I just completed a 2 week trip to the San Juans, and didn't have a single occurrence of the squealing like I had before, so I guess that it was indeed the bearings. I showed the old ones to the mechanic that I borrowed the tools from, and he confirmed that it was definitely time to replace them, so I suppose I was overdue on them.

Side note, if anyone in the Seattle/Tacoma area is looking to do the same work, I have the tool and will let you borrow it. You may need to purchase the correct collets if your shaft and strut sizes are different than mine, but those are fairly inexpensive.

Kevin