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We've decided to remove the prop and prop shaft to check for balance, pitch, straightness, etc. The rudder had to be removed before removing prop and shaft.

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I've asked on the CC Forum if the "27" has any meaning. "8122pbrainard" said: "Yes, it's the model of the rudder. More commonly, it's referred to as the "Lilly pad" rudder. Why are you grinding on it? Was it pitted?"

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Now that the rudder has been removed, we can pull the prop and the prop shaft. Like this.

4/22/15
We cut the rudder to make it possible to pull or install the prop shaft without having to remove the rudder.

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Hi Grant

One question . . . is your rudder missing a semi-circular piece on the leading edge or is it just an optical illusion?

Ken

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Hi Ken,

For many years I wondered about the hole cut in rudder of an old Chris -- seen on a lift when taking our evening cruises around Lauderdale Lakes, WI. An old wood boat guy explained it -- the prop shaft can be removed/replaced without removing the rudder. So I thought I'd try something similar on MacSkier.

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Maybe not such a hot idea for that reason, BUT turns out it made it very easy to use a laser beam to align the engine. I had a piece of one inch thinwall SS tube in place of the prop shaft. The laser beam was "centered" by rotating "the device" while on the crankshaft flange.

"The device"

Notice the laser portion of "the device" is mounted to a disc with 3 SS (Phillips head) screws and 3 "O ring" spacers.

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Beam being centered -- at a distance of 20 ft.

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First:
We cut the rudder to make it possible to pull or install the prop shaft without having to remove the rudder.

But - - we later found it also helped us in aligning the engine. We ended up with less than 1/2 a thousandth variance in flange spacing when rotated. (In fact, we think the flanges are not concentric.)