Installing Our Prop Shaft & Building the Skeg (MJ Sailing - Ep 292)

It’s time to drill a large hole in the bottom of our boat, and finally install our stern tube and prop shaft.

This week we have a project the two of us have been eager to work on for a very long time, and that is beginning to install our prop shaft.

Last spring we cut a test hole in the bottom of our boat to make sure we could align it with where the engine bed will be, but now that we have our prop shaft and stern tube in from Vetus, we can get further along.
https://webshop.vetus.com/en/product/bg25-0500-polyester-stern-tube

Firstly we needed to cut a 2 inch hole for the stern tube to fit through – and it needed to stay at a 7.5 degree angle as it exited the boat. Cutting through thick bulkheads and floor webbing was not the easiest of feats, but it did come out exactly as we wanted it to.

Keeping the tube laid out at that angle, Matt got the necessary information of how far it needed to jut out, based on the space we would need between our propeller blades (coming next week!) and the hull.

Within that empty space, we built out the deadwood (or skeg) out of the same high density foam that makes up our boat. Matt shaped it with files and sanders until it held the perfect shape, and then it was bonded to the hull.

Once it cured we were able to go through with the first round of glassing, which received 3 layers of our 1708 double biased, wrapped around the entire thing.

Next week we’ll be able to continue further by bonding the stern tube to the deadwood, and hopefully fitting our new feathering props from AB Marine!! 🙂

We hope you enjoy!