Looking at you guys that have rebuilt your engines for some advice. I will be installing my rebuilt engines soon and have been told that after my initial alignment on the hard I’ll have to do another alignment after some running time under load in water.
So questions are;
Is it true that an additional alignment will be needed? I really wouldn’t want to do it a third time so if so, after how many hours under load could I expect everything to settle into its final location and do the second alignment? Would flexible couplings absorb enough that a second alignment wouldn’t be needed?
Thank you in advance for your support
Congrats on the repower. I believe it wise to align first on the hard and then again in the water. If you run her awhile and then do it after things settle, I guess that is a good idea. I would not run more than an hour at most and not hard. Flex couplers are really nice but no substitute for proper alignment.
Appreciate the wisdom Sterling. So is it even necessary to run it at all in the water to get to final alignment or do the basic systems checks we’re going to go through before leaving the slings after a repower enough to establish any settling?
The hull will flex and come to rest after several days in the water at that tme you should have an hour or two running and a final alignment should be done.
No matter how well my boat was blocked it seemed that at some point a door would bind slightly.
Good idea to check every season after it has been in the water for a while. My hull (1969 35ft SC) doesn't move a bit over the winter, but I still check it. Keep in mind that when under way, it is always moving in and out of alignment as rubber motor mounts and hull flexes. This is where a flexible coupling like the Federal Flexible Coupling may reduce some wear on the back end of the transmission (also when shifting in forward & reverse while maneuvering in the harbor). As the rubber bushings in the motor mounts settle, alignment will change a little. Good idea too to spray your coupling faces with WD40 to make it easier to separate them to check with feeler gauge. If you really want to go nuts, you can set up a dial indicator and check the shaft runout while underway.
This all makes complete sense. Thank you all for your input.