Engine Alignment
Long story - the PO of my boat (1969 35 SC) had the starboard trans rebuilt just before I purchased it. The guy that did the in/out messed up the alignment by a mile. I didn't run it much, but when I went to realign it, I found a little wobble in the coupler. I pulled the shaft & had it checked and a new coupler fitted.
To check the alignment of the engine with the strut, I bought a piece of 1 3/8" aluminum round stock and had a 0.25 inch bore concentrically drilled through it. I then used a rifle bore sighter to put a laser dot on the output. I have to use a mirror to see the dot but it looks to be about 3/16" off of dead center (see pics). Maybe Lee or Jeremy could chime in - but do you think I should try to move the engine a little more or do you think this is close enough to align with a feeler gauge after launch?
Thanks,
Tom
Thanks Lee, I pulled the stuffing box as Jeremy suggested and got the shaft pretty much centered in the log. CC only used 4 inches of hose which put the stuffing box almost right against the shaft log. I was thinking of going with 5-6 inches of hose (since I have room) to allow me to move it around after launch to make sure the shaft is still centered and not touching the log after it settles.