2005 SO 49 Shaft Seal & Cutlass Bearing

[steved]

Hi everyone,

We are the second owners of a 2005 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49, which we've had for two years now. We love her! I'm a worrier and these are what I'm currently focusing on to worry about!

Shaft Seal: The Volvo Penta rubber shaft seal on my now 17-year-old SO 49 looks and seems to operate like new. I doubt though that it's ever been changed. I see online that they are supposed to be changed every five years or so, but if it's looking new, running cool, and not leaking, should I still change it? (If it's not broke...). I grease it every 200 or less as advised.

Are there symptoms that I should be looking for that will tell me it's time to pull the shaft and replace it? How long have others kept theirs? Etc...? I just ordered a new one to have on hand, but no plans to swap it out yet.

Cutlass Bearing: Likewise, any insight on the cutlass bearing? If I pull the shaft in the future I'll probably replace the cutlass bearing just for good measure, but so far I'm seeing no issues or weird vibrations. What is the life expectancy of a SO 49 cutlass bearing?

Cutlass Bearing Part(s)?: Does anyone know what part(s) I would order to replace this cutlass bearing in the future? My shaft is 35mm, but otherwise I don't know what I have or would need to order. Attached is the only picture I can find of the shaft and strut. Can anyone get any clues from it? Sleeved? What type? Etc?

BTW, even though it's now 17 years old, our engine hours are only 1185, so neither of these have had much use in 17 years.

Any insight is appreciated, especially if it's to tell me to stop worrying and go sailing!

Thanks in advance!

Steve

[Charlie-Bravo]

Stop worrying and go sailing.

The life of your seal and cutlass bearing generally depend on alignment of engine/gearbox to the shaft, balance of the prop, and hours of use, yours sounds like it’s all doing well.

Cutlass test involves grabbing the prop and shaft and attempt to shake it to feel any play between shaft and bearing, there should be none, but the shaft should rotate freely, generally a cutlass bearing will let you know when it wants to retire through vibrations and sometimes noise.

The volvo seal needs a close look at the condition of the rubbery material, if it’s getting hard you will start to see very small surface cracks when you burp it.
generally they start dripping when they are old, yours is unlikely to be 17 years old …. but perhaps it’s the best one ever.

My recommendation would be to replace the seal on the next maintenance haul out if tiny cracks / splits are seen, only because if it starts to dribble or squirt at the beginning of next season you could be in for an extra lift, and spoil the fun, plus you have ordered a spare one, and you admit to being a chap who worries, then you will actually know how old yours is and stop that worry, but until then it’s probably fine, and it may only be two and a bit years old.

CB

[Don Reaves]

I replaced my shaft seal when it was 11 years old while getting work done on the engine. The mechanic told me that he recommends replacement when you begin to see a twisting deformation of the seal. In the picture, yours looks perfect.

I think CB's recommendations are good. Replace it if there are any signs that it might need replacing the next time it won't require an extra haul-out. Note, however, that others have replaced theirs with the boat in the water, so it's not impossible. Just scary.

[steved]

Thanks everyone!

I just heard from the original owner that he had never changed either the shaft seal rubber bit nor the cutlass bearing. They are both 17 years old at this point. The shaft seal is supposed to get greased every 200 hours but sounds like he did it every 100 or even more often. I've been doing every 100 or so. Perhaps just constant greasing has kept it working so long. That, and the fact that it only has 1185 hours on it.

The cutlass bearing I will have to check out during our next haul out.

Thanks again!

Steve

[ales]

When it starts leaking then is the time. First it leaks slowly and then...

Change everything at the same time: shaft seal and cutlass bearing.

Shaft seal: do not stock up with this parts. They are expensive and the rubber will get hard over the years. If you have it now, change it with the next haul out.
Cutlass bearing: there are dimensions in inch or in metric. It could be milimeters diference and an important one.
On my 35 shaft the dimensions are: jeanneau.proboards.com/thread/6664/cuttless-bearing-size-ds-43

So if you are not sure the only way is to take the bearing out when the boat is on hard.

When to change cutlass bearing: I've changed mine after 2500hrs (10 years). Same with volvo penta seal. And I never grease it. 

[loredo]

In the pic I see you (still...) have the Maxprop.

From my experience those can become a major headache when it comes to cutless bearing wear.

On next haul out check if the blades have developed play. If so, that will cause vibrations which

in turn will wear the cutless bearing rather quickly.

On my 2006 SO49 it had become that bad that I needed to change the cutless every season.

Turned out it was the play in the Maxprop blades. @ 600 engine hours I decided enough was

enough and changed to a different prop (Autoprop). Since then I never had to change the

cutless bearing again (+/- 1500 hours and 8 years).

The Maxprop can be repaired, which requires to send it to the factory. The quote I got back

then was roughly half the price of a new one. Keep in mind, the blades will develop play again

over time and you're back to where you started from.

Other than that, the SO49 is a fantastic boat!

Loredo

[mjoesbury1]

I have just bought a SO49 2006 and have the same stern gland. I was just wondering where you put the grease in if you have to do it every 200 hours . Looking at the picture at the start of the thread I cant see where you put it in. I have a bit of wobble on the cutlass bearing so think I will change this and the stern gland while I am at it as the boat is currently on the hard. Has anyone done this them selves . Is it just a matter of decoupling the shaft from the ending sliding the shaft out and removing old gland and bearing. Do you need any special tools?
the pictures taken by Steve look identical to my boat even down to the propeller 

[MalcolmP]

Jan 6, 2023 10:49:51 GMT mjoesbury1 said:

I have just bought a SO49 2006 and have the same stern gland. I was just wondering where you put the grease in if you have to do it every 200 hours . Looking at the picture at the start of the thread I cant see where you put it in. I have a bit of wobble on the cutlass bearing so think I will change this and the stern gland while I am at it as the boat is currently on the hard. Has anyone done this them selves . Is it just a matter of decoupling the shaft from the ending sliding the shaft out and removing old gland and bearing. Do you need any special tools?
the pictures taken by Steve look identical to my boat even down to the propeller 

You can put the grease in using a straw that you pre-fill with the correct Volvo grease.

These videos should help:




and



Sounds like you will need to take the cutless bearing out anyway, so you can do the seal change at same time. Not difficult for most people. Good luck Malcolm

[Mistroma]

Videos should make it simple to swap Volvo seal. The kit I used had a more standard type clamp and came with a small piece of curved metal. I remember someone asking about that part with his kit. I placed it under the area where the clamp squeezes together to stop the material being pinched. The clamp looks exactly like the one shown in post #1 but it doesn't seem to have the small metal plate from my kit.

Removing the propshaft end fitting was the only difficult bit with mine as it was a tight fit with a recessed nut on the end. Just loosen the nut slightly, sit a smaller metal billet on the end and tighten the bolts to push it free. Mine needed longer bolts to reach and some heat from a torch. I think the 43DS uses a different type from my 42DS and might be easier.

I've been lubricating the seal via a straw for the last 10 years. I measured the diameter of the straw and calculated how much grease was needed. Just a matter of squeezing it into the straw, flattening the end, slipping it a couple of cm inside and running something flat along the straw.

I don't need to remove the Cutless bearing to swap the Volvo seal. I've swapped the Cutless bearing a couple of time and the Volvo seal only once. All in different years. I wonder if there's some issue with the 43DS as others mention the need to do them together.