Thank you Joe Valinoti for your suggestion. I have contacted a local shop and they have some standard sizes of 1" propeller shafts in stock. Their standard size shafts are machined at one end to mate with a standard propeller. The other end can be cut and a keyway installed as needed. Does anyone know the standard length of a Nonsuch 30U propeller shaft or, does someone have a boat out of the water who could make that measurement? This would confirm my estimate of the length to be about 8 ft.
Ed: as I do my research hour to hour, it turns out that the dimension I really need is the length of the shaft that is underwater. I only need an estimate, not an exact number. I have measured the shaft length inside the boat from the most forward part of the transmission to the most aft section of the stuffing box tube that allows the shaft to exit the boat. This is about 48-inches. What I can’t do with the boat in the water is to measure the length of the shaft from the stuffing box tube to the end of the shaft. A few inches off will not matter because I will be buying a stock length of bar that already has the propeller end fabricated on it. The bar appears to come in prefabricated lengths so I will take the dimensions and buy a bar longer than I need. At this point, my best guestimate for the shaft’s length is about 8 feet. Anything you can do to confirm this would be very helpful. I still have a lot of work ahead to get the old shaft out of the boat. The nuts on the stuffing box are frozen so this will take extra time to take apart and I will only do this after the boat is hauled. At that time, I will be on a 10-day clock or the cost of the haul-out will exceed $400 based on the number of additional days I need the boat out of the water.
Richard: I was just up in Atlantic Highlands last week helping a friend, Jack Flannery with his Catalina 31. Also had dinner with Luanne and Peter Rathemacher. My son owns Auto Imports, the VW/Audi shop in Highlands. Didn’t see any Nonsuches in the harbor. Where does yours live?
Joe: when you were at Atlantic Highlands, my boat was still on the hard in the marina yard. I launched on Friday at 1 PM in the rain. Immediately afterwards, it cleared up and was a delightful day. I viewed the rain as a baptizing and thought that the boat was good to go. Unfortunately, there was a shaft problem lurking to be discovered. When I am in the water, my mooring is G-4. I would have liked to have met you in person when you were here but I was aware you were in town but only after you had departed. You may recall that we corresponded about a year ago about racing a 30U. Your conclusion was that I needed a Gori 3-bladed folding prop. The budget did not allow it and now I am about to sell the boat. I guess I will never know if my racing performance would have become great by just changing the prop.