looking to buy used/new strut for replacement on my 1988 nonsuch 30U.
boat has been in Caribbean most her life and strut is experiencing electrolysis.
Do you mean propeller shaft strut?
hi ward
yes, l mean propeller shaft strut, on last haulout when replaced cutlass bearing, l noticed
electrolysis/caking on bearing tube of strut…
Hi Gary,
It’s definitely an uphill battle to stay ahead of corrosion on our Nonsuch boats.
I don’t know of a source that stocks Nonsuch replacement struts.
Maybe your propeller shaft strut is salvageable, either way, you should try to determine the source of the strut corrosion. A new strut would suffer the same fate if there is an electrolysis problem. Electrolysis is a rapid process.
You mention electrolysis ( stray current ) which is different from galvanic ( dissimilar metal).
Does Windstar have a shaft anode(s) ? If not, I would add two and monitor them closely.
I’m not an expert, but maybe something in my experience would help…
When I purchased Soave in Fall '23, she had a badly depleted shaft anode and a hefty hull anode that was on its way to being depleted. The hull anode is unusual for a Nonsuch, I surmised that someone was trying to address a corrosion problem.
Below is a photo. I replaced the hull anode and installed two shaft anodes so I could get a handle on the rate of depletion. Halfway through our first sailing season I added a galvanic isolator because Soave has a slip ( near other boats ) all connected to shore power.
At the end of our first season, all three anodes were nearly depleted, but they did there job and took the corrosion hit.
Below is a photo, taken during bottom prep for the start of Soave’s second sailing season, you can see the shiny area on the propshaft where the anodes will be mounted.
At the end of Soave’s second season( the first full season with the galvanic isolator) there was MUCH less anode depletion. This led me to conclude the galvanic isolator provided benefit and that much of the anode depletion was due to stray current ( electrolysis ) .
Again I don’t claim to be an expert… just a sailor trying to stay afloat on a budget.
Good luck
Rob…
Gary,
The following may be stuff you already know but, in case not, a few thoughts.
I don’t know, but I’d be very surprised if Hinterhoeller used a custom strut. Your boatyard should be able to help you identify the type and manufacturer.
If you can’t find a used strut off a Nonsuch 30, you’ll probably have to buy new. I’ve never had to, but a web search seems to show a number of places that do custom struts and Buck Algonquin as the most common manufacturer of off-the-shelf struts.
FWIW, there’s a shop drawing of the N30 strut on the www.Nonsuch.org website. Log on, open the MEMBERS tab, select NONSUCH SHOP DRAWINGS, and that’ll give you a chance to select Nonsuch 30 Shop Drawing PDFs. You’ll find it in there.
The drawing doesn’t provide full dimensions, but does verify that the strut should have a 1.25” bore.
Again, I’m not at all an expert on these things, but it might also be worth asking your boatyard if the corrosion can be eliminated by grinding out your existing strut to a larger bore and filling in the difference with a fatter cutless bearing.
– Bob