Davenm

Thanks for letting me know, I'll see if I can source one from the original miiler.

Thanks JamesFrance, much appreciated.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Definitely not a cutless bearing, standard stainless shaft and brass bearing. It was mentioned on our survey 18 months ago that there was play, but it wasn't made out to be a big deal. I did feel the play when the boat was out of the water this time, and it is considerable. The engine has 7800 hours on, so it's not unexpected to be worn. I met a lovely couple on a Hudson when they passed my mooring a few weeks ago, they recommend a Hudson owners group which I couldn't find, that must be the same one. I'll definitely have to join up and will give Sarah at Norton Canes a call.

That's great, thank you all. I'll get in touch with Glascote, I didn't know Norton Canes were operating out of there. Hopefully they'll have some spares.

Thanks Frangar, I'll check them out. To be fair to the boatyard, they did have other boats waiting to come in and they too couldn't find a 1.75" prop shaft from their suppliers. The shaft is definitely 1.75" x 36", its the shaft that exits through the stern tube assembly connected to the universal joint, not the main shaft from the engine to the back.

Hi everyone, Can any S M Hudson owners or people in the know help? We recently had our boat out to be blacked, and along with some active pitting (upside down smiley face), we found that the rear bearing and prop shaft are badly worn. So bad, that there is considerable play in the shaft and a 2-3mm gap all the way around. Unfortunately the boat yard couldn't help and put the boat back in the water regardless. We've managed to get the boat booked back in for October in another yard, but we're having problems trying to source a new bearing and shaft. The manual that came with the boat claims the prop shaft is 1.75" x 36". From what I can make out, the bearing is roughly 12" long. The problem is everywhere only seems to stock 1.5" or 2" prop shafts and corresponding bearings. I know Steve Hudson built a fair few boats, and as such, I would have presumed most would have used the same bearing/shaft combination. We have an engine room with a beta tug, which a fair amount of Hudsons seem to have. So, does anyone know where I can source a new bearing and shaft from? Or is this going to be a case of the boss being cut from the boat and a new 1.5" boss welded back in? Have any other Hudson owners had the same issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated as we only have a maximum of 2 days in the dry dock to sort it out.

Thanks for all you input guys. I've fixed the tender problem by putting 3 concrete blocks in the engine bilges. I also found two 56 pound lead weights which the previous owner had obviously used to counteract the list. Both placed on the starboard side, one on the rear swim plate and one in the front locker. I've moved both of them down to the baseplate, which has obviously helped lower the centre of gravity. The boat is now much more stable, but I'm still very surprised that such a (relatively) small amount of weight has made a difference. As per the water in the accommodation bilge, I'm still get small amounts out every day, but there is definitely not enough in there to effect the stability of the boat. We're talking 100-200ml, which I actually now figure is condensation from under the gunwales. I've notices small drips and heavy staining coming from all the way along. I took a panel off and discovered that most of the metal under there has been left exposed. I filled it with builders foam and that seems to have fixed the problem, so I'll have to get the rest off and do the same.

It hasn't been overplated, according to the survey the hull is sound, and as far as I'm aware, the boat hasn't risen out of the water. It definitely rolls more than it did though, and it takes a lot longer to correct itself too. To me, the boat seems to sit just fine in the water. The rear end sits just above the lower rubbing strake, with the counter plate (I think that's what its called?) about 2 inches bellow the water line. Is that correct?

Thanks for all your replies guys. As incredibly drunk as I am, its definitely worse than it was before. It's a very good point about the weight of the water I've removed, maybe it'll be worth measuring the weed hatch height and seeing if it has raised. There is still a small amount of water appearing at the back, but I imagine its the last of it making its way to the back. From what I can tell, there isn't enough left to effect the tender. I've stuck a small dehumidifier under the bed, but blowing some air through is a great idea. Maybe I'll get myself a 12 volt computer fan and leave it running for a week. Again, thanks for your replies, its much appreciated!

Hi All, This is my first post and I apologise if it's in the wrong section. I have been living on my newly purchased narrowboat for 3 months now, and I love it! It has however, been a very steep learning curve and I think I'm the victim of the previous owners neglect. When I first moved on I noticed the shower was leaking pretty much everywhere and the bathroom smelt quite damp. So, I decided to rip the tiles off and investigate. This had obviously been a long term problem and the tile backer was just wbp ply, which had rotted to death. Anyway, all is replaced and I have cement backer board and shiny new tiles now. Upon further investigation I noticed that the water pump had a leak at some point, as there was loads of staining around it. This got me to thinking, where has this water gone? I found an inspection hatch in the rear wardrobe that gave me a wonderful view of a paving slab, and the ply it was cut in was extremely damp. I also noticed a small amount of water in the engine bilge (which is usually bone dry). After extending this hole to the bulkhead I found over 70 litres of water, god knows how long it's been in there! To cut a long story shorter, the survey said that the boat was listing port and that ballast needed to be removed rather than adding, as the weed hatch was already a little deep on that side. So I cut a hole in the floor under the bed and removed one 45kg paving slab. I thought this would cancel the list and also help air the cabin bilge out. The problem is the boat wobbles (tenders?) a lot when you walk around, and takes along time to correct itself, but the list is gone. Soooo.... I guess my three questions are: 1) How can removing one paving slab from a 15 tonne (roughly) boat make that much difference to stability? I know that weight sits on the very bottom, but the difference it has made it crazy. 2) How do I rectify this? I was going to put a couple of concrete blocks either side of the engine bulkhead (as it's the only place I have access). But, the weed hatch is already deep enough and I don't won't to make it any deeper. I also don't want to put all the weight back in the same place as the list has gone. 3) Will all that water in the cabin bilge of done much damage? And, as it managed to find itself through a weld on the bulkhead, will it have eaten away at the welds on the baseplate? Many thanks in advance for your help and sorry for the super long post, just wanted to give as much detail as I could. Just to add, it's a 50ft 2004 Colecraft trad hull.