FreedomYachts.org

I recently viewed a F35 and was wondering if the prop strut was curved from the factory. This may be a silly question as I have never seen anything but a straight prop strut. I figured I would ask the F35 owners here. Do the later model (1999) F35's have a curved prop strut?

I have a 1999– while the yard did manage to bend my prop shaft, first pic, the strut is straight ….and just off centerline….hmmmm

The strut is bent and should be replaced. Be sure to get a new cutless bearing to go with the new strut. The shaft should be removed and checked for straightness. If it is out more than 0.004" it should be straightened. The shaft seal and the motor mounts should be checked for damage or possible replacement. Now might be a good time to replace the rubber hose and hose clamps securing the shaft seal. After reassembly, the engine will need to be aligned with the shaft and strut.

I’m pretty sure this is the boat I’m in the process of buying. The surveyor said that there are two approaches to repairing the strut. The first is to replace it as you describe, but straightening the original strut off the boat (though if a new strut is available I could spring for that)-it’s glassed into the hull in addition to any mechanical fasteners so this involves essentially cutting it out of the hull and then restoring the glasswork to original condition. My concern with this is that the quality of the repair match the original specification in both strength of the strut and resilience of the glass. Obviously this is dependent on the abilities of the yard chosen. Is this a common enough issue on any boats with prop struts that a large yard with a good reputation should be competent to do the repair? Is there anything special about the Freedom 35 to be aware of?
The second approach is to straighten it on the boat after pulling the shaft. This involves building jigs both for straightening the strut and to rig a laser to confirm alignment. He said the strut/hull union was not affected when the strut was bent.
Cost for either approach probably close enough due to need for custom jigs so that is not the issue. My instinct is to have this done without cutting into the hull so the big question is does the on the boat method seem reasonable if the yard agrees that the strut mounting is still solid and will not allow any water intrusion into the hull? Is there a compelling reason to replace the strut instead? As in full replacement I realize the end result is operator dependent.
This occurred during the haul out in the current yard and their reputation is not stellar so they will not be doing the any work on this boat.
Thanks
Russell

Seems like most yards that work on engines, drive trains and glass work should be able to handle. Getting the job done in a timely fashion given current supply and labor issues could be a challenge.

Am curious where one would get a new strut and what a reasonable estimate for this project would be. Seems unlikely that the existing strut could be bent back into alignment.

So the possible tasks would include new strut, cutless bearing, prop shaft, shaft coupling and alignment. Maybe shaft log, engine mounts, and rudder removal. Including all the labor

Presuming most of the above what would be a fair estimate? $6k-$8k ?

I believe Paul Dennis has a few struts at his shop that are available. Otherwise, they're made by Buck Algonquin, though I'm not sure which size/angle you'd need for a 35 (Paul definitely would).

I know this because the original owner of my boat got a mooring chain wrapped around his shaft and his strut was bent. Instead of getting a new bronze one from Paul, he listened to some genius at the yard and had one custom fabricated out of stainless. I'm sure it was quite expensive. From what I understand, bronze would be a far superior material for this purpose, as it won't ever rust.

Also, I just noticed the bent strut has a SPURS line cutter installed. This is an excellent addition to your boat! You should definitely have it re-installed on the new strut. Actually, you should probably look into the possibility of doing this before the new strut is installed, as the three holes would be much easier to drill with a drill press. If you send it back to SPURS in Florida they will resharpen the blades for a small fee, and send you new urethane bearings and plugs for it.

I replaced my shaft last year. The most time-consuming part of the job was getting the coupling off the shaft. Here is a pic of the tool I used. I borrowed it from my car mechanic. I've since bought one on Amazon.
You want two fully threaded bolts of two different lengths. There is little room to work. Use the shorter bolt to back off the coupling part of the way. Given the room that took 1.5 hours to go 1.5 inches. The second bolt had to cover 1" but since I had moved the coupling, it took half an hour.
I got my shaft from Paul Dennis as Josh has mentioned. Price including shipping was $685.
No easy way on the coupling. Ended up with a friend beating it out

I had to replace the prop strut on my Freedom 32. It seemed like electrolysis completely ate it.

To have it fabricated out of stainless and installed was about $5400. I looked to see if anyone knew the source of them to purchase or who made them for Freedom (TP) but drew a complete zero on this.

Took a week, made sure it was bonded into the electrical system. Hardest part the yard had was getting to it as it sits directly under the batteries in the F-32.

Good luck.

Safe Harbor Harbortown (Fort Pierce) bent our strut and prop shaft when hauling out for bottom work. Repaired strut (replacement would have taken too long to get and we were paying per day on the hard). Definitely replace cutlass bearing, maybe shaft too (added an inch to add line cutter) but also check the stuffing box. We didn't and had to haul out a second time. Repairs on our Freedom 40/40 were under $10,000 US.