Question about prop strut mounting

[67hallett]

Hi guys my old username was Eric Oleson. I have a 67 hallett 18 foot. I just removed the prop strut to repair this prevous owners hack job on the water intake to the engine. When I removed the prop strut there is a hard black material that matches the foot print of the strut with two washers in it, the washers were at the rear holes and the other six holes have no washers. The black material and washers were between the strut and the bottom of the boat. The black material is hard but I was able to chip a small section away from the corner and one of the washers fell out. My questions is should there be anything between the bottom of the boat and the strut. Also this boat has a whip strut, do you think i should put it back on or not use it. I removed because the silicone was leaking. Thank you for any help.

[RiverRacer]

The black stuff is probably Marine-Tex an epoxy, and it's use to set the strut so it has a perfectly flat surface to mount on!. On the inside you should have a backing plate on the floor (1/4"min) and that would be set in Marine-Tex also, and a strut support is needed if any amount of power is to be used!... Whip strut isn't necessary unless you have a real long shaft which you don't, I would just plug it up myself!...

[VD Cruiser]

Sounds like he increased the shaft angle by putting the washers under the rear of the strut foot. If you don't put them back the same way the shaft may not go thru the existing hole in the bottom and you will have to realign everything.

[RiverRacer]

Sounds like he increased the shaft angle by putting the washers under the rear of the strut foot. If you don't put them back the same way the shaft may not go thru the existing hole in the bottom and you will have to realign everything.

Yeah I thought about that later, can't understand why anybody would do that and it sure is a micky mouse way to do it!.. Way to do it is to plug it all up and start over and do it right!...

[67hallett]

I installed the strut yesterday mourning. I put some new marine tex in where it was missing with the washer. Then sanded the repair area to match the orignal height of the foot print. Installed the strut with new hardware. Tourqued nuts to 32 ft lbs.