Hey All, I just finished installing new bearing on my propeller shaft. They are plain babbitt bearings. I let the boat run in gear at the dock for about 30 minutes. The shaft speed was roughly 300 RPM. During that time, one bearing reached about 120 deg F, and the other about 110 deg F. Ambient temperature was 65 deg F. They seemed to stabilize at these temperatures. Does anyone on the list track their bearing temperatures? How do the temperatures list above compare? Thanks, Terry Etapa

Are you talking about ambient air temperature or ambient water temperature? The stuffing box on our boat runs at about 80 deg F, but the water temp is normally in the low 50 deg F range. It seems like the water temp would have a big impact since sea water is used to cool the stuffing box and bearings. Rich _________________________ Rich and Laura Werner GB32-277 - 1972 Woodie poco@werner2.com (206) 786-0081 - cell (206) 789-6310 - office www.werner2.com/poco

Rich, My boat is a converted salmon troller. The propeller shaft is about 18 feet long, supported with 2 bearings. The bearings are in air. The substructure adjacent to the bearing had a temp of 65 deg F. The bearings ran a temp of 120 deg F and 110 deg F. The shaft had worn from 1.750" to 1.700" and 1.720". I repoured the existing babbitt bearings, had them machined to near net fit, and scraped them in to fit the shaft. Now, I'm not sure what is an expected temperature for them to run at. Terry Etapa http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tetapa (out of date website on the conversion) On 6/17/06, Rich Werner <poco@werner2.com> wrote: > > Are you talking about ambient air temperature or ambient water > temperature? > > The stuffing box on our boat runs at about 80 deg F, but the water temp is > normally in the low 50 deg F range. It seems like the water temp would > have > a big impact since sea water is used to cool the stuffing box and > bearings. > > Rich > _________________________ > Rich and Laura Werner > GB32-277 - 1972 Woodie > poco@werner2.com > (206) 786-0081 - cell > (206) 789-6310 - office > www.werner2.com/poco > > > > -- Well mystery masked man was smart, He got himself a Tonto, 'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free. But Tonto he was smarter; One day he said, "Kemosabe: Kiss my ass, I bought a boat, I'm going out to sea." -Lyle Lovett, "If I Had a Boat"