Does anyone out there have experience on pulling out the prop shaft in a 43 with a telstar keel? I have removed the prop, cut off the pillow block bearing (it rusted itself to the shaft), removed the rubber from the cutless bearing in the strut, removed the forward flange and key, and the prop shaft still will not clear the skeg. According to my calculations, removing the strut will still not give me the clearance needed: the shaft log is 2.5"dia and 28"long - not much lateral wiggle room. Furthermore, the forward end of the shaft is laterally restricted by the exhaust elbow. I am out of ideas. Could it be possible that the shaft was inserted from the cabin, before the installation of the engine?
I started this project just for preventive maintenance reasons. Our beloved Lion Heart (#129) turned 23 and I thought it was high time to replace the cutless brg, the shaft log hose, and the pillow block bearing. OOF - what a pickle i'm in. Anybody got any ideas?