REMOVAL OF PROP SHAFT

Today I removed the prop shaft for a few reasons. First, I decided it would be easier to remove the gelcoat around the area of the shaft and strut with it removed. Second, the strut attachment is a bit loose and the attachment needs to be reworked. And third, the strut bearing could use to be replaced as it has a slight bit of play in it.

The shaft is held to the transmission by a coupling attached to the prop shaft. There are two set screws and a key way that hold the coupling to the shaft.
To start off with, I loosened the stuffing box adjustment nut so that the shaft could be moved around a bit more easily. I then loosened the set screws, which came loose without too much difficulty. The bolts holding the coupling to the transmission were a bit more difficult. With a bit of penetrating oil, a bit of waiting time, and some muscle, the bolts came loose. Once the bolts were removed, the coupling came loose from the transmission without any difficulty.

Once the bolts were removed and the coupling free from the transmission, I attempted to remove the coupling from the prop shaft. As it turned out, the two were slightly corroded together and did not want to separate from each other. I first placed a spacer between the prop shaft and the transmission output. Then I reconnected the prop shaft coupling to the transmission and tightened the two together with their attachment bolts. Here is a picture with one of the spacers in place.
I had to use varying sizes of spacers as too long of a spacer would not allow for attachment of the coupler to transmission bolts. The spacer in the above picture is a socket that is just slightly smaller than the diameter of the prop shaft.

Once the coupling and prop shaft were detached from each other, the remainder of the removal was quite simple. The prop shaft simply slid out of the boat and strut.

A few additional pictures of the process follow.