To get something done, you gotta do it yourself…

I pulled up the email fromCal 40 owner, Fin Beven.

It read:

“First, we disconnected the propeller shaft from the V-drive and removed shaft and the propeller.”

Okay, I already did that…

“Next, Doug Grant made up a “slide hammer”.  It was a 1/2″ stainless rod, approximately 6′ long, and threaded at each end.  The rod is inserted in the old tube, and a cap is then screwed on to the inboard end which fits just inside the old tube but also has a top plate (roughly 3/8″ thick) that is just a fraction smaller than the outside diameter of the tube.  This cap is what ultimately pulls the tube out of the boat.

A similar cap is then slid onto the rod and inserted into the outboard end of the tube.  This aft-end cap keeps the rod aligned in the center of the tube as it is being “hammered” out.”

The letter read on, detailing perfectly the successful process that allowed him to remove his shaft log without cutting into the fiberglass.

“I’ll be waiting for Laurent anyway,” I thought. “I might as well try to make a ‘slide hammer’.”

So I took my mind off two weeks of waiting by measuring precisely for the pieces of my slide hammer and drawing up a diagram. I mulled over where I could find some makeshift parts to construct it.

…hmm…a 6’ piece of stainless rod threaded at both ends…? Impossible.

When in doubt…ask Cesar.