Wobbling Shaft Seal - Bent shaft?

[firecadet613]

This is my first inboard boat, after having 5 I/O's. Not getting any vibrations while underway, however when I was doing a WOT run a few weeks back (to get WOT RPMs / Speed for props), I did get a vibration on the port side unless I brought it upwards of 4,000RPMs slowly.

Previous owner put on new props when he bent a blade on the port prop (and repropped to account for his large dinghy - which is no longer on the boat).

The only reason I found the wobbling is...I'm chasing bilge water. Believed it was fixed (generator anti-siphon valve failed), and saw some leaking from my shaft seal. Went down below while underway and saw the wobbling...

I'll get the alignment checked, aside from that, is there anything else I can do before I haul out in a month (besides run the boat as little as possible - although my money is on the boat was like this when I bought it last year).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - still trying to learn the inboards vs I/O.

 

[ZZ13]

You could have diver check cutless bearing for play.

Also at haulout have yard put a dial indicator on shaft at start of prop taper. 5/1000 is generally considered the max deflection you'd want to see there.

 

[The Bill Collector]

Stop running the boat or that wobble could result in a snapped off shaft...

 

[ZZ13]

Is your vibration a steady rumble? Or is it a harmonic that comes and goes every 5-10 seconds?

 

[firecadet613]

Stop running the boat or that wobble could result in a snapped off shaft...

Yep...it's safe to say it was an "Oh, sh*t" moment yesterday when I saw that!

Is your vibration a steady rumble? Or is it a harmonic that comes and goes every 5-10 seconds?

No vibration. I never run the boat over 4,000 RPMs, only did a WOT run to get speeds to ensure she was propped right. And it felt more like the motors weren't in sync...but if I brought them up slowly from 4k RPMs to WOT, no issues. Very strange that I'm not feeling or hearing anything...and it's vibrating like that.

It's really making me wonder how long it's been doing it...