With our repower, we needed a new shaft flange, coupler and seal. Also the fit and alignment would work better if we moved the engine forward slightly, so we decided to get a new shaft while we were at it.
Coupler / Flange
The flange came with the new engine/transmission, and was a standard 4-bolt press-on flange. To allow for a little slop in the alignment, and to add a safety fuse to the system, we also installed a flexible coupling.
Grounding
The flex coupler does not come with the grounding connector, and Beta does not seem to sell it. I had to order it from Fisheries Supply. The Catalina 36 uses the prop shaft as the grounding connection to the water. Without this part, the boat is not grounded to the water, which is required by the ABYC. I didn’t realize this until too late. If this part is added when you connect the shaft to the transmission, it is a 10 second job. Unfortunately, I had to disconnect the shaft and carefully move it back while trying to insert this part blind and not let in too much water through the seal. Ugh.
Seal
Our old setup had a PSS dripless seal that we liked, but it was pretty old, so we opted to put in a new one. The only difference is that the new one has a vent on it that needed to be routed to a location above the water line. I did this by running the vent hose to a location above the engine.
