Draining Oil from Saildrive legs

[Halo]

The last few times I have drained the oil from my sail drive it has been windy and hard to catch the oil without loosing some.
I came up with the method shown on this picture and it worked like a dream - simply cut a big hole in a 5 litre coolant container and hook it on with cable ties.
Thought it may help others
cheers
Martin

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

Great idea. I'll use that.

 

[emsworthy]

Looks good! All I will say is that every time I drain the oil out of my saildrive it looks as good as the day it went in! No sign of contamination, obviously no combustion products and it has only ever been worked at ambient temperatures of 6-20 degrees c. Provided the shaft seals are sound anyone else think they are throwing away 4 litres of perfectly good oil each time they do this?

 

[RichardS]

Looks good! All I will say is that every time I drain the oil out of my saildrive it looks as good as the day it went in! No sign of contamination, obviously no combustion products and it has only ever been worked at ambient temperatures of 6-20 degrees c. Provided the shaft seals are sound anyone else think they are throwing away 4 litres of perfectly good oil each time they do this?

Yes.

I don't bother. Car gearboxes and diffentials are often sealed for life these days and have a much harder life. Even the auto box on my 300BHP car is sealed for life, there is no filler and no dipstick, and that is under incredible stress.

You still need to check for water ingress (lower seals gone) and confirm that the oil is still clean. Ideally drain a little off and check for metal particulate matter. If it's all OK I leave it alone, particularly if it's hypoid oil (the smelly stuff!).

Richard

 

[prv]

My dad's a retired helicopter engineer - so very cautious and conservative about anything mechanical. I suggested we take the opportunity to change the saildrive oil before putting the boat back into the water a month ago; his opinion was that there was really no point.

Pete

 

[emsworthy]

My dad's a retired helicopter engineer - so very cautious and conservative about anything mechanical. I suggested we take the opportunity to change the saildrive oil before putting the boat back into the water a month ago; his opinion was that there was really no point.

Pete

Great! Glad it's not just me then. Catching all that oil is, as the OP identifies, a little challenging and to then pour it all in the waste drum when it looks better than what's in the engine after an hour's running does seem a little bonkers!

 

[peter2407]

Just done the same with a bucket, handle over the prop and the bucket under the drain valve, clean as the last time I did this (5 years ago). Stopped the draining and topped up c. A cup of what I had drained. Also, the anode (8 years old?) looked almost new, scrubbed it up and put it back. Waste not etc ..