Sail Drive Seals ??

Volvo and Yanmar have difering opinions on this, depending on who yhou ask. My Yanmar manual says every two years. PBO 375 p48, 494 p68, Sailing Today Dec 2003 p112 all have somehing to say. I beleive general opinion says Volvo is single skinned and should be replaced every 7 years, Yanmar is double skinned with a watger detector/alarm between the outer and inner skin, and PBO436 p71 says it does not need replacing at 7 Years. When I did a search several years ago, I had several respondents say they had run YAnmar saildrives for 10 to 20 Years without leaks developing. One cat had a catastrophic failure after grounding a leg, becayse an engine mount failed. I would (and do) test the water alarm annually, and inspect the outer seal whan slipping, and inner seal everytime I turn on the cooling water (i.e. every time I sail - weekly). I would also keep an eye on rngine mounts, esp the rear one. Of course if you do have a catastrophic failure your insurance company might have somrthing to say. I have heard costs of thousands - mostly labour as mentioned above.
 
Re costs...if it's any help, I replaced my Volvo saildrive seal 18 months ago, parts cost £150. If I had got a marine engineers to do it, the total cost would have been near to £1000.
If you're a reasonable DIYer, it's not difficult.
 
Can't help with the recommended replacement cycle - but for Volvo it is 7 years. I am just replacing mine after nearly 10 years - but mainly because the gearbox is broken (don't ask!). New unit comes with the diaphragm already in, but time is about the same. Volvo dealer is charging 10 hours labour for the swap, but other boats may be higher because of access. Bavaria has plenty of room for two people to work at a time.
 
Tranona said:
....... Bavaria has plenty of room for two people to work at a time.
Click to expand...
Well, I can vouch for the fact that the Bav 32 certainly does not have plenty of room for two people to work at a time. I helped a mate with one last winter and it required major contortion on my part. Still perferctly DIY-able, though.
 
Other seal...

There is another seal that has not been metioned in the post - and that is the lower shaft seal as opposed to the diaphragm. It's the one in front of the prop.

Do others regularly change this.. ?
 
Cantata said:
Well, I can vouch for the fact that the Bav 32 certainly does not have plenty of room for two people to work at a time. I helped a mate with one last winter and it required major contortion on my part. Still perferctly DIY-able, though.
Click to expand...

Well, my 37 does which is one of the reasons why I got a good quote - plus the fact it is a straight swap for the drive, so no need to split the leg.

Will be able to report on Wednesday whether it all works out!
 
Tranona said:
Well, my 37 does which is one of the reasons why I got a good quote - plus the fact it is a straight swap for the drive, so no need to split the leg.
Will be able to report on Wednesday whether it all works out!
Click to expand...
OK but you did just say 'Bavaria'. The two of us who worked on his 32 are both 6', I reckon I needed a session on a rack to straighten me out when we'd finished!
Your problem sounds expensive, or was it a warranty job?
 
Cantata said:
Your problem sounds expensive, or was it a warranty job?
Click to expand...

Not warranty - boat is nearly 10 years old and 3000 hours or so. Cause of gearbox failure (or rather sudden loss of oil leading to failure) not yet known. Best advice is complete new leg as unit is obsolete and spares expensive. So 130 leg it is - just expensive, but at least known cost.
 
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