Speedseals?

wooslehunter

wooslehunter

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Read the post from tome about a busted impellor & lots of people talking about speedseals.

I guess this is a faster way to open up and close the raw water pump.

Where can I get more info?

Ta Dave
 
My boat has a Bukh 24 with , I believe, a Johnson pump..
Bukh supplied me with a set of thumbscrews instead of the four bolts which secure the cover and it's thin paper gasket... These work well..
I made what I hope will be a further improvement..
The pump cover gets worn relatively quickly ( Change once a year) and this allows the water to leak back round the sies of the impellor vanes..
I got hold of a small sheet of brass and found a light engineering shop with a "pierceall", had 12 discs of the right size, well slightly over size, punched out.. Drilled the correct holes in them using an old cover as a template, and now I use two at a time which means I have four surfaces to wear.. I can change to a smooth surface any time I check the impellor.. All I need now are spare gaskets..
How does the speedseal system overcome the coverplate wear??
As I recollect it has an o ring seal but the surface must still wear...
I'd go for the o ring if I had space to machine the o ring groove in the pump body but not as it appears in the speedseal setup, in the coverplate.
Just my 2p worth
Cheers Bob E...
 
Fitted one this winter after pondering how difficult it might be to change the impellor on the rear-facing water pump on a vetus M204.

I had to remove two hoses and the oil filter just to get a screw driver anywhere near the 6 screws. It then took a further 2 hours and many scratches to get the screws out. This was on dry land...doing it at sea would have been a bad day indeed.

Now it takes 1 minute to get the cover off and two to get it back on and so far as I can determine the seal is perfect...no leaks.

Needless to say highly recommended!
 
Thanks - looks interesting.

The pump face on my boat is really easy to get at & has four screws - but you do need a gasket & are guarenteed to drop one of the four skrews into the bilge if you change the impellor at sea.
 
I have used Speedseals on my last two boats & they work OK.I do however tighten them up with grips as I found that tightened only by hand they may leak a bit.Probably my puny fingers & my dodgy shoulder.
 
I've had one fitted for about 4 years. The cover plate wear is very slight: you can see a wear mark, but not feel the edge if it with your nail, so I would guess 1 thou or less. I only average around 70 engine hours per year, however. Wear might be more of an issue for a motor boat.
 
Dave,
This gets interesting
Speed Seal quote the cover material to be Naval Brass 112 (Dunno wot the 112 means)
According to my old "Engineers Handbook"
Cold Rolled Sheet or strip Naval brass has a Vickers hardness of 160
whereas 60 40 brass has a HV of 140
Mebbe I should make a batch of stainless shims to go between the cover and the body?? The standard Johnson covers really do wear significantly in about 70 hrs and, as the outer side is engraved with mfg. details, you cannot turn 'em over!

Cheers Bob E..
 
As a non-boat owner (so far - the dream is still alive) please forgive me if my question is naive etc. but here goes.

In a lot of industries it is pretty standard to install some redundancy into a system, based on the likelihood of failure of a component and consequences of failure. It seems to me that impellers are a perfect case for having a redundant system - if one impeller fails, switch the flow to a parellel impeller, then repair the failed one at your leisure. Filters might be another canditate for redundancy.

Space and cost will obviously be considerations for some - are there any other pros or cons to this kind of setup?
 
The impellor is engine driven via camshaft so complex to arrange 2 drives with clutches (they can't be run dry). Filters much easier to parallel.
 
Dave,
Another query....
What does the Speedseal impellor removal tool look like?
Assuming you own one!
I've always fiddled with a pair of pointy pliers..
Cheers bob E..
 
Twin Headsails might do the trick then? Then you could sail i/o motor!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Very badly worded as always!!!
Cheers Bob E...
 
just fitted one on sunday, with a new impellor, got the engine running, and on low revs the pump didn't seem to be sucking the water up (bucket job) so dismantled and put old cover back on, still same problem.
put old impeller back in and working ok.
put speed seal back in and also working ok....

noticed that the old impeller (jabasco) was about 1 mm larger then the new one (volvo), fitted a new jabasco and all ok now....

speed seal easy to fit and tool ok, a little fiddly but ok as a free item, the jabasco impeller puller would be better if pump has good access to cover, but if concealed by hoses etc, the speedseal tool would get job done.

the cover is well made and instructions are very informative...
 
Apologies for the late reply - I sort of "mislaid" this thread. I bought my Speedseal before they included the plastic remover in the kit so I can't say. I used to fiddle about with screwdrivers - which usually resulted in puncturing a finger tip, but I now use a pair of slip-joint pliars. You know, the blue handled things also known as (would you believe) "water pump pliars"!

Speedseal suggest (or did then) that you mark the cover with an arrow showing direction of rotation to remind you which way to bend the blades when inserting a new impeller. I must say that I now just stick it in with the blades any old way, then turn the engine over 1 or 2 revs (decompressed) to rearrange them properly, before replacing the cover.
 
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