Testing water breach sensor, Yanmar sail drive

[Skylark]

Removing and testing the water breach sensor should be an annual check.........

The manual simply says "remove it". The sensor is plastic and looks quite flimsy. Mine doesn't seem willing to move by applying hand pressure, not that there's a lot of room.

Anyone had one of these out? Any tools and/or tricks to ease it out without breaking the darn thing?

Many thanks.

 

[RichardS]

Removing and testing the water breach sensor should be an annual check.........

The manual simply says "remove it". The sensor is plastic and looks quite flimsy. Mine doesn't seem willing to move by applying hand pressure, not that there's a lot of room.

Anyone had one of these out? Any tools and/or tricks to ease it out without breaking the darn thing?

Many thanks.

It's a stupid design without proper flats. I guess this is to prevent overtightening but once it has been in for a few years it makes it impossible to remove without using grips of some kind which do tend to grind off some of the plastic. It should presumably be only nipped up hand tight with a good dose of silicon grease on the thread.

They cost over £100 so you don't want to wreck it completely.

I have had success with pliers but with rubber inner tube slipped over the jaws to give enough grip on the two ridges but without the teeth of the pliers tearing off too much plastic.

On the other hand, I only remove mine when it goes off due to condensation in the seal space. Otherwise I would leave it alone. Does anyone actually do an annual check?

Richard

 

[maby]

Surely the only true way to test it is to drill a hole through the outer diaphragm?