Volvo Shaft Seal

Seadee

Seadee

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Anyone know where to purchase a new volvo shaft seal (40mm shaft dia) for my MF805 ? Tried typing it into Google but apart from the usual forum return and drive shafts for my 1976 Volvo car I'm none the wiser. I'd rather not ring "Mr Jeanneau" - the cutlass bearing is a Jeanneau special apparently and that just did me for £70. Boats, eh ? Who'd have 'em ?

Ta in advance

CD
 
Any Volvo agent should have them at less than £100, great piece of kit.
 
Volvo Penta dealers sell them.

They have a 5 year life and should be changed at the end of 5 years in service.

My boat had another well known proprietary type of stern seal but same system of rubber boots mane craft deep sea seal.

6.5 yrs old, Survey said they were OK , I had the shafts drawn a month later to replace cutless bearings and upon inspection the stern seals were perished.

I have heard a recent one where a boat sank in the UK due to stern seal failure a rubber boot type and the Insurance company refused to pay the claim in full as the rubber boot stern seals were over 7 years old!

Change them at 5 years, dont risk it.
 
You'r quite right.
Although peeps will disagree about the time scale.
If they do fail it can be catastrophic.
Were as traditional systems are not.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You'r quite right.
Although peeps will disagree about the time scale.
If they do fail it can be catastrophic.
Were as traditional systems are not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi K,

Your comment re 'catastrophic failure' might be somewhat alarming to some. Would you please give us all some details of these instances as I've never heard of a Volvo seal failing - wearing out yes - but not failing. Really interested in your sources.

From my own experience, I changed the Volvo seal on my Fulmar after twenty-two and a half years (and 47K miles) about three years ago as part of a major refit. It had never leaked a single drop of water and currently resides in my 'bits' box as a spare - pointless really but that's me!

None of my friends who also use this this excellent product have experienced any problems either, though one did change his last winter when he noticed a tiny weep when motoring hard.

It turned out that when his new engine had been fitted five years earlier, the fitters had not aligned it properly, and over the intervening period, the lip seals had worn heavily at the top. The misalignment was really bad, and we were all amazed that the seal had coped so well for such a long period.

I've nothing to do with Volvo, and certainly wouldn't buy one of their engines, but credit where it's due, their seal is a superb and utterly reliable product at, dare I say bearing in mind we're talking Volvo, a very reasonable price.

Again, would very much appreciate your info on failures as, I'm sure, many others would. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
chrisbailey

Second Jerryat's comments.

on my fulmar I changed the volvo seal after 10 years and then after another 7 and I have just changed it again after another 6 years. this time was only because I had the shaft out and didnt want to bother again in another couple of years.
I still have all 3 old volvo seals and all are still in servicable condition. I have never had any leak but I do ensure that they are very well greased each winter. Although I am on a drying mooring I only bother to burp the seal when first launched and maybe occasionaly during the season if I happen to be in the cockpit locker and can access the back of the engine. this does not seem to be detrimental to the seals service life.
 
I think Bandit and Kawasaki are confusing Deep Sea seals with Volvo seals. As I pointed out they are completely different designs, and while it is possible for a face type seal (like Deep Sea) to fail catastrophically, a radial seal such as Volvo is highly unlikely. As you noted, possible failure on a Volvo seal will be the result of wear of the lip seals and be obvious when it starts dripping. Like yours, mine has been in for a long time - over 10 years and has not leaked a drop.
 
Hi T,

Hmmmm, yes re-reading our friend K's post it is possible you're right, though I think if that's the case, it's important to clarify the point for the benefit of those without direct experience who might be contemplating fitting a Volvo seal in the future.

If I didn't know better it would give me the heebie-jeebies about them otherwise!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cheers

J
 
AArrghh!
Yes I can see My comments may have confused.
I must admit to generalising.

I have never seen a 'Volvo' seal fail catastrophically I must admit.
I was alluding to the 'type' as opposed to the traditional stuffing gland arrangement.

As you can all see however this Topic always brings in differences of opinion.

I have seen the results of a failed 'deep sea' seal.
Now I know it wasn't Volvo but I don't know which it was specifically.
'Big Help K'! Yeh I hear you!
I do know it failed on a mooring and I towed it ashore.

About a 30 ft bilge keeler, getting on in years.
Trying to remember more details as I type. Twas about 3 years ago.
I had nothing to do with the refit on this one.
Just happened by and noticed She was sitting 'queer'.

Anyway back to the plot.
I have had experience of said failure.
I notice a wild difference in peoples attitude as to when to change Volvo and other seals.
I think they are more efficient than the 'old' way in that there is little or no maintenance.

If I purchased a vessel with a Volvo or other 'deep sea' fitted it would not daunt Me.
I would probably renew it, especially if the History was not known.
I had the opportunity to fit one to My little Nimbus last year.

Whilst Returning from Porthmadoc to the Menai Straits.
Something clobbered my bottom!!
The upshot was I had to fit the following.
Sterntube, shaft , stuffing box, cutlass bearing and log.
Prop re furbed.

I could have gone 'deap sea' but my thoughts were.
'If that happens agin with a deep sea jobbie and a shaft or bearing or whatever, gets out of line and water comes in, what do I do?'

After the 'thump' lots of vibes were felt.
I had about 40 miles to home port.
Water started leaking through the seal.
Not alarmingly at first (drips a bit anyway) but after about 1/2 an hour at a reduced speed of 5/6 kts it started getting worse.
Anyway so as not to bore.
Limped Home checking and slowing every 15 mins.
Tightening the stern gland as much as I dare and pumping grease in.

That's just My experience, call Me old fashioned, well I am actually!
So sorry people if I confused or put the wind up!
Not My style.
Well confuse yes, that seems to come naturally!
But I wouldn't want to put the wind up anyone ref boat safety.
So, jerryat & Seadee, don't get the Heeby Jeeby whatsits.

I should know too that the Volvo type is different to tothers.
Stone the crows i,ve fitted one!
However that is the only one.
I have read about and studied other types.
But not in enough detail it appears.
Hey! Maybe we've all learnt a little bit Today.
I believe in the 'never to old to learn ' phrase..
Hope I have helped not hindered.
Cheers
kawasaki
 
Hi

You may still be confusing two entirely different designs. A Deep Sea seal is nothing like a Volvo. The main differentiator is whether the seal is made by two faces - a face seal such as Deep Sea or PSS or whether it is a radial seal, in other words the seal is around the shaft. Traditional stuffing boxes are radial seals as are Volvo and Tides which rely on lip seals to keep the water out rather than packing and grease.

Face seals need to be set up correctly as they rely on the pressure of the bellows to make the seal. Engines on soft mounts can move as much as 10mm or even more so the bellows has to cope with this as well as keeping the faces together - if they open up, water rushes in! Some face seal designs (including the Deep Sea) have an emergency clamping device to lock them solid if they fail. Does not inspire confidence!

Think we are all clear now!
 
I know the design is completely different Deep Sea seal to Volvo Penta seal but the similarity is :

1/They are both the only think keeping the water out.

2/ They are both made of rubber and they both only have a 5 year life before manufacturers reccomended replacement .
 
The first statement is irrelevant as that applies to all stern glands. The second is also largely irrelevant as the sealing mechanism (which is what might fail) is completely different. Many conventional stuffing boxes also use rubber in their construction, but only Volvo and other lip seal designs use it as a seal.

So, apart from the possible connection through recommended replacement lives, they have little in common.
 
The Relevance is:

They are made of rubber/ plastic which has a finite life.

Most people do not check their rubber/ plastic sten seal that closely or replace it a 5 years and if their boat sinks with a stern seal that is over 5 years the insurance company may make a reduced payout or no payout at all.
 
I really think you need to have some concrete evidence of failures before you make this an issue. There are certainly cases of FACE SEALS failing and causing boats to sink, but it is not the rubber that fails but the face seal. You should look at a Volvo seal construction and then think about how it might fail without anybody knowing. How can you support a statement that "most people do not check their rubber/plastic....". How can you possibly know - and where does plastic come into it? And do you have insurance statistics that show boats have sunk and insurers have not paid out?

You can "imagine" all sorts of things happening, but that is very different from them actually happening. Sorry if I sound pedantic, but this is a serious subject and should not be subject to uninformed speculation.

I have no connection with Volvo apart from being, like many others, a satisfied user who appreciates the robustness and security of the design.
 
I dont know if it is made of a natural rubber from a tree or a plastic man made compound of synthetic origin that feels similar so i said Rubber/ Plastic.

I know what a face seal looks like and works as i do a Volvo Penta seal.

What i said is that Volvo Penta Strongly reccomend that their seal is replaced within 5 years, why would they say that ? I however have not personaly seen one fail in a catastophic way.

I know that Mane Craft say the same, 5 years no more. I know that the mane craft one on my boat had passed a survey but when disasembled and inspected shortly afterwards was found to be in a very poor condition so i changed it.

I know of an instance where an insurance Company that is not paying out in full following a sinking due to a rubber/ plastic seal that failed that was over 5 years old that had not been replaced within 5 years, it was not a Volvo Penta one.

My only point of speculation is that that I doubt if many people closely examine their rubber/ plastic stern seal system, due to it being frequently in a very hard to access space and due to boat owners probably not knowing that these have a finite life of 5 years or less for some manufacturers.
 
Thanks for this additional information. I can't comment on how often people look at face seals, but it is difficult not to check a Volvo seal because it has to be "burped" when the boat is launched or after it is dried out. Also I know from bitter experience if you do not do this you know about it pretty quickly from the awful noise it makes when it runs dry! The noise does not come from the seal but from the lack of water lubricating and cooling the fluted rubber section. There are situations such as poor access or if the boat dries regularly where a Volvo seal might not be a good idea anyway.

As I have been saying it is a mistake to bracket these two types of seals together just because they use similar materials in part of their construction. They operate on completely different principles and fail (if they do indeed fail) in very different ways.

As to the 5 year recommendation, just as with saildrive diaphragms, this is more likely the manufacturer protecting themselves rather than on evidence of regular failure in that time scale. I own two boats, one with a Volvo seal and the other with a saildrive so I like to keep abreast of what happens. I have yet to see any reliable reports of failure of either component that has lead to a sinking. That does not mean there have not been any, but given the propensity of the yachting press to pick up on failures and the regular posts on these fora, if there was a problem of systemic failure we would know about it.

With regards to your last comment, I think you underestimate the knowledge and intelligence of most boat owners!
 
Just an observation / comment about our Volvo shaft seal - it is 17 years old, and still appears to be in very good condition, and has never caused any problems.
It has had very little use though, as I doubt that the engine has reached 1,000 hours of use yet in 17 years (we do not have an hour meter).
A solar panel has kept the batteries charged for the past 12 years, and if we are just going for a day sail we will often sail off the mooring and then pick it up under sail in the evening, rather than firing up the engine for a short time (as I know that engines should really be taken up to operating temperature and given a good run every time they are used).
 
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