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Sail drives leaks

pauleee

New member
Both sail drives are leaking s

Both sail drives are leaking sea water.I need to travel about 4 hours to get hauled out.what kind of damage will I do to the trans.Can I use a "stop leak" auto trans. sealer. as a short term fix. What else should I do?
 
"Water in your gear oil will u

"Water in your gear oil will ultimately lead to rust on your bearings first and then everything else. Rust does take a little bit of time to develop. 4 hrs will not make much difference depending upon how long the condition has gone undetected. In your case I suspect a long time. Some saildrives allow changing gear oil without haul out. If you can slow the rusting it won't hurt. Go directly to haul out, do not pass go. Be prepared to replace your internal shafts and gears emotionally and financially. If you can sail there, that would be good. Ultimately the rusting bearings will disintegrate. I suspect there will ultimately be vibration as the shaft finds excessive play. The seals will completely fail due to excessive play. I'm not sure what happens next. New sail drives probably."
 
"I have purchased both prop sh

"I have purchased both prop shafts and seals. I guess I need to get new bearings,races etc. All this will cost about 2K in parts. Mama won't be happy! Is there a method of getting all the water out? Run acetone through it? change oil on every outing ......"
 
"You'll of course drain al

"You'll of course drain all the oil out when you pull the shaft. I am assuming you cannot change the oil without hauling the boat. Hauling is expensive so I would put all the new stuff back togehter, fill her up with oil, provide cooling water to your engine, start it up and put the prop in gear for a short time 1 or 2 min. This should be enough time to emulsify any remaining water. Drain the oil and look at the color that comes out. Then refill. Repeat this procedure till the oil comes out with out signs of water.
Good luck"
 
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