OuterBanksSailor
New member
Hello to everyone, new to the forum! I bought an old sailboat a year ago and have been fixing it up. It has a Yanmar that is about 10 or 15 years old, of unknown hours. The boat hasn't been hauled in at least 4 years but the bottom has been scrubbed periodically.
When I bought the boat I was unable to find a diesel mechanic that would come to the boat to survey the engine. Everyone said they didn't bother with little sailboat engines. The engine ran fine on the sea trial and the six day delivery trip. The impeller was replaced.
From time to time the engine was run for 20 minutes in the slip (every three weeks or so) to keep the internals lubricated. I've been trying to get a diesel mechanic to come out to the boat for a maintenance check without any luck.
The last time I did this, smoke or steam came up from the engine area as I was watching the temperature gauge in the cockpit. The engine was shut down and I noticed this leak in the ?cooling elbow. Normally I check the oil level and trans fluid level, open the raw water seacock, start the engine and check for water coming out of the exhaust, and check the temp gauge as I run up the engine to operating temp.
I'm guessing the raw water inlet is clogged with algae? What am I looking at to fix this, is it a disaster or potentially a minor problem? I've got a basic manual for the engine, but not a shop manual and I'm not afraid of taking the motor out of the boat and completely overhauling it myself if I have to. I've already tackled a lot of DIY major projects on the boat like fixing the soft decks.