Yanmar SD20 Maintenance

[cruiser cam]

Hello,

I am in a remote location (Tahiti) trying to find info on how often I should change the lower oil seals on my Yanmar SD20 saildrive. (the 2 mechanical seals on the lower shaft, to keep the water out/oil in)

Planning a haul out, but hard to find parts here. I would prefer to wait one more year until we are in Hawaii... The seals were changed a year ago in Panama, so that would make 2 years total. I can find no info online about how long I can expect those seals to last. I am putting approx. 500 hrs a year on each.

Anyone out there know?

Thanks

[DotDun]

This is an awful tough question to answer. It's like asking how long the water pump">raw water pump impeller will last.

You are talking about lip seals, they'll last until they leak. I replace them at every haul-out.

[Wanderlust]

The Yanmar service manual specifies replacement every 2 years or 1,000 hours, so your plan to wait another year meets their guidelines. From Yanmar's other specified service intervals, they seem rather conservative (e.g. replace oil every 100 hours).

Do the O-rings a the same time.

I plan to do mine each haulout.