SAE 20 Oil in Caribbean

[crazyhorse77]

Hi,

Struggling to find anywhere to buy SAE 20 Gearbox oil whilst sailing around the Caribbean.

Tried Barbados and St Lucia but no luck. Heading on south after this...so does anyone know anywhere possible to by it in St Vincent or Grenada?

Thanks

Croc Bones Crew

The Adventures of Croc Bones

[GordMay]

Are you certain you want VERY light weight (low viscosity) SAE 20 GEAR Oil?

SAE viscosity numbers for engine oils and gear oils are on different scales*.
SAE ENGINE 20 weight Oil is roughly equivalent to SAE GEAR 80 weight.

* The two systems (engine oil and gear oil) aren't directly comparable, number-for-number. Here's a reasonably accurate comparison between the two systems. Please remember that I said "reasonably accurate", as there is some overlap.

SAE Engine Oil ≈ SAE Gear Oil
10w thru mid range of 20w ≈ 75w
Mid 20w thru mid 30w ≈ 80w
Mid 30w thru low 40w ≈ 85w
Low 40w thru 50w ≈ 90w
60w up ≈ 140w

[crazyhorse77]

Many thanks for your reply, I did not know there was two different SAE standards. Now i see the manual means SAE engine oil. I checked the oil and it is very light wieght.

I know the gear box oil was a little low and the pressure has droped a little in last few weeks so hopefully a top up will help.

I see your custom google search URL at the bottom of your post, i havnt used these before. Do you know of any other search tricks like this?

cheers

jarvis and tia

Originally Posted by GordMay

Are you certain you want VERY light weight (low viscosity) SAE 20 GEAR Oil?

SAE viscosity numbers for engine oils and gear oils are on different scales*.
SAE ENGINE 20 weight Oil is roughly equivalent to SAE GEAR 80 weight.

* The two systems (engine oil and gear oil) aren't directly comparable, number-for-number. Here's a reasonably accurate comparison between the two systems. Please remember that I said "reasonably accurate", as there is some overlap.

SAE Engine Oil ≈ SAE Gear Oil
10w thru mid range of 20w ≈ 75w
Mid 20w thru mid 30w ≈ 80w
Mid 30w thru low 40w ≈ 85w
Low 40w thru 50w ≈ 90w
60w up ≈ 140w

[osirissail]

If the boat supply places like Island Water World and Budget Marine don't have it - try the automobile and truck supply/parts houses. There are plenty of them on the various islands usually clustered around the major city areas.
- - In Grenada ask on the morning VHF radio net or stop by Island Water World and ask. They will normally have a few auto/truck parts stores that they can send you to in the hopes of finding what you are looking for.
- - Also there are "ACE hardware" stores that usually have "auto" parts sections and sell the oils, etc. cheaper than the boat supply parts stores.

[s/vfootloose]

I have an old Volvo that calls for SAE 20. I can't find it in Ft. Lauderdale. I talked to a Volvo service rep and was told to use SAE 30