Sail Drive Matters

[Simon Padmore]

Hi Everyone,

I have a Wauquiez Gladiateur 33 powered by a Volvo Penta D1-30 with a 130S sail drive unit.
This winter I had to replace the diaphragm seal between the sail drive and the hull. I split the engine from the gearbox and removed the sail drive from the boat and found quite a bit of oil between the sail drive and the fly wheel.
The local VP dealer advised me to replace the lip seal on the primary drive shaft which involved taking off the top half of the gearbox casing, sliding off the old seal and replacing it and then replacing the top casing. This I did and as I did it I checked that the forward and stern gears were working correctly which they appeared to be. In neutral the input shaft was rotated with no movement of the output shaft, in forward the rotation resulted in a rotation of the output shaft and in reverse the same rotation of input resulted in an opposite rotation of the output shaft.

Once the drive was reinstated in the boat but before I filled it with oil, I decided to check it again and in neutral I rotated the prop in both directions freely. In forward gear the prop would not turn back but it could be rotated in the other direction with quite a bit of friction and in reverse it would not turn forward but would turn in the other direction again with quite a bit of frictional resistance.

Does anybody know if this behaviour is as expected. Before I relaunch the boat I'd like to get some feedback as I would have thought that when in gear, forward or reverse, that the output shaft would be unable to be turned without rotation of the flywheel.

I know there is a clutch mechanism in the sail drive, could it be that there is slippage in that and if so how much is acceptable.

Any help would be appreciated

[gsuescum]

Have you had any luck with your questions?

I have a concern that the company that serviced my saildrives may have set it up so that one is driving the boat forward while actually in reverse gear. They told me it made no difference. I only found out after she was launched...

[Boots]

on the subject of saildrives, I have a VolvoPenta unit for which I need new oil seals for the lower leg. Can anyone point me to a supplier in the US ?

[belizesailor]

You mean prop shaft seals right?

If so, these are just lip seals. Their size (ID, OD, thickness) are printed on the seal itself. Do NOT pay Volvo stoopid $$$s for these, its just a rip off, you can buy them at any good seal supply house for a few $s a pop.

You need 2 per shaft. At non-Volvo prices you might as well pick up the next set for future replacement too so you will have spares if needed.

Im away from the boat and dont have the #s handy, but maybe someone else has them close at hand.