Volvo Sail Drive Clamp Ring

[belizesailor]

Volvo sail drives have a large round metal clamp ring that secures the bellows skirt to the hull. These rings are made of stamped steel with a coating of grey paint (grey!?). Despite not being painted Volvo Show Me The Money Green, Volvo still wants a stoopid amount of money for them of course...about $350 for a piece of stamped painted steel! By the time you add shipping and import duties that is one expensive piece of cheap stamped metal.

Ive just pulled my starboard sail drive and the bellows is in fine shape, but the clamp ring has heavy surface corrosion (same experience I had with the port side), but no signficant wastage of metal.

I dont want to wait on a new one to arrive, and am not excited about being ripped off by Volvo either, so...Im considering cleaning this one up and recoating it in some way...there in lies my question...which coating: just repaint, epoxy primer (Ive got a 2 part red oxide on hand), galvanize, or something else?

Suggestions?

[Sailmonkey]

Have it galvanized?

Are you on the rio? Isn’t one of the marinas making a galvanizing run occasionally?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Have it galvanized?

Are you on the rio? Isn’t one of the marinas making a galvanizing run occasionally?

No, me and the boat are in Panama now, but can get it galvanized here too.

The upside to galvanizing I think is the good bond, down side is Ive got to rely on someone else to do it and associated logistics, but thats not a big deal really.

Yes on the Rio, RAM (and likely others) makes galvanizing runs to Guate City. A friend just had some done thru them.

Anyone have recommendations for galvanizing in Panama?

[DougR]

Seeing as you are located in relatively low cost Panama, maybe you can have a shop make a couple of new ones and save some money?

DougR

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by DougR

Seeing as you are located in relatively low cost Panama, maybe you can have a shop make a couple of new ones and save some money?

DougR

Ive thought of that, maybe even setting up a small biz to fabricate Volvo parts....sell them at 50% Volvo list and still make at least a 100% margin! But...I dont really want to run a small biz.

And....Central American machine shops are not known for their precision...a poor fit on a clamp ring could be way more expensive than a new one from Volvo! 😣

However....I am thinking of investing in a 3D scanner...could produce good accurate CAD drawings and have them fabbed somewhere reputable. Might be a possibility for by passing Volvo (...and after cruising season, Im about to restore my 28 y.o. Jeep XJ)

A clamp ring fabbed out of SS would solve this problem for a very long time!

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by DougR

Seeing as you are located in relatively low cost Panama, maybe you can have a shop make a couple of new ones and save some money?

DougR

I agree with DougR. Some of the best machinists around are in the third world. Parts are too expensive to buy so they make them. The trick is to find the right one. That is not a difficult part to make and you have an intact pattern. Ask around at the local mechanics.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I agree with DougR. Some of the best machinists around are in the third world. Parts are too expensive to buy so they make them. The trick is to find the right one. That is not a difficult part to make and you have an intact pattern. Ask around at the local mechanics.

I suspect there is a good one somewhere in Panama City...will ask around.

My concern on this one is them getting the under side shape correct so that it fits the rim on the bellows properly.

Will ask around to see if any can fabricate in SS. 316 is hard to come by here, but even 308 would be better than this junk.

[Kerry1]

You don't say how old this clamp ring is, nor what sort of conditions apply in your engine compartment. Is it subject to weather, salt water in certain conditions? If your painted ring has withstood several years with mere paint then galvanizing is all you need to last much longer so long as you consider electrolysis. If you get it hot dipped galvanized then there really isn't much room for a bad job so long as the metal is clean and acid pickled correctly then the galv. process is hard to stuff up. If it is returned to you with obvious black patches missing the galv. finish then take it back and get it redone. Also beware that some unscrupulous galvanizers will "touch up" the odd patch that didn't take with aluminium spray paint that does a good imitation of galvanizing until it starts to fall off a week later that is...Otherwise galvanizing is going to last a lifetime in good conditions and probably stand up to any flexing better than a poor stainless substitute.

The heat may alter the shape slightly but shouldn't be anything that won't be pulled back into line as you bed it in.

[Boatguy30]

Best to sand blast it and apply interlux 2000 or equlivant. Put some nylon washers down on top the finish before putting bolts in.

Otherwise, I would would for sure go titanium possibly with gold plating. But I’m sure you’ll get a bunch of other great, better ideas.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Kerry1

You don't say how old this clamp ring is, nor what sort of conditions apply in your engine compartment. Is it subject to weather, salt water in certain conditions? If your painted ring has withstood several years with mere paint then galvanizing is all you need to last much longer so long as you consider electrolysis. If you get it hot dipped galvanized then there really isn't much room for a bad job so long as the metal is clean and acid pickled correctly then the galv. process is hard to stuff up. If it is returned to you with obvious black patches missing the galv. finish then take it back and get it redone. Also beware that some unscrupulous galvanizers will "touch up" the odd patch that didn't take with aluminium spray paint that does a good imitation of galvanizing until it starts to fall off a week later that is...Otherwise galvanizing is going to last a lifetime in good conditions and probably stand up to any flexing better than a poor stainless substitute.

The heat may alter the shape slightly but shouldn't be anything that won't be pulled back into line as you bed it in.

Its 17 years old! ... so has actually held up pretty well. In the engine room so protected from direct weather, but obviously per the corrosion at least a little incendetal sea water seepage has found its way to the ring over the years.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Best to sand blast it and apply interlux 2000 or equlivant. Put some nylon washers down on top the finish before putting bolts in.

Otherwise, I would would for sure go titanium possibly with gold plating. But I’m sure you’ll get a bunch of other great, better ideas.

Hmmm, would tatanium and gold combination be subject to galvanic corrosion? 😆

[replusted]

Check out a coating called POR-15. It's a perfect DYI product for your application and it's a pretty inexpensive alternative to replacing the Volvo clamp ring. Since the clamp ring will not see any UV, there is no need to top coat it with paint unless you want to change the color or give it a little more rust protection.

[phuelin]

In the past I have powder coated Items which will be exposed to sea water

[belizesailor]

Surprisingly I havent found a small scale galvenizing service here in Panama, and concerned galveniving could leave a rough finish on the critical ring to bellows mating surface. So, Im going with epoxy primer and maybe a finish coat on the upper surface of the ring to make it look purty.

Already have it stripped down to bare metal using a wire wheel, now for the Ospho treatment and then spray with epoxy.

[SV_FlyingTigress]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Surprisingly I havent found a small scale galvenizing service here in Panama, and concerned galveniving could leave a rough finish on the critical ring to bellows mating surface. So, Im going with epoxy primer and maybe a finish coat on the upper surface of the ring to make it look purty.

Already have it stripped down to bare metal using a wire wheel, now for the Ospho treatment and then spray with epoxy.

I am on the Rio and am facing having to restore one of the two of these clamp rings that are on my VP D2 40 / S130 equipped cat. I have one new ring but they look to be all gone in the US and I would like to pull the cat and get both engings delt with. How did the sandblasting/epoxy strategy go?