Outboard to Saildrive

[XAVIER]

Hi Subscribers,
I have a 24' sailing boat powered by an 9.9 four stroke Honda. Would like to change to inboard saildrive.
Do you know any way or kit to convert the Honda into a inboard saildrive?

Thank you any help.

Francisco Xavier - Azores

[delmarrey]

Actually, saildrives are a complete unite (motor and lower end) as far as I know, unless something new has showed up on the market recently. Below is a link to the honda sail drive, which seems to be the most popular. OMC and Volvo also make a saildrive.

http://www.saildrive280.com/SD%20Specifications.htm

Hope this helps............................_/)

[CSY Man]

Hmm, $7,000.00 for 12.5 HP?

Expensive saildrive I'd say..Not even diesel?

The local Perkins dealer have overhauled 4-108s sitting around and selling 'em for $4,500.00.
51 HP diesel.
Perhaps more weight and power than Xavier asked for, but uh, just comparing price VS HP and gas VS Diesel.

I would keep the outboard on that 24' boat.
Keep them fumes and the problems on the outside.
A 4 stroke Honda seems to be just the ticket.

[XAVIER]

Thank you for yours replies,
For coastal sailing the outboard is OK. I am thinking to aquire some extra hardware like plotter, radar C.A.R.T., and other safty gear for water sailing">blue water sailing (cruising from Portugal main land to Azores archipelago - 800 nM). As the Honda is assembled on the shallow transom can be dameged by rear high sea waves.

Thank you.

Francisco Xavier

[BC Mike]

I think Bukh diesel makes a small saildrive. There are used other brands about like OMC but getting parts or a good prop could be a problem. A Honda powerhead was used on a Volvo lower unit but the parts problem for the leg still exists. BC Mike C

[delmarrey]

Xavier,

One problem I've noted with most sail drives is that they are of aluminum construction. Being in salt water all the time is not a good thing. The zinks must be kept in good shape and the unit kept clean. It would be like leaving an outboard down all the time.
As for following seas, the outboard should be OK as long as it doesn't get submerged while running. Just keep it sprayed down with WD-40.

Are you able to tilt your motor up out of the water? If not you may want to get a good transom motor bracket like a S. S. - Garelick 71056.

http://www.garelick.com/marine/products.aspx

[Sonosailor]

New to my boat, a Tobago 35 with 2 Yanmar SD20 saildrives, and aware of so many shortcuts that the charter owner had taken, I assumed that the aluminum saildrives had been coated with ablative bottom paint that would cause a galvanic reaction with the aluminum.

My readings suggest that aluminum requires a specific antifouling to protect the metals. Well, I screwed up.

Using a special product to clear off the paints, I cleaned to bare metal, and reapplied proper outboard paint to it. I also covered that with the proper special antifouling paint. Well, nothing works. It all flaked, leaving the aluminum here and there. Time to start over.

By the way, some suggest that your saildrives will suffer if your anchor chain remains in contact with your windlass. It will cause a galvanic reaction through the grounding, causing your saildrives to lose paint, anodes, electrons.

BTW, contrats, to Delmarry for being the first 2004 poster. Where is everybody?

[delmarrey]

Enjoying the time off, I would imagine!

[Steve Rust]

Sonosailor
I have a Volvo Saildrive and as others have stated the biggest problem is the aluminum housing. Other than that I love it, no bent shafts, leaking stuffing boxes, or cutless bearings to replace.
I used Petit epoxy primer on my saildrive. It comes in a kit for underwater metal so it includes an etching primer. One kit would be plenty for your two drive legs. I liked it so much I used the same paint for a barrier coat on my hulls. It goes on thick so you do not need several coats as with many other brands.
You still need the special bottom paint for aluminum, whatever you do don't put bottom paint containing copper on the drive legs. Inspect the zincs regularly and replace when needed. Very important! Not a great problem with your cat just beach her on a nice sandy beach and let the tide run out.
I also change the oil in the drive leg every year. It allows me to see if there is any water in the oil that would tell me if the seal around the prop shaft was leaking. I have replaced that once on a 20 year old drive.
As far as the windlass I have a manual one so I don't have that problem. The best option although difficult to do is to not use your engine as the main ground. You would use a grounding plate instead and an alternator and engine sensors that do not rely on the engine block for grounding. There are alot of differant opinions on grounding, bonding, and lightening protection, enough to start a few new threads.

[GordMay]

From Steve Rust:
..."The best option, although difficult to do, is to not use your engine as the main ground. You would use a grounding plate instead and an alternator and engine sensors that do not rely on the engine block for grounding."

As Steve suggested, I like to use discretely grounded (two wire) equipment whenever possible. It's not that difficult - just requires an Isolated Alternator (such as Balmar offers) and two-wire Instrument Senders (also isolated); and (of course) running dedicated Ground Wires from each of these devices to the Ground Bus.

From Sonosailor:
..." By the way, some suggest that your saildrives will suffer if your anchor chain remains in contact with your windlass. It will cause a galvanic reaction through the grounding, causing your saildrives to lose paint, anodes, electrons."

As long as the Anchor Windlass is Bonded, there should not be any Galvanic problem with deployed chain. All significant metals (and certainly all Immersed metals) should be Bonded.

GROUNDING vs GROUNDED:

There are four main functions accomplished (on a boat) through GROUNDING:
1. Safety - prevent shock hazzard (AC green gnd wire)
2. Bonding - Interconnection of various items, often to prevent corrosion (tie all immersed metals together)
3. Lightning & Static Amelioration - provide a preferred path to ground for lightning.
4. Counterpoise - provide an RF ground, or zero reference for electronics.
None of these (4) GroundING wires are current-carrying, under NORMAL circumstances.
All of these Safety or Bonding ground cables are connected directly to the Main Ground Bus.

There are two main GROUNDED current-carrying conductors:
5. AC Neutral (White)
6. DC Negative Return (Yellow or Black)
Both the AC Neutral and the DC (negative) Return are ultimately connected to ground (hence groundED) , but are NOT GroundING wires.
The AC Neutral is connected to the (optional) Galvanic Isolator thence to the AC Neutral bus (at AC Panel), and finally the Main Ground Bus.,
The DC Negative Return is connected to the DC Negative Bus (at DC Panel), thence the Battery Negative Post, and finally to the Main Ground Bus.

The Main Ground Bus may be the Engine Block, or (preferably) a dedicated grounding terminal (bus, plate, or block) which is connected to an external ground plate.

To prevent confusion, it is preferred to refer to groundED (current-carrying) conductors (numbers 5 & 6) by the term(s): AC “Neutral”, or DC “Negative” (return), and to the groundING cables as “Safety” or “Bonding” ground.

See ABYC Section(s):
E-8 Alternating Current (AC) Systems
E-9 Direct Current (DC) Systems (Figures 15, 16 etc)
E-4 Lightning Protection



Regards,
Gord