Yanmar GM Series

[Sonosailor]

I have just purchased new motor mounts for my Tobago 35's two Yanmar 2GM20 with Saildrive. I guess I am writing to vent!! The mounts do look like they are the nicest way to hold an engine in a boat; with angular blocks of rubber on which the little vibrating powerpack can float away. But CHRIST, these things cost just under $200 a piece, and in my boat I need six of these buggers.

I have just ordered them, and hope to get them installed before I put the boat back in the water. Any experience in this respect? It seems that the former owner (charter company) somehow ended up epoxying in one of these guys, so I imagine I have some work to do. I do not know why they are pasted in, and will be chipping away like a forensic scientist. Any suggestions as to how I should proceed? I have to figure out how to lift the engines up from the engine bed, and whether the work might interfere with the sealing system for the saildrives.

Actually, I would love to communicate with anyone who has any information regarding these or related engines and saildrives. I thirst for the knowledge. I want to go to sea for long periods, only one year from now.

I also have lots of pictures regarding the boat and its systems. Would love to share.

Laurie Corbett (Sonosailor)

[Gisle]

I also have Yanmar diesel engines in my cat Sonosailor, but I haven't had any use for moving them yet. Looking forward to seeing the repiles on this thread.

Well, I would love to see your pictures. Are they online so you can paste them in via the IMG-button here?

[Sonosailor]

It isn't about moving them, Gisle, it is about replacing motor mounts as they wear out. The Canadian supplier said that Yanmar recommends replacement every 2 years. He also said that many customers wait longer. Still, that leaves you in the same"boat" as me, spending real big dollars to replace these little items on a regular basis. The mounts each use squares of rubber on a 45 degree angle. The rubber slowly fatigues until metal can touch metal. I'll get my pictures of these little buggers from work, and send them along.

[Gisle]

OK, I didn't really mean "moving" - "lifting to be able to replace" would be a better expression, but in my language those expressions are about the same ...

[Sonosailor]

I have uploaded a picture of one of the motor mounts. (hopefully successfully) I guess you go to Photo Gallery to see it.

[dbohara]

I also bought a couple new motor mounts for a Yanmar 2GM (Exactly as you describe). They were less than $100 each from Mastry Marine in St. Pete. (727-522-9471). However, they were too "high" so I looked for other options. In a McMaster-Carr catalogue (Graingers too) I found motor mounts that could easily be adapted and are fairly low cost. Eventually, I cut down the engine stringers and using the Yanmar mounts

[Sonosailor]

There is a sensor that is intended to sense water between the two seals on the saildrives meant to keep the water out of the boat. In my case, it is screaming like murder. Anybody with experience in repairing or replacing these seals? Any way to double-check the sensor?

[troppoboat]

A mate of mine owns a Crowther Chincogan (nice cat) with a couple of yanmar saildrives, we replaced the mounts the other month. The new mounts looked the part but had neoprene as the damping material which in an oily area like the engine bay sounds like a good idea. NOT they transmit vibration so well that it near rattled a few fillings out of my teeth, so it was back down into the hot cramped engine bay and pull them out again what was a 6 pack a side job turned into turned into whole carton job truly a mission. The lessons learned, make sure you have a carton of beer (24) ready before starting a job like this and cheap and looking the part is not a good purchacing guide.

[dbohara]

Although my boat did not have a saildrive, I did put in a Yanmar 2GM in my 28' S2 to replace an old 1GM. My 2GM is a 13 hp but it isnt much smaller than the 2gm20. It wasn't much of a problem although the Saildrive might complicate things. Once I got the engine up into the boat (9 ft up as it was on stands) and then down into the cabin and over onto the starboard berth, Iwas able to walk it back next to where it was to go down into its small compartment. I used boards angled down between the engine stringers to slide it down on (by myself for this step). Once it was sort of near where I wanted it, I simply levered it in place. Installing the new engine mounts you describe went smoothly too. Why did they epoxy them in, weird, they need to be adjustable for alignment with the prop shaft (except you have a saildrive).
I was almost amazed at how easy the entire process was especially after I had attempted to plan each little step to cover every contingency. None of the steps were complicated. 200 bucks for these mounts does seem extreme. You might look at my previous post on this topic for an alternative source of engine mounts.


David
dbohara@mindspring.com