Darn engines🤬🤬🤬🤬

I thought I would run the engine yesterday for the first time in a couple of months, a few minutes later the overheating alarm went off. 

There was water at the outlet from the water strainer, so I took the pump off then it's back. When the shaft was turned the impeller didn’t, the bonding between the rubber impeller and the metal centre had failed and it was easy to separate the two. 

The water pump looking from aft.

Visually in good condition except its now in
two pieces.

I change impellers annually in the spring with Yanmar branded ones so it has one seasons use. I suppose I should be grateful that it didn’t fail when I was rushing back to the Hamble from Hope Cove in August for a family emergency; I carry multiple spares and could have fixed it in an hour but it would have been quite stressful until I found the fault and dangerous if it had failed going through the Needles channel with little wind.

The assembly is getting a bit tatty where bolts bare on it and as I want to replace some of the pipe work, (including the bit shown above) and check the engine anodes I am leaving the engine drained of water for a while and have the unit at home for the clean up and repaint.

After the repaint.

Tip

On a Yanmar check and if necessary replace the water pump belt regularly, the unit gets very close to the engine mount if worn and adjusted for the correct tension, this could be a particular problem if standard soft engine mounts are used as the engine will rock more. Fortunately I have the stiffer premium mounts.

Update 4 Jan 2024. With a brief break in the weather the engine got it's annual service yesterday along with a new drive belt for the water pump and new water hoses from the pump through to the anti-syphon valve and the exhaust elbow (the seacock to the water pump were replaced with the seacock in 2022), rerouted to hopefully avoid chafe. Everything working again. 

More winter work

The burn holes in the carpet has been bugging me for years, time to replace. Taking the cabin sole home to work on it led to cleaning the bilge to keep the smell down and whilst about it the fore and aft sections of the bilge needed a clean and a coat of paint (The main bilge was painted a couple of years ago), the teak faced boards over these sections were varnished not that long ago and don't need to be redone.

The aft section was easy having had a coat in 2022 when the
sea cock was replaced.

The section in the heads needed a bit more work on what was
almost certainly the original paint. Some wiring also needed
tying up - stick on pads don't seem to last long on a boat. I
added the rubber strips some time ago to stop the board rocking and
squeaking, a small section, lower left, now needing to be replaced.

The underside of the main section of the cockpit sole after what
was probably the first coat of paint in 45 years, but it had done well,
the board is in very good condition albeit with the centre bowed
down ¼" in places which may explain why the table has been
tricky to fit (the aft leg of the table goes over the block of wood).
Two coats of the excellent International "Danboline" bilge paint.

Two coats of varnish for the base of the table leg, two more to go.
Plus a cleaned up and lacquered ring lift. I'll be adding a second
 one to the forward section which will make it much easier to get up
and save pulling on the carpet.

I  replaced the carpet with carpet tiles; cheaper, easier to source, hard wearing and with some spares it will be possible to replace small sections if one gets damaged. It was also probably easier to cut them to shape than a single piece would have been.

Trial fit of the table base on the aft section.

Front and centre sections, waiting for the second lift ring, the
2 slide bolts that hold the centre section down and a tie down
 point will be refitted when the boards go back in the boat,
when the weather permits.

The aft section is screwed down, the middle section secured with
slider bolts. Also one of 3 tie down points for under table storage.
The electric bilge pump and the hose to the main pump are 
accessible  with the middle section lifted.

Job almost done, just needs the additional
lift ring.

Job done.

And a small job, a heat shield for the lamp which was starting to damage the headlining with heat and smoke. A piece of brass sheet left over from a job about 15 years ago, cut and bent to shape then lacquered. And it hides a join and looks better than before.