Staying On Course: Steering System Compromise and Replacement

 The steering system on Lux has performed well. We’ve heard of other Leopard catamarans having stiff steering, but we were always thankful for a smoothly running steering system. However, earlier this year, we noticed evidence of a problem with the system.

The steering system consists of a drive chain at the helm, which is configured as a pull-pull system with two 9x19 x 1/4-inch diameter wire rope cables to run to the tillers in each engine compartment. The steering cables run from the helm, down to a pair of turning sheaves where they enter a pair of conduits to run aft to another pair of sheaves inboard of the starboard engine compartment. There were a couple of broken nylon fittings where the conduits connect to the bases of the sheaves. The aft end of the conduits was rusted, which expanded and broke the nylon fittings. We were able to retrieve some parts of the fittings and found the Edson name stamped on them. Yay! Edson stuff should be replaceable!

Rusted conduit and broken fittings in stbd engine compartment

Corroded conduit

Since the system hadn’t presented any problems, we waited until the fall to tackle it. Our plan was to replace the conduit’s nylon end fittings. We were not looking forward to accessing the forward ends of the conduit, which seemed to require disassembling the turning sheaves under the helm. More on that later.

We found that some long bolts around the fittings made it impossible to get a wrench into place. At the aft end, we removed the U-bolt that limits the tiller travel. The remaining bolts were short enough to use a wrench. However, we also found that a standard adjustable wrench was too long to fit. Since it was an extra in our workshop, we modified it to fit. The adjustable wrench was a pain to use, due to the size of the jaws. In retrospect, it would have been better to purchase a 1-3/8 inch open-end wrench and cut it off.

Making a short wrench

We removed the cable clamps from the cables where they connect to the tillers in each engine compartment and inspected the cable. Since it had been running smoothly, we planned to reuse the cable, provided there were no broken strands. Well, we found several broken strands in each cable. We also noted a brown, gummy powder on the cables, caked into the strands. It looked like powdered rust. So much for reusing the cables; they were getting replaced too.

Broken strand - there were several others

 We pulled the starboard cable out without too much effort. However, the port cable wouldn’t pull very far before it jammed. Since we’re replacing the cables, a rotary tool with a fiber cutoff wheel made short work of cutting the cable and it slid right out of the conduit. (Tool Tip: A rotary tool - aka: Dremel tool - is valuable on board a boat.)

We really like the serviceability of the Leopard 40. There is an access hole behind a panel in the corner of the starboard aft cabin that allowed us to get to the forward end of the conduits. That took care of our concern about accessing both ends of the conduit. We spent a few minutes with sandpaper to knock down the jagged edges of gelcoat that coated the openings of both the forward and aft conduit access ports.

Remove panel in stbd aft cabin

The access port

We had to remove long bolts around the fittings at the forward end of the conduits. These bolts held the bottom of the sheave bases to the fiberglass. The top bolts were out of our way, so the sheaves stayed in place.

Sheave bolt with nut partially removed

Removed bottom bolts

A bit of work with the wrench on the fittings and the two conduits were loose. The conduits are quite stiff due to their construction. It is an inner sleeve of nylon or teflon plastic, wrapped by a layer of spring steel wire, an additional layer of nylon, then flat spring steel in a spiral, covered by black plastic. The outer layer’s spiral screws into the nylon end fittings. Fortunately, the conduits bend enough to extract them from the access hole in the engine compartment. We left one in place as a pull cable. The other was for our measurements.

Measurements: Conduits: 7ft 9in

Stbd cable: 13ft 9in

Port cable: 23ft 9in

The end fittings are the 3/4” model that’s white.

The chain for the helm is 48 inches long. We already had a replacement section with master links so we didn’t have to order it.

We called Edson after deciding that it was best to talk with someone about or replacement plans. We were directed to Will Keene, who turns out to be the owner of Edson. We were very happy we decided to talk with him. His recommendation was to replace everything. 

https://edsonmarine.com/

He recounted a story about a vessel who was making the trip from the US to Bermuda and had the steering system jam. It turned out that the conduit inner casing chaffed through, causing the stainless wire rope to rub on the spring steel. Spring steel wins that battle every time. The wire rope frayed, locking up the steering system. They tried the emergency tiller, but because the cables were still attached to the tiller, they wound up breaking the steering system. Will said that they eventually made it into Bermuda, but subsequently incurred damage from reefs when they couldn’t steer.

Will also emphasized that the steering components typically last about 15 years. Of course, this depends on usage and how well they are installed. The conduits in the 2005 L40 run pretty straight, so there should be little wear. He highly recommended adding grease cups to the conduits, ideally located close to the center of the conduits. We weren’t going to get close to the center, but figured that being able to get grease somewhere into the cable would be a good idea, so we added them to our order.

At the end of the call we decided to replace the conduits as well as the cables. Fortunately, we had found the forward access port in the starboard aft cabin’s bulkhead that made it feasible to access the forward end of the conduits.

We examined the turning sheaves and they were in good condition with a good coating of grease and no corrosion. There was no wobble and the grooves didn’t show wear where the wire runs.

The control cables come from Edson in 13ft and 26ft lengths. We needed 13ft 9in for the starboard cable. A custom 14ft cable was curiously as expensive as the 26ft cable. Will explained that the stock cables are pre-built in large quantities by an outside vendor using a nicopress crimping machine. A custom cable is done in-house using hand tools, which is why it is so expensive. The result is that we ordered two 26ft cables.

We had a spare piece of chain 48-inches long, which we purchased a while back because of failures that other Leopard owners reported (see link below). Our old chain was in good condition, so we’ve kept it as a spare. If we had not already purchased new chain, we would have added it to our order.

https://groups.io/g/Leopardcatamaranowners/topic/57313145#23761

Our order:

2ea 8ft conduit for 1/4” cable (delivered as one 16ft piece)

2ea 26ft 1/4” Stainless 9x19 wire rope cables

4ea 3/4” end fittings

2ea grease cups (which the original system didn’t have)

It all arrived in a 14x14x6 box. The conduit was a single 16ft piece.

Steering System Order

We discovered that the conduits had not lost any length due to the corrosion. A 4-inch grinder with cutoff disk is the ideal tool to cut the conduit. A hacksaw would be a *lot* of work to cut through the spring steel. The heat of the grinder causes the inner core to melt slightly, which was easily cleaned out with a 17/64 drill bit. A 1/4” drill wasn’t big enough—leaving enough burr that the wire rope wouldn’t fit.

Cut conduit with melted core lip

We measured how far into the starboard aft cabin access port we could reach and put the grease cups at that distance. That was an 18” piece, grease cup, then the remainder to make 7ft 9in in total length. The grease cup was loaded with SuperLube Teflon grease, as recommended by Will. We also applied a thin coating of the same grease to the cut ends of the conduit to help prevent corrosion.

The end fittings and grease cup fittings have a slot cut in them. They are threaded to match the spiral on the conduit. Put a flat blade screwdriver into the slot to open it slightly and get the conduit threading started. Remove the screwdriver and thread the fitting the remainder of the way and clamp with the provided hose clamp. This process worked well for the grease cups.

Open the split in the end fitting with a screwdriver

Once we had the replacement conduit assembled, we ran the new cable through it to make sure that it would fit. One of the pieces of conduit needed the burr of the melted inner core cleaned out a bit more. We also used a file to round off the tip of the cable, which looked like it had melted together when it was originally cut - probably with a cutoff disk like we used for the conduit. Will recommended saturating the cable with epoxy and wrapping with tape before cutting so that it doesn’t fray during installation. The grease cups were filled with Super Lube Teflon (Will’s recommendation), assembled loose, and not screwed down. Lubrication will be covered later in the process.

The new conduit with the grease cups must be installed from the stbd cabin access port. It won’t fit through the opening near the engine compartment. We used an  old conduit as a pull cable by taping the new conduit to the old using packing tape, covering both conduits to 6 inches to prevent them from disconnecting. Packing tape is strong and thin so it won’t hang up on things. A pull cord didn't work as well as the old conduit.

The entire area where the conduit is installed was very dirty and we took some time to vacuum it out. Much of the gunk was old fiberglass and wood dust from drilling and sanding when the boat was built.

We threaded the aft end fittings all the way into the sheave bases and were able to get the conduit started, then threaded the remaining way into the fittings. It was easy enough to thread that grabbing the grease cups from inside the stbd cabin access port worked well. We oriented the grease cups so we could service them and clamped the conduit at the aft end fittings in the engine room.

It was obvious from the old conduit that Leopard cut down the spiral cover on the conduit in order to install it into the end fittings that are behind the stbd cabin’s bulkhead. That leaves parts of the spring steel exposed where it can corrode, so we opted for a different approach.

Old conduit cover cut down - we didn't do this

The end fittings were screwed all the way into the sheave bases and the conduit threading started. The screwdriver allowed us to open the end of the fittings enough to get two turns of the conduit spiral into the threads. The end fittings were then unscrewed two full turns. That covered enough of the conduit for a solid grip while leaving enough of the fitting threads engaged to be safe. In fact, we noted that the end fittings had not been screwed in to their full depth when we took the old ones out.

Fwd fitting with conduit at 2 turns depth

Aft end fittings, with one conduit installed

We fully installed one conduit, then repeated with the other conduit. The conduits do not cross in the run from under the helm to the engine compartment. The outboard sheave under the helm goes to the outboard sheave in the engine compartment.

Both conduits in place with grease cups

Attach the chain to the wire rope and insert the wire rope into the conduits, starting from under the helm. The chain and helm was centered, and the cables were marked with a Sharpie permanent marker where they entered the conduits. We pulled them back into the stbd cabin and started lubing them with Super Lube Teflon between the marks as we pushed them back into the conduit. Our objective was to work the lube into the cables before tightening the grease cups.

Position the wire rope to each side, loosen the turnbuckles to where they are 1/4 engaged and loosely clamp with one wire rope clamp. (The saddle on the clamp goes on the standing end of the wire, following the ditty: Never saddle a dead horse.) Make sure the helm works as desired and that the centerline marking on the helm matches the center of the chain throw. This is the time to check all alignments and end-to-end runs of the wheel. When you’re happy, clamp the cable, tension the turnbuckles to take out any slack, and lock the turnbuckles. We used a rotary tool with cutoff wheel to cut the cable. It wasn’t necessary to use the 4-inch grinder, though that would have worked as well. We tightened the grease cups some to inject some of the grease into the conduit. We put all the long bolts back in place, double checked everything, and the job was done.

If there are questions, please ask on the LeopardCatamaranOwner's list on Groups.io.

 -Terry

Shifty, Shifty – Replacing Morse Control Cables

We had taken a cruise around the Chesapeake Bay and everything on Lux was working as it should. But as we were coming back to our dock, we discovered that the starboard engine throttle didn't work. After a few minutes of diagnosis, we discovered that the throttle cable had broken. Without throttle, we had limited engine thrust at idle speed. At least we could shift gears.

It’s finally time to replace the Morse control cables. The starboard engine shifter and throttle had not exhibited any stiffness, so it was interesting that the cable broke. The port shifter however, was stiff and we were apprehensive about replacing the long cables that needed to go through two conduits and several bends. It turned out to be easier than we anticipated.

What length should we order? We could remove the cables and measure them, but then we wouldn’t be able to use the old cable to pull the new cable through the twisty passages.

Internet research indicated that the cables should have a number stamped on them. Sure enough, we found numbers on the cables after removing the Morse shifter mechanism at the helm: TFX 032377-03 360.0 Further investigation on the Internet found that the last number, 360.0, is the length in inches. Blue tape labels were added to identify the cable functions: shifter, throttle, and stop. The cables were confirmed with Leopard Catamarans as model 33C (alternatively labeled 3300CC):

• Starboard shifter 21 ft (6.5m)

• Starboard throttle 21 ft (6.5m)

• Starboard stop 25ft (7.75m)

• Port shifter 27ft (8.5m)

• Port throttle 30ft (9.5m)

• Port stop         30ft (9.5m)

Replacement cables were ordered from Jamestown Distributors. They are reasonably priced and when they arrived, we found a significant improvement in the smoothness of operation. That was what many of the online posts had said, but it was nice to find out that it was true.

It is also easy to find the mechanical drawings for the Morse Control online (dual control in our case). Disassembly is straight forward. The picture below shows the starboard half of the shifter with the new black-covered cables in place. The red cables are original and go to the port engine. 

The next picture shows the internals of the shifter mechanism. Four screws hold the dual assembly into the fiberglass and two machine screws hold the two halves together. Note the extensive use of grease to keep corrosion at bay.

Installing the new cables

On the 2005 L40, running cables from the controls to the engines is pretty easy. They go down to the space behind the starboard-aft cabin access panel. The starboard cables then go into a blue conduit that connects to the engine compartment. Leave enough slack at the helm shifter to allow for servicing.

The cables to the port engine take a longer path through conduit across the bridge deck, then into another blue conduit that goes aft to the engine compartment. We found that it was easiest to use the old cable to pull the new cable. We removed the nuts from the cable ends and coupled the two cables together with a 1 ft long piece of duct tape wrapped lengthwise. The fibers in the duct tape provide strength while allowing flexibility. One person can pull the new cable in place if you don’t mind going back and forth from end to end. It was best to pull all the cable into the area behind the panel in the starboard aft cabin, then pull it into the area behind the port aft cabin, then into the port engine compartment.

During the process, we found a one of the port engine cables had a 2-ft diameter loop behind the electrical panel in the port-aft cabin. We eliminated this loop during the installation of the new cables, which helps make the operation smoother.

The ends of the cables are setup the same as with the original cables, so take pictures of the connections before disassembling them.

We’ve not had to replace the engine stop controls. The starboard stop cable can be installed by hand after removing the old cable. Either pull a pull-cord in place or cut off the helm end of the stop cable and use duct tape as with the shifter/throttle.

We had to spend a little time adjusting the linkages so that the throttle handles were even with each other at the same RPM. That’s no big deal.

Alternatives

You may find articles that describe dripping oil into the control cables. We did this initially. It was a waste of time. The amount of time we spent trying to lubricate the cables was comparable to the time to replace them and the results were not as good as the replacement.

Results

We found a significant improvement in shifting and throttle operation after installing the new cables. The installation wasn’t as challenging as we had initially anticipated. One of us was able to do the entire job unassisted. The starboard engine controls took about an hour to replace while the port engine controls took about three hours.

The Case of the Cracked Flywheel Housing

Damaged Engine Mount (Rubber bushing)

In late 2015, we were on LUX, heading down the ICW to south Georgia where we were leaving LUX for a few months. We had just made it into South Carolina and Gee reported a new grinding type sound from the port engine (behind her bunk) when under way. Sure enough, it was distinctly different than the sound from the port engine. We had made it to Georgetown, SC by this time. We lucked out - a diver was working on zincs on another boat on the dock, so we were able to get him to check out the saildrives. He reported that the port drive was loose. A little investigation in the engine compartment with a light showed the engine mount on the saildrive seemed to be heavily worn and should be replaced. (See Damaged Engine Mount)

We called around and found one that could be shipped to Charleston, SC, where we planned to replace it. We motored the rest of the way to Charleston using the starboard engine except for docking. Of course, shipping parts to any port is fraught with risk and this was no different. It took all of the first day in Charleston to get the part and make it back to LUX.

Next, we started looking at removing the existing engine mount. Imagine our surprise upon looking closer and finding a crack in the flywheel housing. A closer examination showed that the crack was all the way around the perimeter of the saidrive’s connection to the flywheel housing.

Cracked Housing - Outboard

Our reaction was a bit stronger than “Oh No!” Our immediate thought was that it was going to require professional help and cost several thousand dollars to fix. Time to break out the phone and start making calls. The soonest we could be helped was the following week. Not only would it cost a bunch to make the repair, we’d be stuck in Charleston at an expensive marina. It was time to go to dinner and think about the situation. 

Think, think, think

How did it happen? The last charter in the BVIs was a disaster. LUX drug anchor and ran aground. Damage was fairly minimal, but the port prop took a few hits and had to be straightened. We think that a crack started then and four years of working back and forth extended it around the saildrive.

Cracked Housing - Inboard

It's Cracked All the Way Around!

Our port engine wasn’t totally out of commission. It could be used for docking as long as we didn’t need much power. We had made it from Georgetown to Charleston on one engine. Waiting in Charleston for repairs didn’t seem useful. There were other service companies in Georgia. So we decided to continue south, primarily on one engine.

As we made our way south, we thought about the problem, looked the engine over, and studied the parts diagrams. We could just slide the engine back about four inches and replace the cracked housing. Hmmm. Really? We had many hours to think on it. Checking eBay, we found a used flywheel housing that was much less than a new housing. We ordered it with shipment to our destination marina in Georgia. 

We thought about how to support the engine so we could decouple it from the saildrive and replace the flywheel housing.  We started collecting parts we thought would be of use. The end result was that we decided that we could to the job.

Doing the Job

Supporting the Engine

Mike orchestrated the repair, using an oak board, lines, and turning blocks to support the engine. It took most of the day to replace the housing. The old housing was indeed cracked all the way around the saildrive mount.

The new housing arrived in great shape and was soon installed and the engine coupled back to the saildrive.

Broken Flywheel Housing

New Flywheel Housing

The saildrive engine mount still had to be replaced. Just getting the old engine mount bushing out was a problem. It wouldn’t move. We had rented a car so we headed off to Tractor Supply, the source for all sorts of big parts. We returned with a 2-1/8 inch socket, a big wheel puller, all-thread rod, big washers, and a few other parts.

These parts did the job, allowing us to pull the old bushing and install the new bushing. We had to use heat on the saildrive mount to get the old bushing out and the new busing in (note the heatgun in the photo of installing the new bushing).

We were back to two fully functioning engines without having to spend too much time or money.

Removing the Engine Mount Bushing

Installing the New Engine Mount Bushing

FlexoFold Props

Original Fixed Blade Props

LUX has had the stock two-blade fixed props that are outfitted on the charter fleet.

We had spent some time buddy boating with Dave on 5thQuarter and he was able to make better speeds at lower RPM, even though he had the 30HP Volvo MD2030 engines (LUX has the 40HP MD2040 engines). We recorded measurements of the performance at different points in time, shown in the table below, including 5Q’s performance, just for reference.
It was clear that Flexofold props were better. But they make a two blade prop and a three blade prop. Which one should we get?

Description (both engines running)	RPM	Speed (kn)
Before 2014 Haulout	2500	6.5
	2800	7.1
After 2014 Haulout	2500	6.9
	2800	7.3
Three months after 2015 Haulout	2500	7.1
	2800	7.4
After 2016 Haulout (Flexofold props)	2500	7.4
	2800	7.7
	3000	7.9
	3400	8.3
5th Quarter	2500	7.3
	2800	7.6

Flexofold with PropSpeed

We asked Flexofold what they recommended for the MD2040 engines with the 130SR saildrdives (gear ratio 1:2.47). They responded that the three-blade 16x13 props would perform best. We agonized over the decision for a while and queried them about three-blade vs two-blade props, which 5Q and other Leopards we knew had. They told us that the extra blade helps with powering into seas and headwinds. The additional blade also provides better reverse performance. The pair of three blade props was $1000 USD more than the two blade props. We finally decided that the additional power was worth the money and ordered the three blade 16x13 props. They arrived within two weeks, nicely packaged. There was a small nominal charge from the shipper for entry into the US.

We have never had good luck with prop anti-fouling. It always seems to only last half the year. So we decided to try PropSpeed this year. It is an expensive anti-fouling for running gear. It has a tight timeline for application of multiple coats, so we had to be prepared and work quickly. We noted a number of boats being hauled had PropSpeed applied to the running gear and it seemed to be working for them. We’ll see…

We are happy with the performance of the Flexofolds. We can now motor on one engine at the same speed (in flat water) that we previously attained when motoring with two engines (6.6kn @ 2500rpm, 7.3kn @ 2700rpm). The motoring speed with two engines is improved (shown in the table above). Reverse performance seems about as good as with the fixed blade props. We did an informal quick stop test, similar to the one in the Yachting Monthly Folding and feathering propeller test magazine article of March 2015. The Yachting Monthly article reported stopping in 9.5 seconds, or 48 ft. In our test, we were able to go from 6kn to stopped in approximately one boat length (about 40ft). This is quite acceptable to us. Sailing performance also seems better, which we attribute to the folding props. The better motoring performance on one engine is also due to elimination of drag from the idle engine/prop. In summary, we’re quite happy with the Flexofold props.

Compression Ding Repair

Ground Out Ding with First Layer of Fiberglass

Every summer we tackle a list of projects that bring LUX closer to where we want her to be. The good news is that we seem to be getting close to the end of seemingly endless projects. This summer, we tackled a big compression ding on the port side, replaced the saildrive bellows, replaced the vibration dampener in the engines, and installed Flexofold props.

LUX had had a 6 inch diameter compression ding amidships, port. We ignored it last year (2015) as we were upgrading the standing rigging. This year's project started with the big grinder - grinding out the gelcoat and upper layers of fiberglass and feathering it out to a 12 inch diameter area.

Epoxy Workstation on a Walk Board

The fiberglass had delaminated from the underlying end-grain balsa. We drilled a few small holes in the fiberglass that remained. There are many opinions on whether to use epoxy or polyester resin on repairs. Our understanding is that polyester to polyester is only a mechanical bond, so we prefer epoxy, which also has adhesion. The Gougeon Brothers West Epoxy system has a lot of documentation and we’re experienced in using it, so that’s our go-to system for fiberglass repairs. We mixed some epoxy, adding cabosil (silica) to slightly thicken it, and injected it between the fiberglass and the balsa with a small plastic syringe.

Apply Pressure While the Epoxy Cures

The remaining epoxy was thickened and used to apply concentric circle layers of chopped mat and cloth to the surface of the depression. A piece of plastic sheet covered the still wet fiberglass and a squeegee was used to squeeze out the excess epoxy and bubbles. We then pressed a piece of flat foam on top of the plastic sheeting, backed by a piece of plywood. The whole thing was held in place by a set of walk boards.

12 inch Drywall Knife

24 inch Paint Shield

The area around the ding was masked off and the surface scrubbed and sanded to remove the amine blush that the West Epoxy system creates on the surface. The plastic sheet should prevent the formation, but we needed to sand it to create a “tooth” to help bond successive layers of repair. Low density fairing compound (#407) was mixed with epoxy and applied to the sanded surface. We used a 12 inch drywall taping knife to feather out the surface. 

As the surface came up to the same level as the gelcoat, we switched to a 24 inch painting shield to apply epoxy mixed with Microlight sanding filler (#410).

It took several coats of the Microlight epoxy mix to feather the repair to the same level as the gelcoat. We then used a sanding block and a 4-inch pad sander to sand it down slightly below the level of the surrounding gelcoat. The metal kedge of the 24 inch painting shield, bowed so that it followed the curvature of the hull, worked well for showing that the repair surface was slightly below the gelcoat. It helps to use some white tint in the epoxy in the final stages so that the underlying color isn't as dark.

Preval Sprayer Kit

Time for something new: spraying gelcoat. We had heard about using the Preval disposable sprayers for small gelcoat repairs. It is definitely at the low end of the quality scale for spraying gelcoat. The gelcoat was thick, even after thinning as much as we dared. The resulting surface has an orange peel dimple to it, clearly visible in the below picture. We knew that we’d have to sand down the orange peel dimples, so we applied several coats over the course of the afternoon, making a quick trip to the local marine supply store for more Preval sprayers. Only the refill compressed tank and sprayer valve was needed. We mixed the gelcoat in a small cup and sprayed directly from the cup.

Orange Peel Stipple Pattern

We used the finish version of gelcoat, so we didn’t have to spray an air barrier (PVA mold release) on the surface. Color matching was the difficult step. We’ve been slowly gaining experience with gelcoat color matching. The Leopards seem to use a brown tint, which we were not able to replicate using red, yellow, and black. The amount of each of these colors is simply too small to accurately get the right color. We finally found a small tube of brown color in a kit from Jamestown Distributors. A very small dimple of color paste on the end of a bamboo skewer is just about right for mixing with an ounce of white gelcoat. The Leopard interiors require a little additional color paste since they are more of an eggshell color than the topsides.

Ready for Sanding

Careful sanding of the gelcoat was required to remove the orange peel surface effect without getting too thin. We started with 220 grit on a pad sander to take off the high spots. Then it was time to remove the blue tape and plastic sheet and start wet sanding with paper around a wood block. We started at 320 and progressed to 600, then 1200. Patience is required. If you go too fast or too hard, the gelcoat gets thin and you can see the darker filler compound below. Feather it out to the surrounding gelcoat. Then we finished with a compounding wax and a buffer.

The entire process took us about a week, mostly due to waiting for the epoxy to cure. We also had to be careful of warm sun causing the epoxy and gelcoat to cure too quickly.

I didn’t have a final picture. But when I went to get one, I couldn’t find the exact spot. It must be a good repair if I can’t easily find it while looking from the deck.

Saildrive Bellows Replacement

Removing the Engines

LUX has Volvo MD2040 diesel engines with SR130 saildrives. To our knowledge, the bellows that seal out the sea water around the saildrives have never been replaced. The recommended replacement interval is 7 years and we are at 12 years. Next, the vibration dampener in the port engine needed to be replaced, something that didn’t get done when we replaced the cracked flywheel housing. We also had a clicking sound in the starboard engine controls that we’d like to investigate.

It started with removing the engines from their compartments. We’ve been hauling out at Jabin’s Yacht Yard in Annapolis. LUX’s 20’2” beam just fits their 21 ft beam 75 ton lift. They have a good crew and a convenient location for us. We disconnected everything from the engines, taking care to label everything. The lift crew then uses the forklift to hoist the engines out of the boat.

We placed the engines under LUX where we could work on them.

Servicing the Engines

Saildrive on its way home for servicing

The saildrives were removed and taken home to be serviced and prepared for installing the new bellows. The prop shafts and seals were checked and serviced so that they wouldn’t leak. The props have to be removed in order to get the saildrives out. It also helped to have someone below the boat, using a screwdriver to pry the external boot open around the bulge at the lower gear assembly. We also replaced the sea water valves since they were original equipment. They were operating correctly, but we've heard numerous stories about various valves on the Leopards. These were the last valves to be replaced.

We cleaned up the engine compartments. While doing gelcoat, we masked the area around the engine mounts and coated the existing green gelcoat with white gelcoat. We also filled in some of the pits in the old gelcoat that tended to collect oil and gunk.

Damaged Vibration Dampener

The old vibration dampeners were definitely damaged, as seen in this photo. Rubber parts were just lying inside. We've collected them in a small pile to the right of the main part of the dampener in this photo. They're black, so they are hard to see against the black tailgate lining. The metal parts tapping each other was probably the source of the metallic clicking sound that we had been hearing from the starboard engine.

New Vibration Dampener

The new vibration dampeners look very nice.

While we had the engines out, we replaced the oil pans. Salt water on the bottom of the pans over the past 12 years was causing pitting and the last thing we needed was to have one spring a leak.

Everything went back together as planned. All the labeling paid off. There were no left over parts and the engines started right up. The clicking noise in the starboard engine is no longer there, and after seeing the vibration dampener damage, we’re confident that it was the source of the noise.