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.