[RichCarter]

I replaced the coupling bolts on my RV-20 with socket screws. They are easier to access with an Allen-wrench.

I suggest reading the RV-20 manual and following the troubleshooting section. Peter has one posted online.
http://www.dublerfamily.com/Regina_oceani/Manuals/Drive%20Train%20and%20Fuel%20System/V-Drive/Walter%20V-Drive%20RV-20%20Short%20Version%20Manual.pdf

Good luck
Rich

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

Jack,
V-drive parts are available from Walter but most parts are simple car parts used or adapted for their use. It sounds like you lost a bearing and depending on how lucky you are you may have done some serious damage to the gears but perhaps you can just tear it down and rebuild what you have. Your cooling jacket is leaking so you if you repair the RV-20 you need to either fix the leak or run it without cooling.

You can pull the V-drive without pulling the boat. This is a five-hammer job so if you don’t consider yourself very handy don’t attempt to rebuild this thing. You should be able to remove the unit yourself with patience and a few tools. Rebuilding requires special tools and aligning the unit when its reinstalled is very tricky. If you chose to repair the leak, you need to thoroughly clean the cooling jacket. It took me hours to clean mine. Rebuilding would best be done by someone who has the right tools. The hardest part is finding a wrench that fits the special nuts they use. I made a couple of them years ago and gave them to another member.

Walter no longer has cases for the RV-20. I don’t know if they would be willing to touch it if the cooling jacket leaks.

I pasted my notes from when I rebuilt mine years ago below.

Read this too if you haven’t already.
http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/Vdrive.html

Rich

—–Original Message—–

[RichCarter]

Dan,
The end of the shaft sits in a coupling that attaches to the V-drive. The coupling clamps tightly around the end of the shaft and has a set-screw that also holds it in place. A key keeps it from spinning in the coupling. In forward, thrust pushes the shaft forward anyway but in reverse I have heard of rare stories of boats losing their shaft if the coupling isn’t maintained properly. In theory the shaft could only pull out until it hits the zinc against the strut but if the boat truly isn’t maintained there is no zinc.

Rich

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

That is a steal! A repower can run well over $20K and she has a new engine. Someone just spent some bucks on this. Photos show a lot of upgrades and improvements.

Struts on these things were not faired and the comment should be ignored. I’d speak to the surveyor and a local yard to get an estimate for the hull repair. Small voids are to be expected and are of no significance. I think there is a process for removing the gelcoat and letting the hull dry-out followed by new gelcoat. This requires special tools and skills. Your surveyor may know of a local yard that can handle this. Even if you dropped $20K into her, it may be well worth it. 422s are more expensive than 424s.

Take the boat out under power and see how she runs. If the engine replacement wasn’t done right she won’t go over 7kts and may vibrate a lot at cruising speed. Check the V-drive dipstick for water in the cases. The oil will look like chocolate milk if its leaking.

Rich

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

I’m pretty sure that the 422 and 424 share the same hull and are laid up from the same mold. I believe that the rudder and rudder skeg are cored with wood but the rest of the hull is solid layup. It’s common for water to penetrate the rudder skeg through the bronze shoe fasteners. If its salt-water I don’t think this is an issue. It’s also common to get water in the rudder. This may be more of a problem if it freezes and cracks the rudder.

I’m not aware of water penetration problems reported in the rest of the hull. Some amount of moisture is common in an old boat. Ask the surveyor if he things readings indicate a problem. The cure for this is to dry the hull out and apply a good barrier coat.

Decks are balsa cored. The core is laid up in vertical blocks. Water that enters the hull can slowly permeate an area of the deck but it usually doesn’t travel far from the source. This problem is common around the stanchions. The repair is straightforward and inexpensive. I’d be concerned if there is a large area of the deck that shows water but a few small areas around fittings is typical.

Rich – BlackSheep #47

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

Dan

You might remove the alternator and anything else that makes it narrower.

Rich

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[RichCarter]

Dan

You should be able to force the valve open. 

 

The fuel will siphon until you plug the line or until the liquid level gets lower than the fuel line.  If you’ve already drained your tank to your best ability, don’t worry about it.  You’ll just lose what’s in the fuel line and the top of the filter housing, a couple of cups of fuel.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Dan

There is a valve on my fuel line before the Racor.  Doesn’t your boat have one?

 

If not, you’ll have to put diapers down to absorb what you spill.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Sounds like they were replaced once before.  The original elbows on hull #47 were cheap brass, the same kind you use in a kitchen sink.  When they leaked, I replaced them with cheap plastic as a temporary fix about 20 years ago.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

I’d be hesitant about putting a zinc in there. Any chips that fall off will find their way into the heat exchanger. They will plug up some of the water channels. Walter didn’t put one in there. If they thought it should have one it would.

The two plugs in the cooling jacket are for an oil cooler. Some models have a coil that runs through there to provide extra cooling for the gearbox oil. With only about 50 HP, the W60 didn’t need an oil cooler.

On my old RV-20, the plugs rusted through and started leaking. Once the head rusts, its a bear to remove them. You have to drill them out and retap. I suggest replacing them every 10 years or so. You need a tap for a pipe thread. I think this has the right size.
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-pipe-tap-die-set-91395.html

You can clean and coat the cooling jacket with epoxy such as marine-tex. I did this to my old RV-20. Scraping away the rust is a terrible job. If you do any scraping, be sure to flush any chips out of the cooling jacket so they don’t travel through to the heat exchanger.

Rich

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

Discussions in the past haven’t resolved questions about battery capacity problems. Perhaps there is a new technology for battery storage but if so I haven’t heard it. Has someone found something more cost effective than golf-cart batteries?

If we assume that an equivalent 25HP shaft rating is enough to move a 424 at a modest speed of about 6kts, we’d need about 70 golf-cart batteries to get just 10 hours of running time. These would weight about 5000 lbs. I’m not sure the batteries would last very long if you continually deep discharged them so you might want to reduce running time to 5 hrs unless absolutely necessary. I can’t imagine cruising with less capacity. I don’t know where you’d put them. They might fit where the engine and fuel tank were but then the weight would have a negative impact on trim. If you get them at a good price, you might pay $100 ea. This comes to about $7K.

I must be missing something.

Rich

—– Original Message —–

[RichCarter]

The input shaft just pulls out.  The output shaft unbolts at the coupling.

Rich

[RichCarter]

My RV-26 gets warm even with cold Atlantic seawater running through the cooling system.  Without cooling, I think it would run hot.  I typically cruise a bit faster than what you report, about 7 or 7.3 kts.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

John
I tool a look at your installation and noticed that you appear to have no provision to make athwart-ship alignment adjustments on your unit. How did you align the thing?

Rich

[RichCarter]

My boat was the same model year, hull #47. I repowered several years ago. There is no attachment so I can’t see what your v-drive looks like.

Basically, the Walter unit is IMHO poorly designed. The cooling jacket is cast-iron, not copper. It has no provision for fresh-water cooling and therefore is destined to rust out after about 30 years. Eventually, the cooling jacket will rust through near the dipstick, allowing water to seep into the gearbox. Keep an eye on the oil condition. When it fails, the oil will turn to the color of chocolate milk. I’m surprised that your unit hasn’t already rusted out. Perhaps the PO already replaced it once or maybe it was kept in fresh water.

The RV-20 is no longer in production. Cases for this unit are unobtanium. While you could rebuild the gearbox, this seems like a waste of money if you can’t replace the cases. If you decide to replace the unit, you’ll be installing an RV-26. The best time to do this is when you repower since you could then change the gear reduction if you chose. This opens up your selection to more possible engine replacements.

Here are my notes on repowering. There’s a section in there about the V-drive. There is also a spreadsheet attachment that itemizes what this cost me. My suggestion is to nurse what you have and save your pennies. Please feel free to ask questions.

http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/

Rich Carter
BlackSheep #47

—– Original Message —–

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