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I put sound insulation on the inside of the engine cover, sides and lid. I found that a lot of noise was still coming up above the engine box behind the bridge deck. As I recall, I put a piece of wood in there to cut off that noise. This improved engine noise but it was still annoying. The thing that most improved noise was a complete repower. This included a whole new exhaust system. My old W60 beast was a noisy engine.
As for vibration at low RPM, could your engine mounts need replacing?
Rich
Eduardo,
I have a 1979 424 and repowered about 10 years ago. The original engine was a W60. Parts for that are unobtanium so I had no choice. For the price of a used 424, there are few boats out there that provide as good a value. Almost any boat in this price range will require some work and may have old equipment. 3000 hours isn’t a lot for a properly maintained diesel. My yacht club runs Yanmar 75’s in the club launches. They usually run about 8000 hours before a rebuild is needed. I don’t know what the expected life span of a Westerbeke 58 is, but it should be similar. Age is the issue with these older engines. Parts can become hard to find and expensive. Maybe another member who has the same engine can comment on that. I think the W58 is a Perkins 4-154 and was adapted from a Mazda pickup.Rich
Odd to have a leak in the hull-deck joint. Unless you have previous damage to the rail, it seems unlikely. You sure it’s the joint? There’s a deck scupper there and the stanchion gate support legs commonly leak. Leaks are notoriously difficult to isolate. Water gets in behind things and appears in the oddest places, giving one the impression that the intrusion is nowhere near where it actually is.
Many years ago, I remember reading that the expected life of 3M 5200 was about 40 years. After reading that, I’ve been concerned about a joint failure but so far no such problem. Our boats are reaching that limit. I looked at the current specs for the product and find no published limit. Repairing the deck joint would be a nightmare job. I’m hoping that there is no age limit.
Assuming that you are right and there is a joint leak, you could remove the Genoa track and cut out a section of the cap rail. I had to replace a short section of mine many years ago due to damage. I got a piece of 3/4″ teak and used the cutout as a template.
I can’t advise on how to best repair the leak however since I’ve never had to deal with it. My guess is that you should grind the seam and glass it over. If it’s really leaking due to 3M 5200 failure, it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing leaks and needs the same repair. Please let us know what you find.
I’m repainting my deck. Stuck at home with the boat on the hard so it keeps me busy.
Along with everything else, I’d like to paint the traveler bridge. There’s a Pearson logo decal on each end that I’ll need to replace. Does anyone have a source for these or artwork that I can send to a shop?It’s been a while since I did this but as I recall, I mounted the base plates and side-bolted them to the pan. If you look closely at the photo, you can see one of the mounting bolts under the V-drive on the right side. I had to use locktite medium to keep them from loosening up. I set the v-drive in place and marked the position for the holes then removed the stuff and welded nuts to the bottom side. Welding isn’t necessary but it helps with the whole job because the nuts won’t fall into the bilge. A case of beer to a buddy who has a welder might get it done. Use steel nuts, not stainless or zinc plated if you weld. Everything else is stainless.
A drill-press and good set of bits is needed for a job like this. If you try to do this by hand, you’ll likely be off when you drill. I read that you don’t have one. Harbor freight sells one for about $70 plus about $20 for bits. If you have room in your home to store it, you’ll find all kinds of uses for it. A drop of oil on the drill tip saves the bit.
Brendan
Does this answer your questions?
http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/Vdrive.html
RichI took a second look at your spreader photo. If it were me, I’d cut off the ragged end of the spreader and drill and tap to put a pair of stainless studs in there. I’d put a stainless plate across them and clamp the thing down on the shrouds with a pair of stainless nuts. You can cut the end off full-thread stainless bolts to make studs. Stainless u-bolts could donate the straps. Acorn nuts on the very end would protect your spreader boots and sails. The advantage is that when you clamp them down on the shrouds, you support the spreaders so they can’t droop.
Rich
I never liked the stock spreaders. They aren’t attached well to the mast. I had to put clamps on the shrouds to keep them from drooping. I think Metalmast made them. I talked to someone at US Spars last year about replacing them with their spreaders. I forget what he quoted but it was ridiculous, maybe a grand each.
You could contact Metalmast about replacing or repairing what you have. Or you could bring them to a local welder and ask him if he can fix them. My guess is the latter option is less.
https://www.rigrite.com/Spars/Spartan_Spars/Sp165_sprdrs.php
Ben
I’ve had absolutely no issues with my Autostream. When shutting down the engine to switch to sail, I momentarily put the engine in reverse to cause the blades to fold. If they don’t fold, they will freewheel just like a fixed prop. Once folded, there is no need for the shaft break. My only complaint is loss of performance in reverse. Reverse is still there but I must give it a lot of throttle to force the blades to open.I don’t remember the old RV-20 causing objectional noise when in gear. I had the old W60 engine at the time which was loud all by itself. If you have a lot of noise, you might have a bad bearing. There’s a CV joint inside the V-drive. I’d look there first. I think you can remove the cover there without pulling the V-drive. It’s been many years since I was in there but as I recall, the bearings are generic car bearings.
Does your V-drive run hot when running the engine hard? My RV-26 runs warm even with good cooling flow when running at cruising speed of about 7kts. I assume that the faster an more powerful 75hp engine causes thing to heat up and without cooling water it would run too hot. You might consider using synthetic oil in there, higher heat range.
The RV-26 has an oil pump. If I ran it dry, I could probably put a heat-exchanger in there to cool the oil.
As for a coupling puller, you really don’t need one. You loosen the coupling and pull the shaft back a few inches, slip a socket in there and tighten it back up. This pulls the coupling off. You’ll need longer bolts. You must be careful to tighten the bolts evenly or you’ll warp the coupling or the V-drive flange. The RV-20 bolts are special. Don’t lose them in the bilge. Put a towel under there to catch anything you drop.
RichBen
If you read my repower notes, you’ll find that a fast running engine like the Yanmar is not a good fit for the stock transmission/v-drive gear ratio. You could put in a different transmission gear ratio or a different V-drive ratio. Since the RV-20 is at the end of it’s life, I swapped out the V-drive. You should expect your RV-20 to start leaking water into the gearbox soon. That’s the kiss of death for the unit because the case is no longer available.I would have gone to a bigger prop because I changed the gear ratio and I have a 75hp engine. The more powerful engine can swing a bigger prop.
I know all this is expensive and replacing your V-drive might bust your budget. You can live with it knowing that you don’t have enough bite with the setup you have. Don’t run the engine hard. You can damage the prop by causing it to cavitate.
As I recall, the threads for the new prop were entirely different. I don’t know if you’ll have enough material at the end of the shaft to cut it. Find a local machine shop that specializes in shafts and bring your shaft and prop there. Take pictures and careful measurements. In my case, they put the old shaft on a flat table and rolled it. There was a bend in the shaft, making it useless. I don’t recall what a replacement cost. The whole repower was close to $25K in parts about 10 years ago.
Ben
Call Martek and talk to them about prop size. They will model it for you and tell you what the right size is. Your W63 is a slower turning engine than my Yanmare so I would guess that the OEM prop size should be correct but double-check. My old prop says D20P13L. You’ll want to know the engine rated power at RPM before you call. The P424 displaces about 24000 lbs without beer onboard.I have a slipstream. Notes here
http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/Propeller.htmlI replaced my shaft at the same time so I had to cut new threads anyway. As I recall, there was an issue with the length of the threads because the hub extends past the end of the shaft. There may have been an issue with the length also to make room for linecutters. You can reach me privately if you want to chat about it. I suggest calling Martec customer service to discuss the threads.
Rich
Todd
I think you probably have the same caps as me. Mine are black plastic with a slot on the top for a deck key. These are a generic 1.5″ cap. You can find these on ebay or online. Try this.
https://www.marinedepotdirect.com/colored-nylon-deck-fill-cap.htmlRich
That looks serious. There must be a flaw in the steel stock used for the chainplate. You are at risk if you sail the boat with that kind of damage. I suggest removing the chainplate and bring it to a welding shop. They might be able to weld a piece of stock over what you have or build a replacement.