Saildrive saga

Well the saildrive saga continues of course. No straight lines in this game, I went to visit the marine engineers to see what progress had been made in sourcing the special tool that was apparently broken. On further investigation it appears that it is more likely that the tools was lost as when I suggested I get another one made they could not find the broken bits! In fact Volvo were quoting at least 6 weeks to source a replacement and meanwhile the engineers were left scratching their "ears" So after looking at the instructions for the tool and getting hold of my saildrive and a bearing I established that what was required was a bearing puller with a long shaft and specific diameter. Now I know a very talented engineer in Netley Abbey who can make anything out of metal and so I drove to meet him, sat in his engineers's office surrounded by specs and projects that were in progress and together we drew out the tool, the specs and the process and off Ted went to draft it. I have the greatest confidence in Ted of Abbey Engineers in Netley Abbey and we will see if together we can show these multinationals how to solve a problem.  Excited and again on the long march forwards.....   Update Thursday 26th may Saildrive bearing removal tool mk1 has been manufactured by Ted and has been picked up and taken to RK marine so that they can put in the bearings with it. I should be able to pick up the saildrive, the tools etc tomorrow.  

Saildrive bearing puller

 So the tool has been built, tested and delivered to RK marine and they have installed the drive bearings so I have brought the saildrive leg back to TS marine at Universal, they will now be able to reinstall the leg in the boat , Hurray!   Trouble with Sagas! They go on and on, good news here is my installed saildrive

Saildrive

Bad news was that when I went to pick up the anode from Ambassador I was given some sage advice which was to make sure that there was a gap between the prop boss and the prop so that the washer could spin. This is because the propeller has a rubber insert as a shock absorber in it, which is encased in an inner cyclinder which is supposed to sit proud of the prop at the boss end in order that the boss is not spun off by reversing the prop suddenly. If it is not proud enough or in my case is actually sunken then the prop is going to I spin the thread holding itself on and farewell my lovely! As you can see from the above the two are firmly touching, which means that the propeller is knackered and if left the prop is likely to spin off the shaft leaving a nasty mess! So the prop has to come off, worse news is that the spare is as bad, so the boat cannot be launched until a replacement is found.

Boss

I am going MAD with frustration, this whole saga is jinxed