Saildrives Plus and Minus

[tommays]

Sail Drives are like Outdrives on a Powerboat


Which means they are a 100% matiance nightmare compared to a normal shaftdrive inboard



Tommays

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by tommays

Sail Drives are like Outdrives on a Powerboat


Which means they are a 100% matiance nightmare compared to a normal shaftdrive inboard



Tommays

That is, obviously, your and your own opinion only....off course....

have you owned both? I do and did...

what you say is completely ridiculous, unless the SD has been installed by morons.

[Jeff_H]

Alex:

Welcome Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You were sorely missed.

Jeff

[tommays]

I am just a humble guy who deals with machinery and what it requires over the long term to stay alive


For example

How often do you reseal the drive

How do you pull the bearing carrier after long term saltwater use

What do you do when the oil seal has grooved the shaft and it will not hold pressure anymore


All of these things are common on any type of unit gearcase left in saltwater and it is the price you pay to gain the space savings of a saildrive

[Jeff_H]

I had a saildrive for fourteen years on my previous boat. To answer your question.....

How often do you reseal the drive?
I assume that you mean replace the propeller shaft seal. I replaced the seal when I bought the boat and 12 years later as a precaution. It never leaked and came out looking nearly perfect.

How do you pull the bearing carrier after long term saltwater use?
I assume again you mean the thrust bearing on the propshaft. On my boat there was a split lower casing cover that unbolted vertically and the bearing came out quite easily.

What do you do when the oil seal has grooved the shaft and it will not hold pressure anymore?
The same thing that you do when the cutlass bearing gooves the shaft, replace the shaft only it costs a lot less money for the short shaft that they use on an saildrive.

Its not that saildrives are a perfect answer. Frankly, when I bought a boat that I hoped to cruise for a long time, I did not want one. But for coastal cruising, as long as you are religious about changing the zincs, checking the transmission fluid, and keeping the cases sealed (I epoxied coated mine as soon as I bought the boat) they do offer a lower drag, lower regular maintenance solution than a conventional shaft. I have spent far more replacing cutlass bearings on my current boat than I ever spent on the saildrive.

Jeff

[Giulietta]

Tommays,

That does'nt look like a saildrive to me.

Looks like a power boat thingy.

Saildrives normally are one piece legs, and are not disassebled like that. Also, because they don's go fast they don't need the horizontal fins shown in your picture.


Care to show the rest of that saildrive drive for me? please?

Here is a saildrive, as you can see they are one piece.

[tommays]

I gave my MHP and you gave yours

Mine is over its life time a shaft drive has far less problems

Yours is that there is no differance




Tommays

[camaraderie]

This thread is relocated for continuing discussion on the relative merits of sail drives.

[mikehoyt]

Then of course there is the issue of stuffing box, etc on shafts. I have not heard of a saildrive experiencing a serious leak that could sink a boat - I have with shafts. Each has its own pros and cons.

Glvanic corrosion another problem on sail drive lower legs. There are also ways to deal with that.

There is an entire Yahoo group devoted to saildrives - particularly the old OMC Zephyr. It can be found here saildriveowners : Saildrive Owners Group

To each his own - but usually we are stuck with whatever comes on the boat we opt to buy. Personally I would not decide for or against a boat because it has shaft, saildrive or even outboard ...

Mike
J27 (outboard)

[anchorsaweigh]

Mine looks the same...as do all other saildrives I've seen. The one this one replaced was 24 years old and was still working at 100%. The only reason I changed it was because I repowered. I'm certain that hose who berate saildrives do so based upon either the misinformation they've been fed or the old OMC unit with 2-cycle engine.

Cheers,

Bob