Cooling water on the hard

[mainesail]

Just the Facts, m'am....

1.   The M35B in that picture HAD the reinforcing collar in place.
2.   I've done marine pumps for 20 years, so I have some hands-on experience;
3.   The IRON-body Westerbeke pump (yes, Wb owns that pump) tends to seize and snap off the fork on the camshaft gear;
4.   The BRONZE Oberdorfer pump doesn't tend to seize up and snap off the fork;
5.   The fork broke BECAUSE that IRON-body pump was on that engine - it would still be intact if the Ob pump was on the engine;
6.   Wb devised the retrofit reinforcing collar because of early on, the number of times its pump destroyed the gear fork;
7.   Early on, Wb covered its mistake by offering a free reinforcing ring and pump gasket, and paid for parts and labor to replace a broken cam shaft;
8.   When that got too expensive, Wb covered its butt by issuing the 2013 warning to inspect its pump, because of it's tendency to seize up, EVERY TIME the engine is operated;
9.   No leeway on that maintenance schedule allowed by Wb;
10. Since 2013 will pay for nothing on the repair, NOR will Wb even supply the missing reinforcing ring;
11. I know of five other Catalina owners where the IRON-body pump destroyed the pump drive fork, and two were not the B-series engines -- at least two chose to replace theirs with an electric pump over doing an engine job.

Pop quiz - how can Beta Marine marineize the same Kubota block and not experience the same sea water pump problem? Simple - it doesn't use an IRON-body pump that seizes up.  No D'oh in the Beta Marine engineering department.

One's Boat, One's Choice whether to devote the time to maintain a pump on a daily basis.  But I wonder, again, why owners tend to defend companies that used inferior parts or poor design on their boats and who don't stand behind it's product?  I have my theory, but it's an interesting question about human nature.

-kk

I too know of far too many engines destroyed or severely damaged by the iron body Sherwood pump. The Sherwood pump is complete and utter rubbish.

This was the last one I did, a Catalina 30 that failed a buyers survey, and the owner got very, very lucky. The shaft to the pump sheared off instead of the cam driven shaft in the engine. Still this little mishap cost the owner $6000.00 and an additional two years on the market after the buyer got cold feet and walked..

If you have a Sherwood pump REPLACE IT NOW!!!!!



That said I would strongly advise against replacing a RWP with an electric pump. It is usually cheaper to replace the gear cam than an entire engine, when the owner hydro-locks it due to incorrect flow.

[Craig Illman]

Changing out the Sherwood was the first thing I did on my 1990 C30 with a M3-20 Universal before I even left the seller's slip to move it to Anacortes from Blaine. The pump was already weeping and was on the verge of seizing.

Craig

[KWKloeber]

Winterization tips...

I haven't read for for accuracy; correctness, etc, just passing it along

http://www.sailmagazine.com/cruising/cruising-tips/snow-sleet-and-storms/

-kk