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Thank you all and thank you girman. That PDF is gold dust!

Hi Jim, the movement is all horizontal. The boat steers just fine but the noise was concerning.

Apologies for the late responses, but I've been away.

The impeller is definitely not the same, but the replacements are a lot cheaper.

I've not taken the thing apart so, I'm not sure what the internal differences are. Externally, it's machined well and sits very nicely on the land. I used my original elbow joints on the JMP, again with no problems.

Subjectively, water outflow seems about the same. It does the job just fine in UK sea temperatures (65 Fahrenheit).

The JMP pump is really good. I installed one at the beginning of the season. Everything mates up nicely and the casting quality looks good. Nice also to have an all-bronze unit.

I'm stuck! I have a wobbly rudder and I don't know where to begin with either diagnosing the problem or rectifying it. I'm hoping someone might be able to offer some advice.

Last month returning to the UK on a 90 mile trip in benign conditions, the rudder started groaning and creaking occasionally. The noises quickly became louder and occurred every time the wheel moved. When I took off the emergency tiller plate I could see that the top of the rudder shaft was moving about ½ to ¾ inch. Some WD40 on the lower bearing solved the noise issue but I know I have to deal with the source of the problem.

The most obvious solution is to address the movement at the top of the shaft with sheet shims or a 3D-printed top shim, as per the advice on this forum. But I'm not sure if this is the complete solution. Does that much movement indicate that the lower hull bearing is shot and also needs replacing? What else in the rudder system should I be looking at?

Thank you Noah, that was what I was looking for!

I have a Mk II about the same age as yours. In addition to the other good comments, I would take a close look at the raw water pump. If it hasn't ever been replaced then it almost certainly needs to be. I'd start by looking for signs of water weeping, or rust, around it and, after my own recent experience, I would definitely take the pump off and inspect the slot at the end of the camshaft for undue wear.

I've had to replace a LOT of stuff on my boat. I'm starting to think that at this particular age point, the boat has a lot of OEM stuff that's reaching its end of life. An older boat - it's probably been replaced already. A younger boat, it's probably not yet worn out.

I love the boat so I'm not too fed up with the technical issues but, jeez, it would be nice to get through one season without a serious issue.

I'm trying to locate a post I saw about a year ago by someone who 3d printed a shim for the top of the rudder stock. Searched but can't find it anywhere. Can someone please point me to it?

I always shut off all switches, except the bilge pump three way which is always powered.

Me too, just in case.

Hi Jim, 'scuse my ignorance, but what is a joker valve?

Hi all,

For no apparent reason the anti-syphon valve on my Blakes head has started shrieking loudly when pumping in water. The bowl flushes Ok most of the time, but not always. And now, no clean water remains in it after the flush. I took the inlet pipe off the sea cock to test the inflow. There's some flow but it's not exactly gushing out. Could this be a blockage in the sea cock, or is it likely to be a problem with the anti-syphon valve itself?

Or you could go the other way like us, and have a significantly smaller foresail. We opted for a yankee. Superb visibility, easy to handle and to tack and almost no noticeable loss of performance. We happily averaged 6.4 knots broad reaching in 15 kts today.

We had the same problem recently. Full tank, failed macerator. Luckily, we hadn't used the tank for poopies, so we syphoned it into the bilge and then pumped out. No smell or unpleasantness. But I wouldn't do this for a poopy tank!!

Last day of re-crossing Biscay, en-route to Brest. The rest of the crew had turned in, leaving me on watch, enjoying the sunset.

Err, how do you attach a piccie these days with the new message board layout?