Saildrive rubber sealing missing

[Florian68]

Hello, today I had a nice surprse in the morning: after startiing the engine and engaging into gear I felt a rattling vibration and sure enough, the rubber thing that is glued to the hull and sits on the saildrive was parially eaten by the propeller due to an insuffient glue ( or insufficient worker) this thing was glued when the new antifouling was done, so it lasted 3 months or approximatly 12 hours of engine run time…….
Do I have to replace this thing fast? I am in Mallorca now and in the high season I would thing that it is hard to find a marina that has time for taking the boat out, not talking about the price for the lift to replace a part that is worth 30 Euros….. I would lile to take care of that thing with the next antifouling job, is it save to wait that long?

[symphony2]

Its only function is to smooth water flow around the recess in the hull. Nothing structural so replacement can wait.

[battuta]

Yup, I agree with Symphony on this.

I’d add though, that one other function is it helps reduce marine growth (particularly mussels out here in Canada) from the upper and tough to access part of the sail drive leg.

Some people out here have fashioned two-piece hard replacements (of fiberglass or other material) to affix instead of the rubber. And some have even screwed that on, because of how hard it is to get those rubber things to stay glued, although screwing into the bottom of the hull is something that doesn’t sit well with me.

In any event, dealing with this can wait. Post pictures of what you end up doing to deal with this!

[tiger79]

I've just had the saildrive diaphragm replaced on my 7 year old Cruiser 37.  In an attempt to keep the cost down (optimist!) I said I'd take the old rubber cover off myself. Well, whatever Bavaria used to stick it on was like rock!  A creamy yellow coloured substance, maybe a 2-part epoxy glue.  The only way I could remove it was to get a new plane blade, about 5cm wide, and use it with a lump hammer to hack into the adhesive layer.  Took me about 2 hours.  The Volvo Penta guy who put the new rubber cover on used a 2-part inflatable dinghy glue.  Whether it will stay stuck is anyone's guess.

[Moodymike]

I stuck mine with Bostic two part 8 yrs ago , still perfect.

[Jake]

Mine is attached with four short pieces of stainless strips, one for each side.  It has never been a problem.

Jake

[JEN-et-ROSS]

I almost hate to admit it but ours is stuck on with clear bathroom silicone sealant from Screwfix....(4 years so far)

[Florian68]

Thanks for your advice, I hope I can sell the boat this week, if it is coming out of the water I will use CT1 for glueing....