New Bavaria 40 2001 owner - do I need saildrive seal replacement?

[mibbal]

Dear Bavaria owners,

I’m glad to join the community! Finally, after inspecting tens of boats, I’ve decided to purchase private Bavaria 40 2001 in Croatia in a very good condition.
I’ve never own Bavaria boat, but I’m really inspired of great community help here on this forum, so appreciate if you can advise on my questions.

I’ve never own the boat with saildrive, so seal replacement is now my main point of concern.

This boat has original saildrive seal (never replaced). It look good from inside (soft and w/o any cracks), but there is some water between rubber ring saildrive, also signs of leak near saildrive mount. I suppose this water came from leaking exhausting elbow (picture attached) and not from the seal itself (this also can explain why the mount has rust ) 

Am I right or it seems like saildrive seal leak? Do I need urgent seal replacement? I know it has to be replace each 7-10 years as per volvo recommendation, but do you know any proved case of catastrophic leakage because of worn out seal (not because of hitting something with saildrive)?

[Yngmar]

Welcome! 

The saildrive diaphragm is probably not leaking, it's just an area where water accumulates (or salt, which then attracts air moisture). Clean it up and dry it (paper towels / q-tips) and you'll see if more water comes in or not. Probably not. It's a good idea to keep this area clean, as oils can attack the rubber and rust flakes can damage it when in motion. One reason for changing the diaphragm is when the outer clamping ring is starting to rust away, but yours doesn't look bad. The rest of the saildrive looks like it could use a little TLC though, and given the age I would probably plan to do this job sometime in the next 2 years, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

However, if you just bought the boat, your insurance may or may not have a say about replacing it as condition for cover. There are 30+ year old diaphragms sailing around though with no problems, so they're mostly chill about it if the rest of it (especially the clamping ring) looks good.

I'd be much more concerned with the injector on the exhaust elbow. That thing is about to fall off, as the cast iron fitting has crumbled away inside the hose and likely it's only exhaust deposits that are holding it together at this point. That needs replacing urgently. Ideally not with the Volvo part, which only lasts maybe 2 years of cruising, but with the stainless steel part from parts4engines: https://www.parts4engines.com/volvo-penta-md22-stainless-steel-exhaust-elbow-connector-kit/

Also have a look at the seacock and nipple, particularly where the brass is threaded into the aluminium of the gearbox.

[mibbal]

Many thanks for so quick response, Yngmar! You've calm me down a bit about urgent diaphragm replacement.

Yes, injector is also my point of concern, specially because of white smoke produced on high rpm. Previous owner told me exhausting elbow was replaced, but it does not look like new..  Do you think only injector have to be replaced, or better to replace whole elbow? Stainless elbow is quite expensive, and I'm also concerned about galvanic corrosion may occur if I connect stainless elbow with cast iron. Any thoughts?

Also any practical advise how to protect rusted saildrive mount? Im going to clean it from rust, but then I guess it would be better to use some grease (which one?) to protect it.

[symphony2]

The stainless elbow from parts4engines is actually nearly £100 cheaper than the cast iron Volvo one. It comes with an isolating gasket which should minimise the chances of corrosion.

[Yngmar]

There's not much galvanic potential between stainless steel and steel: https://www.macartney.com/what-we-offer/systems-and-products/connectors/subconn/subconn-technical-information/galvanic-series-of-metals-in-seawater/

On our MD22, the elbow had to come off and needed a good cleaning, but was otherwise fine. The injector however was crumbling away in my fingers. We've now got the stainless one and it seems much better.

This engine benefits from running at full revs for a couple minutes every few hours of motoring. Gets the exhaust temperature up and burns off the junk in the elbow. It'll smoke a bit, which stops after a minute or two (depends on how long you were running at lower revs before).

[mibbal]

Thanks for advises , I will inspect the elbow and replace injector.

Any practical advise how to protect rusted rear saildrive mount from further rusting?

I think some silicon grease can be applied after cleaning from rust, but maybe there is special grease?

[Yngmar]

The black rear foot? You can apply some rust converter paint or spray it with Waxoyl for now, or leave it be and deal with it when you do the service. I've repainted it with black Hammerite then.

Our saildrive before and after a bit of cleanup and some fresh paint (and new diaphragm):

[MagicalArmchair]

Welcome and you have made a good purchase! I have a J & J Bavaria from 2003 in the not so sunny UK, so ours are cut from the same cloth, they are wonderful and strong boats. Are you sailing with many crew? We have four kids and us sailing ours (so we might go bigger as they grow!)

I just replaced my saildrive seal (it was 10 years old), and whilst the collar was rusty, the seal itself was almost like new. Like Yngmar, I would be very surprised if any water is coming in that way. It was a bit of a pain to replace mine, mainly because the engine is so flipping heavy (its a D2-55). What engine is yours? If it's lighter, it would be a much easier DIY.

Other things to check on the engine (don't ask me how I know all of these )

• Get that exhaust elbow off and replace it with one of these (https://www.parts4engines.com/volvo-penta-d2-55a-and-d2-55b-stainless-steel-exhaust-outlet-and-connector/). Inspect where the elbow connects to the heat exchanger. VP, in their infinite wisdom, spec a stainless gasket there (note the replacement above has a COMPOSITE gasket to prevent future corrosion). Stainless against a very expensive aluminum heat exchanger... I spoke to VP and they told me this is fine as water will NEVER get that union to create galvanic corrosion, however, my water injection elbow (the rusty bit in your photo) looked like yours, and when they start to rust up, they start to squirt, meaning water ends up at the heat exchanger, thus you end up with the below gassing your crew:
  
  Exhaust Elbow injection point:
  
  
  Stainless gasket:
  
  
  Resulting damage hiding behind!!
  
• Check the water lock that is just after the exhaust manifold. These are generally stainless and when water is left in them for a long time, the oxygen gets leached from the water, and they can get pinhole leaks in them. The thing below:
  
  
  
• Check the wet exhaust hose for leaks too. Ours had blown through and had been taped up (which had also blown through and was gassing our crew)!!!!
• Get a PELA pump and pump out the bottom of your diesel tank by going through the sender hole. You'll be surprised what rubbish, water and grime is down there:
  
  
  
  

Happy sailing!!

[mibbal]

Thanks Yngmar, seems Waxoyl is exactly what I need for black rear foot.

Thank you MagicalArmchair for warm welcome and advices! For some reason I did not considered Bavarias before, just because I had imposed opinion that Benetau and Jeanneau are better. But after closer look on tens of boats I've changed my mind completely…

We have 2 kids, so 40ft should be fine for now . I have MD22, weight is pretty much the same as D2-55 (about 250kg) so DIY diaphragm replacement should be tricky, and marina labor prices are extremely high in Croatia. So I will probably replace it later in some other place.

Thanks for elbow pictures. Water lock and wet exhaust hose seems to be replaced in my case, but elbow definitely need inspection (or replacement after inspection). How did you fixed the damage under stainless gasket?

BTW, did you changed rigging or it still original? My is original and this is not perfect