Acqua Drive

[supersailor]

I have an E-34 with the Universal M25-XP. It has significant vibration and noise. I could replace the mounts and the cutlass bearing and improve things a little. I am considering an Acqua Drive as the thrust of the prop is taken by the thrust bearing and not transferred to the engine mounts. Also the engine alignment is not as critical. This allows softer engine mounts.

Does anyone out there have experience with these drives?

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova

 

[Loren Beach]

way cool concept

Never met anyone (yet) that was mad at one.
Thing is, you Must have enough room behind the trans, before you get to the stuffing box to put one of these in. Gotta glass in a thrust plate - like a little mini-bulkhead - also. I have measured our boat and there just is no way enough room without moving the whole engine forward.

Pages 7 & 8 of this manual are helpful.
http://www.halyard.eu.com/upload/downloads/aquadrivecv.pdf

That "thrust bearing support plate" has to take the same forces that are presently contained (guaranteed, hopefully) by your 3 or 4 point mountings. Having actually seen a boat (not an Ericson, altho that's not the point) where the boat struck a reef @ 6 kts and the whole engine was thrown a foot forward off its mounts bolted to a sturdy set of stringers, I would probably make that plate out of half or 3/4 inch G10 glass and attach it to the hull with lots of layers of biax.

Loren

 

[supersailor]

Loren,

Thanks. It is a bit difficult to get down to my shaft. There is a lot of stuff in the way including a battery that was installed there by a previous owner! I actually have about three available inches to install the drive! The shaft disappears under the hull amazingly quickly. I did find that my stuffing box is leaking even while at rest. Looks like new packing soon.

Bob

Never met anyone (yet) that was mad at one.
Thing is, you Must have enough room behind the trans, before you get to the stuffing box to put one of these in. Gotta glass in a thrust plate - like a little mini-bulkhead - also. I have measured our boat and there just is no way enough room without moving the whole engine forward.

Pages 7 & 8 of this manual are helpful.
http://www.halyard.eu.com/upload/downloads/aquadrivecv.pdf

That "thrust bearing support plate" has to take the same forces that are presently contained (guaranteed, hopefully) by your 3 or 4 point mountings. Having actually seen a boat (not an Ericson, altho that's not the point) where the boat struck a reef @ 6 kts and the whole engine was thrown a foot forward off its mounts bolted to a sturdy set of stringers, I would probably make that plate out of half or 3/4 inch G10 glass and attach it to the hull with lots of layers of biax.

Loren

 

[Mindscape]

Aqua Drive

I have a buddy that installed one during a new engine installation and it works great and is very smooth. The down side is everything Loren said. Need space, need a thrust plate etc. With the engine out this was still a bunch of work for my friend. The result is a great engine install that is super smooth and quiet, but at pretty significant cost in time and money.

 

[supersailor]

Hi,

After I got the reply from Loren, I decided to dig down to the shaft. It was not easy. Not only were there the usual problems (wiring hoses, etc.) but the previous owner had placed a battery over the stuffing box. I finally dug through the mess and found that the prop shaft has only 3" between the tranny and the stuffing box (which is leaking). I can't put one in even if I want to (which I do). I am spoiled by the Volvo saildrive in my previous boat. Glassy smooth.

It looks like a new cutlass bearing and new mounts are the best I can do unless want to move the engine about 7" forward.


Thanks for the input.


Bob Morrison

Terra Nova

E-34-2

 

[unequaltee]

Vetus Bullflex

Having been on a boat fitted with a aqua drive, I have always had a hankering for one , but so far I haven’t owned a boat that it would fit. when I re-engined my 35-2 I settled for a Vetus Bullflex coupling as a compromise. But can’t give any feedback as she's yet to grace the water! But I am hoping that rubber ring has got to soak up a fair bit of vibration.
Ian

 

[supersailor]

Vetus Bullflex.

Having been on a boat fitted with a aqua drive, I have always had a hankering for one , but so far I haven’t owned a boat that it would fit. when I re-engined my 35-2 I settled for a Vetus Bullflex coupling as a compromise. But can’t give any feedback as she's yet to grace the water! But I am hoping that rubber ring has got to soak up a fair bit of vibration.
Ian

Thanks. This sounds like a useable alternative. When I finally dug my way down to the shaft (through a battery that had been located above it and various wires and hoses above it), I found no space for the acqua drive. I will look into the Bullflex. In the mean time I am quite occupied by the electrical gremlins running around the engine compartment. This boat is new to me. I've had it since June. It was rewired by a previous owner or two and I wouldn't be proud of the job. So far, the fuel pump went south due to a bad ground and only 10.7 volts at the pump after the ground was repaired. That was caused by a failed glow plug switch leaving the glow plugs on all the time. The low voltage also seems to have destroyed the tach and temp gauges. The alternator checks out as good and the new Facet electronic pump is running great. The ignition switch was a five pole light duty automotive switch with every thing going through it. The glow plug feed alone has enough amperage to fry it. A new heavy duty two pole switch along with heavy duty glow plug and starter switches are now installed. The main feed from the ignition switch to the engine is only 18 gauge so it is next to be replaced. The engine runs great so all this is worth it. Perhaps I can make it without an engine failure during a cruise soon!

Breaking the shaft apart is going to be a challenge as the previous owners hadn't done any greasing or painting on the coupling in a very long time. I have begun the penetrating oil treatments in the hope that the bolts will come loose in a month or two.

Are you changing the engine mounts with the addition of the Bullflex. My engine still has the original mounts and I plan to replace them. I am wondering if slightly softer mounts would work with the Bullflex. My mounts seem to have no give at all.

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova

 

[unequaltee]

I am sticking with standard mounts as supplied with the new engine for now. I guess softer mounts could be an option if needed later.
One of the first bits of my boat to enter the bin was the wiring. My problem has been after taking out 35 years of bodged repairs , all the rot, and the worn out stuff, I ended up with just a shell!
Ian

 

[supersailor]

Vetus Bull Flex

Well. It looks like I have a Vetus Bull Flex coming in as a Christmas Gift from a very astute daughter who must have looked at some of my notes. It appears that it will just fit on my little stub of a shaft that is inside the boat. The shaft seal (stuffing box) is also in bad need of replacement. I was looking at the P.S.S. dripless seal. It appears that the fit will be tight. The P.S.S. is 6 1/4" long.

Does anyone out there have recent or relatively recent experiences with dripless or non-dripless shaft seals?

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova E-34-2

 

[Loren Beach]

Dripless Seal

Well. It looks like I have a Vetus Bull Flex coming in as a Christmas Gift from a very astute daughter who must have looked at some of my notes. It appears that it will just fit on my little stub of a shaft that is inside the boat. The shaft seal (stuffing box) is also in bad need of replacement. I was looking at the P.S.S. dripless seal. It appears that the fit will be tight. The P.S.S. is 6 1/4" long.

Does anyone out there have recent or relatively recent experiences with dripless or non-dripless shaft seals?

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova E-34-2

After discovering, back in about 1995, that I was not competent to deal with a traditional stuffing box...
I put in a P.S.S.

About 12 years later, following the vendor's preventative-maintenance advice, we replaced the bellows (even tho it looked to be in good condition and the spring tension seemed just fine).
It still works great, and it's always nice to have a dry bilge around the engine.
I am attaching an older site photo link that shows the P.S.S. in place.

Loren

 

[Frank Langer]

My experience with the dripless shaft seal is like Loren's above. It was already on our boat when we bought it seven years ago and it has worked flawlessly. The only risk I have read about is if the rubber bellows cracks and develops a leak, it quickly becomes a significant emergency; but I have never actually heard of that happening in real life. Our pss is now also about 12 years old (based on previous owner maintenance/installation records), but it still looks like new, with no signs of wear.

I do "burp" it occasionally to flush out any debris that might be caused by the rotors turning, and it's important to remember to do that after you launch the boat as the water lubricates it when turning and otherwise it will run dry for a while and possibly heat up.

I would certainly recommend the dripless shaft seal.

Frank

 

[unequaltee]

Alternatives

I fitted a Vetus seal on my 35-2. ( I have no shares in the company honest , but with the cost of this stuff, I certainly should have!) Although quite expensive it does look a nicely made bit of kit. I like the idea of having the same type of seal as in high pressure water pumps and hydraulics. I recon if its going to start leaking its only going to be a drip rather than a mayday call! Another advantage is it takes up less than 3 ½” .
I also fitted a Tides marine series 1 seal on my Sadler. (don’t know if they are available over there) Considerably cheaper than the Vetus, but with the same type of seals. This has performed perfectly for two seasons, but at around 6 1/2 “ takes up a little more room.
Ian

 

[supersailor]

Shaft Seal

Ian,

I just finished the first stage of my electrical on the boat so I now have an engine that will keep running and not die in the most inconvenient spots. unbeknownst to me, my daughter bought a bullflex for Christmas Apparently, there are none anywhere and one is in the process of being manufactured. I need a short shaft seal to accommodate it. The Vetus looks like the ticket! So far I only have seen metric ones and I need one that is one inch on the shaft. Is yours metric?

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova E-34

 

[unequaltee]

Bob
Yes, I reluctantly chose to throw aside our heritage and go all metric.
It seems that Vetus do the bullflex in 1 inch but I could not see the double lipseal in anything other than metric.
If that is the only seal that will fit, one option could be to reduce the end of the shaft and fit a 25mm bullflex and seal ?
Good luck
Ian