The sail drives have been painted with 5 coats of Interprotect, and 3 coats of Trilux 33. I was super freaked out about painting the sail drives. It seems like every article on sail drives shows a picture of one that has been nearly eaten away by galvanic corrosion.
The paint manufacturer says you shouldn't even wipe down the drive with a rag before painting because the tiny fibers left behind could wick moisture and cause the paint to fail, resulting in an expensive sail drive corroding and falling off in the middle of the ocean. (ok I added the part about the drive falling off).
So, scary.
At the end of the day, I sanded the drive with 80 grit paper, brushed it off with a brush (per interlux instructions) then applied my first coat of Interprotect. Seems to have adhered well. Only time will really tell.
Trilux 33 said the performance of the paint is directly related to the thickness of the paint, so I laid on 3 thick coats. I plan to do one more before the boat goes in the water.
I dismantled the lower unit of the sail drive to replace the oil seals. These are seals that keep the oil in, and the water out. Yanmar says to replace them every two years. I've never done it, and I have no idea when the previous owner last did it. Considering we are going in the water and have no idea when we will be hauling out again, it seemed like a good time to change them.
This required the complicated max props to be taken apart.... but now it's all back together. Everything reassembled, ready for launch.
Complete list of below the waterline work this spring:
- Bottom paint with an extra coat around the waterline
- Refinished Sail Drives,
- Replaced Sail Drive oil seals
- Repaired cracks, barrier coated, painted rudders
- Disassembled, reassembled, greased Max Props
- Filled gouges in rudder posts with epoxy
Our launch date is July 5th!
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