Sailboat Engine Gearbox Reconditioning 3

Well, as predicted, the best laid plans very often get interrupted - and so it is with our schedule for having the gearbox back into Patricks' yacht by this Saturday. Our gearbox expert Barry has completed the reconditioning and we have it back with us now. However, due to unforseen circumstances we are unable to fit it this weekend and have put it back to Wednesday this coming week.

In the meantime here are a some images of the gearbox in pieces on Barry's workbench. Barry, of 'Marine Gearbox Services' is one of the very few and fast disappearing doyens of marine gear box maintenance, repair and reconditioning. With many years of experience under his belt there is no marine gearbox that he doesn't know inside out (excuse the pun) and never comes up short. His knowledge on all things gearbox is profound and being very particular in his approach you will always be assured of the best, and have complete confidence in his work.

He showed and explained to us exactly what was causing the problem of the boat slipping out of and back into gear from time to time and what parts were worn and needed replacing. It is not the purpose of this blog to supply a fully detailed manual of the work that needed to be done, suffice to say that friction clutch plates (cintered bronze) and steels were worn, the selector fork was too slack as was the selector ring. All these parts to be replaced along with the bearings and all seals and gaskets. Any other parts Barry considered needed to be replaced as he worked through the job would be.

Believe it or not, the exploded drawing of the Hurth gearbox does actually contain all those parts showing - difficult to believe that (a) that many bits are required for a simple forward and reverse gearbox and (b) they all fit into that limited space. It was a wise decision on our part to take it to the expert and not attempt to dismantle it ourselves!

We had a very informative time with Barry and on coming away we wondered what will happen when all the Barrys' of this world stop their work - a rare breed indeed.

In the meantime however, Barry is fully occupied with this work, not planning on giving it up any time soon, and you can contact him on marinegearbox1@yahoo.com for all marine gearbox repair and reconditioning.

My next blog will be posted on successful re-installation of the gearbox into the boat.

You can read more about regular on board gearbox and engine maintenance in my ebook 'Voyage of the Little Ship 'Tere Moana' downloadable from my website http://www.sailboat2adventure.com