Hiyas y'all -- We launched Persephone this past week. YAY! On our annual dip into the Root River in Racine, Wisconsin (where we winter our pride and joy) I performed the regular check for leaks from the thru-hull fittings and hoses. All dry, so I heated up the glow plugs and (as is usual after a winter) the motor eventually coughed to life. We have an inboard Universal M-18 motor, and I pulled the door open slightly as would fit without taking the companionway ladder off. I didn't see anything suspicious, but a little voice in my head said, "This year is a new year. This year is a special year. Take the ladder off and open the door all the way." So I pulled off the ladder and opened the engine compartment door all the way, and LO AND BEHOLD! There's a stream of water spurting out of the lower weep hole of the sea water pump. OH NOES!
Upon further inspection, it was spurting quite a bit of water at idle, which dried up at higher revolutions, which was odd. I consulted our experienced yard boys and also my handy dandy M-18 manual. Given that this water pump is 22 years old we decided this past winter pushed it over the edge into failure. (The engine was properly laid up for winter as evidenced by the antifreeze that spurted out the exhaust at startup.) The pump was indeed pushing water as evidenced by the exhaust. The marina office checked and as there are no more rebuild kits available for this Sherwood 6-screw pump, a whole new pump would need to be ordered and installed. They quoted me a max of 2 hrs labor, which makes sense given what I saw (four screws holding the whole thing to the engine block, two hoses attached, all easy to reach). The pump, though, was quoted as $450 from Torresson. Does this agree with you all? I was going to do the work myself but I was afraid of getting 22 yr old hoses off and back on, and the quote of 1-to-2 hrs labor wasn't out of the question. Thanks for your advice! on a side note, we intend to look into servicing the fuel filters (both of em) and looking into the heat exchanger zinc / engine coolant / etc this year. This motor DOES have a heat exchanger, right? My boat is hull # 6480 (I think) from 1988. David s/v Persephone Chicago, IL
