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Westerbeke Generator Impellor Replacement?

Discussion in 'Sea Ray Yacht' started by Thisisit, Sep 25, 2018.

  1. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    While servicing my Westerbeke 8.0 BTD, I noticed that the seawater pump housing is on the backside of the unit. Westerbeke mounted the oil and fuel filters on one side and the seawater pump on the other. Makes perfect sense until Sea Ray decided to mount the genset crossways, up against the fresh water tank. From what I can tell, I need to remove three of the four mounting bolts, some wiring, perhaps a fuel line and the exhaust hose in order to swing the entire generator forward, onto a temporary support beam just to change out the impellor. Has anyone done this or had it done? Am I missing something? I’m having trouble believing this is the procedure. Having only owned this boat for one season, I came across this for the first time just this week. Suggestions anyone?
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Ocean yachts did the same thing a lot of times on a lot of models. Are you able to simply dismount the seawater pump, change the impeller, and then re-mount the pump? A lot of times on them you can unbolt 3 of the mounting bolts, loosen the 4th a little and swing it enough to get in there to change the impeller.
  3. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    I cannot get anywhere near it. From the generator side, while leaning well off balance, I can barely see one of the cover bolts. And the journey to it requires two elbows on one very skinny, long arm. Even then, manipulating any tool would be impossible. The engine side (front) doesn’t allow any access at all. Can’t see from the top either. Two of us with the same boat scratched our heads for quite a while. I have considered removing the hoses from the top including the siphon break and perhaps the heat exchanger but there still isn’t any room to get overtop of the valve cover. Add to this the small drip that has since begun at the heat exchanger output barb. It really does look like the genset needs to be spun out some.
    If there was some slack built into the fuel lines and wiring, I would assume Sea Ray’s solution would be obvious; spin the entire unit outwards. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Still hard to believe they would do this, especially when this is a relatively frequent service procedure.
  4. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    I think you have answered your own question. You probably need to bite the bullet and rotate the Gen if you're physically able to make it fit. Which makes me wonder why SR did it in the first place.
    Is your friends the same as yours?
  5. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    It is not surprising, maintenance access on sea rays is often lousy. Back in the late 90s i considered a new 38/40 sundancer and passed because generaror access was terrible among other things.
  6. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    Hi MBevins, yes, his is one model year newer and exactly the same configuration.
    I think the best way to do it is to loosen and leave the front stbd bolt in place, then remove the other three. Hopefully there will be enough fuel line and output wiring to allow a little twist forward on the port side. It appears there is clearance at the main engine water sep housing. I would have to remove ground wiring, oil drain hose and or fitting, and raw water hose from the seacock. Still, that leaves me working over top and backwards. Should be fun. In the meantime, I've contacted SR for any service bulletins regarding this issue. There is the possibility that I haven't thought of everything.
    Thanks for all the input. Keep the info coming if you hear anything from other 400 DB owners.
  7. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    The title of this thread has been edited to remove "WTF".
  8. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    I'm not sure you grasped what I meant by rotating. If you have the space, your better off to just permanently deal with the situation. Rotate it , remount and then lengthen /shorten your ancillary items to fit.
    On the other hand if you don't rely on the Genny for many hours a year of service then I guess the temporary rotating is the solution.
  9. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    I did misunderstand, sorry. Unfortunately, turning it 90 degrees permanently will not work in the space. In the meantime, I finally made contact with a Sea Ray service tech who has actually completed similar work on this model. Apparently you need to access the sea water pump from the underside (genset is bridged across the stringers) with left hand, using a mirror, a light and patience. Next time I'm at the boat, I will look again but at the time, going underneath did not look like an option.
  10. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Not to flog a dead horse but what about 180° ?
  11. chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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    can you not use the mechanical water pump and replace with a remote, electric pump ? Dosen't solve the immediate problem but for future ?
  12. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    MBevins: 180 rotation would move the oil filter, fuel filter, dip stick, primer solenoid etc to the backside. Bigger problems than I have now.

    chesapeake46: An interesting proposal. If servicing this thing proves next to impossible, I will consider it. I must admit that I have not heard of an electric seawater pump. May have to research this option, thanks!
  13. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Another option might be to mount it on a shelf that slides out that you can maybe pull pins and slide out 6-8" and work on it, then slide it back in.
  14. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    Another good idea. Of course wiring, water and fuel lines will need to be lengthened so there's slack. I will consider this as well. Perhaps repurposing some HD industrial bearing tracks.
  15. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Yes, at the end of the day your going to have to get creative.
    Again if only using a few hours a year then changing the impeller every year isn't really necessary . I'm assuming you have safety switching for oil, temp and such on the Gen .
    If good with that then maybe every three years, so the exercise isn't so horrible.
  16. Thisisit

    Thisisit Member

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    I will know for sure once I change the impellor and repair the dripping hose connection. I may be able to stomach the service nightmare every few years. I estimate only 150 hours of use per year.
  17. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I would change it once a year, if you're doing 150 hours. The LAST thing I would want to do is have to change it, while on a trip, in a warm engine room and go through that nightmare not at my home dock. There might be easy ways to change it if you get creative, such as trimming the shelf it sits on, or moving it out a couple of inches and remounting it.
  18. mwwhit1

    mwwhit1 Senior Member

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    I did this with my generator. It is up against the wall making the pump really hard to access. Installed a 110v impeller pump that runs directly off the generator's power output. Once the gen is running, the pump starts pumping. Similar to this: https://www.pumpagents.com/JabscoPumps/12510-0003.html

    Worth considering. I probably have 1500 hours on this setup without an issue.
  19. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I be found that impellers last a long longer when they get used instead of sitting and taking a set, especially in cold weather. I’ve replaced impellers with thousands of hours and they were still pumping.
  20. chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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    Not to mention getting the impellor bits & peices out after a failure.