Inboard boat impeller full#

Now, as a rule, I change impellars every other year and never have I seen evidence of my practice causing noticable or excessive impellar wear. The run time was minimal, about 30 sec max.

I did this to ensure the boat would start prior to heading for the lake. I have not proof, just a hunce based on life experience.Īlso in the FWIW catagory: I have for years started the engine in my boats while the boat was still on the trailer and without connecting a water source. Never have I attributed a gear failure to vaseline attacking the plastics or rubber parts. As a modeler, I have used vaseline for years (before switching to silicon grease) on plastic gears of radio controlled race cars. Also, vasoline is highly refined to the point that it may never attack the rubber. The vaseline will quickly be washed away before it has a chance to attack the rubber. silicon grease).Īltough I agree that Vaseline is petroleum based, I doubt it will do much harm. I also used a bit of dielectric grease upon reassembly (i.e. So, my advice is do not worry about the orientation of the impellar vanes during reassembly. The impellar easily and quickly changed directions with not damage to the impellar vanes as they flexed the opposite direction. Once you know where it is, it should take less than 20 minutes to take it apart and put it back together, even for a novice mechanic.įWIW: Just for kicks, I held my raw pump in my hand (just installed new impellar) and then turn the pulley by hand in both directions while watching the impellar. There is no way on earth you could replace the impeller without removing the pulley on this boat. I just twisted it a bit and pushed it back in, no lube or anything. It turned out to be just fine, so I didn't need to replace it. Mine came out with needle nose plyers pretty easily. Impeller sits right inside there, make sure not to lose the rubber O-ring. I just removed the 4 bolts that held the pulley on, removed the 2 bolts that held the pump on (note which way the pump came off, or your engine will overheat when you put it back together), then removed the 3 bolts that held the pump together. There is a plate with 4 bolts and a pulley that cover it up. There are 2 hoses going into it, about 1 1/4' diameter. If you're sitting in the driver's seat looking back, the water pump is on the lower left, at the front of the engine. My buddy forgot to turn the engine off when we pulled the boat out of the lake and it ran for a minute out of the water before we shut it off, so I thought my impeller might have been killed. I have an 84 Barefoot Nautique with a PCM 454. Once the engine turns over it will automatically turn the impeller vanes into the correct position so there is no need to try match the original alignment.Hi, thought I'd chime in just for kicks. This is not that strong a material and it is easy to strip out the threads by overtightening. Go gentle, they should be just snug as the screws are tightening into a bronze housing. Tighten the cover in a cross orientation - like you would the wheel of a car. Failing that you should be able see the shadowing of the cam on the cover and figure out the orientation. The text will normally be the right way up showing how it is orientated. But if you happen to have a perfectly round cover, and it is not obvious, look for any writing or branding on it. Some are shaped so the orientation is obvious. When the cable tie comes off the impeller will then happily push home. Whilst pushing the impeller in, pull the cable tie off with pliers if need be, releasing the vanes inside the pump housing. As it slides into place the cable tie will come against the outer edge of the housing. Press the constricted impeller into the pump housing. Tighten the cable-tie down until it draws in the impeller vanes into a contracted shape but not overly tight that it is difficult to remove. Tie an electrical cable-tie around the impeller.

Inboard boat impeller full#

This helps ease the impellor in but also acts as initial lubrication as the pump will not be full of water during initial startup. Cover the replacement impeller with petroleum jelly. If petroleum jelly is not available applying a lavish amount of dishwashing detergent will do the job. Thoroughly clean out the impeller housing with a clean cloth and apply a good coat of petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Using a cable tie at this point, to precompress the blades and reduce the replacements diameter, should help to make the new impeller's insertion much easier.

The problem with an impeller replacement usually centres around mounting the new replacement impeller with its stiff blades into the housing.