[Anonymous]

I’m preparing Dream Catcher for launch at the end of March. The external area of the saildrive is clear of fouling, and it only needs a light sand and a coat of Trilux. However, as usual there are lots of crustaceans who have made their home inside the saildrive. This is despite me using a small paintbrush to get the Trilux into the holes as much as possible last March.

Does anyone have a cunning plan to prevent this infestation? I would have thought anyone who keeps their boat in the water all year must suffer from lack of water intake, judging by the look of mine.

Alastair

[Anonymous]

I keep my boat in the water all year round and have suffered from the same encrustation problem.

I believe the best way to clear the nasties is to back-flush the leg via the seawater inlet valve. I have a programme of a back-flush every six months using the marina water supply hose.

I also have a stiff wire on board (a coat-hanger actually) which I have used when the blockage has occurred whilst at sea. Clearance is via the water inlet valve, obviously taking care to be ready to quickly close the valve when the blockage is cleared.

Whilst I had the boat out of the water, I discovered that there is a hole in the very bottom of the sail-drive leg which allows vertical insertion of my coat-hanger. This hole was not immediately apparent until I thoroughly cleaned the leg.

Just another comment – I found that the cone on the propeller hub can become quite heavily encrusted and it is easy to not realise that their is a socket head screw in the end of the cone which must be removed before unscrewing the cone.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ron,

Thanks for your helpful suggestions on this. When you say you backflush the leg, can you clarify exactly where you are hooking up the fresh water to and how when you do this?

Riyad
2009 B31 “Battuta”
Vancouver, Canada

[Anonymous]

The easiest way is to connect the marina hose to the inlet hose to the seawater pump inlet. This is usually easily accessible rather than connecting to the seawater inlet seacock. Depending on the marina hose size you might need to make some sort of adapter with a short length of pipe and a couple of jubilee clips.

I back flush every six months or so.

[Anonymous]

Thanks gents. I’ve invested in various lengths and widths of paintbrushes with which I have tried to reach the internals of the saildrive leg with my Primocon and Trilux. I’ll see how that works.

Alastair

[Author]

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