Speedseal

Pouring rain this Memorial Day weekend has me doing maintenance instead of sailing (again!). I received my Speedseal raw water pump cover for the Yanmar 3GM30F engine (European model) last week and installed it yesterday. All went well, except the pump wouldn't prime afterwards. The problem turned out to be a faulty hose clamp that wouldn't seal on the intake side. Here are my first impressions.

I ordered the kit from True Marine in England using the 800 number on their website (http://www.speedseal.com). They shipped promptly and I received the kit in less than one week. My cost was $66 including shipping, plus $8.60 for 2 spare thumbscrews (when ordered at the same time).

The kit consists of a heavy, machined, round brass plate to replace the original Yanmar water pump cover and four large knurled stainless thumb screws to hold it in place. Speedseal normally machines a groove for a nitrile O-ring seal and provides the O-ring, but there is no groove or O-ring in the kit for my engine, because the European model water pump already has an O-ring seal. You continue to use the original Yanmar O-ring with this kit if you have the European model.

Even though this must cut the manufacturing cost somewhat, there is no discount for this "feature."

The cover itself is beautifully finished with no rough edges. It includes two holes for thumbscrews and two notches machined into the opposite edge for two more thumbscrews. The idea is that you only need to loosen, but not remove, the two thumbscrews in the notches, in order to slide the cover off. All are machined to match the original Yanmar screwholes. Mine lined up beautifully and the threads were a perfect match. With this pump the Speedseal only uses four of the

original six screw holes. The cover is so stiff that I don't see any difficulties arising from this arrangement.

Installation was simple and straightforward. While Speedseal recommends putting the notched side of their cover on the lower part of the pump, I put it on the top edge, since there did not appear to be enough room on my engine to slide the cover off the top edge. I had to slide it on from below and hold it in place with one hand while threading the last two thumbscrews. This was not a problem. I also needed to back off a hose just the barest smidge to keep it from

interfering with the new cover. It's evidently just a slightly larger diameter than the old one. I doubt if I moved the hose more than 1/32". It was quite easy to insert a new impeller, install a new O-ring, and attach the four thumbscrews all without tools and with the pump in place.

At least one of the magazine reviews of this product claims that it simplifies impeller inspection so much that it becomes a daily service item, like checking the oil. I don't think this is true when the Speedseal is installed on the Yanmar 3GM30F. There just isn't enough room between the back of the pump and the engine to do much with tools after the cover is off. In particular, I doubt if I could easily remove the impeller without unmounting the pump again, even though I

could easily remove the cover without tools. (I did this as a test.) A pair of needle nosed pliers with 90 degree bent tips might do the trick, but I didn't try this. Someone needs to invent an impeller extraction tool to go with the Speedseal.

With a small mirror, I think you could inspect the impeller in place with the pump cover removed, however. In short, the Speedseal overcomes some, but not all, of the design flaws in the original Yanmar setup. It's a shame that the engine is designed with so little clearance between the cover and the engine block.

Scott Thompson

C320 #653, "Surprise"