The Bolt!

Back to the boat after lockdown at last.. only to discover a water leak from the engine cooling water pump!

It’s 5 years since I replaced the water pump shaft seals and it’s a relatively straightforward job – so armed with a new set of seals I started work this morning.

The first job is to remove the pump housing – just three bolts. Two came out easily but the one you can’t see and just have to feel for, wasn’t moving and now despite using a nice new ring spanner, it’s rounded out.

Getting my camera in there reveals what a state it’s in but as the other two were all ok I’d assumed that one was too! With a mixture of steel, bronze, aluminium and warm salt water all pressed closely together it’s hardly surprising I suppose!

There’s just no room to get to it properly. The only way seems to be to take off the pulley at the end of the crankshaft – but guess what – that doesn’t want to move either and looking on the forums it’s notoriously difficult to remove!

So an entire day spent getting nowhere!

Another option could be to drain the new oil I’ve just put in and remove the oil filter – that might make just enough room to file a couple of flats and get a smaller spanner on there..

Hopefully by tomorrow morning inspiration will have struck and the solution will be obvious