3208 Sherwood Raw Water Pump

[Sonchaser]

Can anyone confirm that the raw water pump needs this threaded hole plugged? I just had impellers replaced and during inspection of the pumps, found this hole open on both engines. I honestly can’t remember if they were like this before!?
This is on a CAT 3208TA. My guess is the mechanic left them off, started the motors, did not notice them and fried the new impellers. I hope I’m wrong.

 

[Sonchaser]

Sorry, could not get the photo to load, bath there are three bolts to hold the cover plate over the impeller and one empty threaded hole at the pipe portion of the casing. Seems like it should be plugged.

 

[stiggy]

I know the threaded plug you are talking about. I can't imagine seawater not shooting out of there while the pump is running but I admittedly have never run them with the plugs removed. I always remove the plugs to help drain some of the water before removing the cover plate.

What did the mechanic say?

 

[Sonchaser]

The “mechanic” had run both motors to test everything out. I saw him on the cameras in the salon start the motors and stand at the hatches and look down. He did not get back down into the engine room as he should have. The next day I get onto the boat to check every out and there is five gallons of water in the bilge. That would be the answer. It must have just dribbled out at idle though because there were no drops anywhere. Extremely infuriating.

 

[stiggy]

The “mechanic” had run both motors to test everything out. I saw him on the cameras in the salon start the motors and stand at the hatches and look down. He did not get back down into the engine room as he should have. The next day I get onto the boat to check every out and there is five gallons of water in the bilge. That would be the answer. It must have just dribbled out at idle though because there were no drops anywhere. Extremely infuriating.

Absolutely unacceptable. Seriously half the time I do work on the boat myself because it's just so hard to find reliable service. It's a pain in the butt to change the impellers on these motors but it's not hard if you want to do it yourself next time.

 

[Sonchaser]

I agree especially for what they charge. There’s no reason I can’t do it myself and will. What’s happened is that the mechanic sends his helpers for service jobs now VS repairs and they are late teens or in their early twenties with not enough experience or knowledge to do the job. In this market, there’s no choices. Pretty pitiful.

 

[Sonchaser]