Learned about the importance of engine mounts the hard way. I had never changed them in 18 years on my Yanmar 2GMF and I never read on the manuals that had to be done. One day, when healing hard under sail on the same tack for a long time, alarm went on. Water was gushing in through the PSS dripless shaft seal contact discs. With the boat back to vertical, not a drop both with the engine on and off. Shaft looked well aligned. Sent a video to PWI (PSS) and they diagnosed that the engine was bouncing all over because of failing mounts. Replaced them and the problem subsided.
I replaced all four engine mounts on my Catalina 355 Yanmar 3YM30 diesel last fall. A close inspection revealed the port rear mount rubber was compressed to the point that the metal top plate was contacting the mount base, causing vibration when in gear. Surprisingly, while I was replacing the mounts with new ones, I discovered the original mounts were installed incorrectly. Both front mounts were installed on the port side of the engine and both rear mounts on the starboard side. Engine mounts are typically marked front and rear and are meant to be installed accordingly in order to properly support the weight of the engine (i.e. rear mount rubber is stiffer than the front). This was likely the reason why only the port rear mount was grounding out. I installed the new mounts in the correct positions and performed a shaft alignment. Presto, no more vibration.
PolyFlex make a lot of Yanmar replacement mounts,, couplings and more. Located here in Australia. Excellent quality, big upgrade over the standard Yanmar ones. Great customer service too. FWIW I bought a set of four mounts this year for my Yanmar 1gm10
Great video, I'm going to check my mounts and align my engine and shaft tomorrow, thanks! But I have to ask, do you have all the tools you need to align your engine on your boat? I don't, I need a 15/16 inch small open end wrench to adjust my mounts and I need to bring my feeler gauge set from my garage. This video got me thinking, what's the minimum tools every cruising/racing sailboat must have onboard in order to handle all routine maintenance tasks and/or emergency repairs? Do you have any thoughts on this?
Thanks very much for doing this video. Time to check the engine mounts! It would be good to read Marc's article you linked but, unfortunately, it only takes you to the opening of the article and you "have to be a subscriber" to see the rest of it. Too bad. Thanks again.
For Yanmar engines, the gold standard mount replacements are ELLEBOGEN. They ship anywhere and a vastly better than the Yanmar originals. Ask me how I know!
I tried this myself and after a couple of hours with the feeler gauge I ended up in a dead end with not being able to adjust the engine more. I didn't know if it was my lack of skills or something failed like the other three old engine mounts. I gave up with one changed mount and let the mechanic change all 4 of them. As they couldn't order the originals I supplied parts4engines replacement mounts. VP2002
Going right to the feeler gages is not the best way to align your engine. First, you have to be certain your shaft is exactly in the center of your stern tube. Second, aligning with the feeler gages without knowing if your drive flanges line up is a problem. Your coupling flanges can be pulled together with the coupling bolts and that spells disaster since it pulls your stuffing box out of alignment and your shaft won't be centered. Basically you have to get the flanges real close. Lots on the Internet for instructions but once change your mounts you are sort of starting from scratch
I just installed a brand new 30hp yanmar in my HC33...not very impressed with the mounts. Will probably replace with upgraded mounts in the near future
I dive into motor mounts because I build my own. You can carve rubber with a Stanley Surform. Leather washers? Cut the inside with a punch and trim the outside with big clumsy scissors. Steel hardware? No, I like aluminum. Bigger is better.
Factory Yanmar engine mounts are not fail save , your engine will break loose if the rubbers tear . All marine engine and generator mounts should be fail safe . That means if the rubber fails the mount will still not come apart .
I think it’s an editing software issue. iMovie for example moves still images in full screen, and I don’t like it at all. My workaround is to screen record the still image for maybe 5 seconds and then insert the video clip instead of the still image.
