Take note of subtle changes
It’s interesting that of all the equipment on Frost, the one thing that we have no documentation for is the diesel generator. I mean none. We don’t even know what make it is! This lack of information makes it extremely difficult to source replacement parts, which is exactly the exercise that we had to go through this morning.
Yesterday afternoon, after returning from a wonderful hike to some waterfalls, everyone was relaxing on the boat, reading, napping or playing on the internet. Allowing my anal retentive nature to get the best of me, I took advantage of this lapse of activity to take apart our generator’s raw water pump to check on the impeller. Over the past couple of uses I had noticed that the water flow from the exhaust seemed to be reduced from what it had been in the past. Of course, these things are difficult to measure so I may have been imagining things. When I took a look at the impeller though, it was obvious that I was, in fact, not imagining things at all. With only two vanes left on the impeller, and the broken bits clogging the hose, the water pump was definitely not working as it should!
Fortunately for us, yesterday was sunny, so with the input from the solar panels, and the fact that we weren’t on board using any electricity, our batteries were in good shape. Getting the gen set back online was still a priority though, so when our guests took the bus into town to go exploring today, Rebecca and I visited the chandlery to look for a replacement impeller. As is often the case, finding what we wanted was not going to be easy.
While Budget Marine did have a very large selection of impellers, they did not have exactly what we were looking for. Striking out there, I then contacted Oscar, one of the local marine tradespeople, hoping that he may have a line on a replacement. While he didn’t have one, he suggested that we take a trip up to the highway to check out Anro Agencies who are, among other things, the local Yanmar dealers. Even though I didn’t have much hope that they’d have what we needed, we went anyway. Lo and behold, the very helpful gentleman that we spoke to there, Youssef, found us an impeller that appeared to be 99% the same as our damaged one (the outside diameter on the new one looked to be about a millimeter smaller). Figuring that 99% correct was going to work better than the one that we had, we gladly purchased the spare part. We headed straight back to the boat and were able to successfully install it. I’m happy to report that the generator is now running, and is back to blasting out water like it used to. Happy days!
Looks like they had Westerbeke(Red), Onan(White) and something by Suzuki?
They meaning Amels?
Yes.
Where did you get that info?
Mike, if you send me (or post) some photos I will see if I can identify the generator or its prime mover.
FWIW, 95%+ of the raw water pumps were made by ITT/Jabsco and you can usually find a Jabsco or knock-off replacement on-line. Your raw water pump is probably no different.
I’ll take some pics. Thanks.
Nice job, good story and glad it worked out
Me too!
Here is some additional info on your generator impeller. New Part #
Manufacturer: Yanmar
Part Number: 128296-42070
Description:
CSW Impeller
Part #128296-42070 from Yanmar
Special Note About This Part:
This part number is no longer available.
Click here for the new part number, Yanmar 124223-42092
https://shop.toadmarinesupply.com/marine_diesel_direct/Yanmar/index.php?p=details&mfc=Yanmar&sku=124223-42092§ionid=
Hope this helps.
Thanks another Mike. 🙂
When we were in Grenada, I always found the guys at Anro to be friendly, attentive and willing to chase down parts. Glad they could help you too!
It’s the first time that I have visited them. Probably not the last.
Ah a US (not EU) yanmar gm series impeller. The Jabsco part number is 22799. Should you need another option. The EU version has a screw through the hole and is not the same.
That sure looks like the one. Thanks!
In a serious emergency, you can completely remove the internal impeller and use a spare fuel pump or fresh water pump to circulate water through the raw water pump. We used this setup for several weeks between the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Probably wouldn’t want top use it permanently, but who knows. If your genset is unknown, this might be a good permanent replacement for a hard to find impeller. Just a thought.
Good idea. I don’t have a spare but if I did…
Good job. Pick up a couple more.
Today.
Does that say $159 for an impeller? Seems a wee bit pricey… Is that a sign of what markup is like in the Caribbean or is there something special about that one?
EC dollars, not US.
Hope that was EC, not USD!
Thankfully, EC.
You lucked out, Mike! Glad you did.
We create our own luck!