When I bought my J30 in Hood River, Oregon last fall I had a very limited amount of time to get the boat out of the marina there. The sellers didn't want to pay for another month of moorage and I wanted to get going too. I really wanted to have a bunch of spares ready for the 95 mile downriver trip, but the serial number plate is missing and according to the local Yanmar marine experts you really still need to have the impeller in your hand to identify it correctly. I even said that I would buy all the close possibilities, but he still declined saying there were just too many to to bother with that approach. So we ran the boat downriver and it ran just fine the entire time as well as the trip to the haul out, for a total about 115 miles. I have no idea how long this pump was in this condition before I bought the boat.

Well today I was looking at that sturdy little motor and decided that I would pull that pump apart and go get the new impeller, belt and a gasket. I can't say I was surprised when I opened the pump up, but I do believe I was extraordinarily lucky this time.

This is a pretty easy thing to service and I don't think I need to tell anyone what happens when no water gets through the system. So spend the 15 minutes it takes to break this little pump open to inspect the impellers and the brass plate that covers it, because the plate is a wear item too.

So I plan to get the parts to rebuild this pump and to buy a complete new pump. Probably will never need it, but it would really suck to need it and not have it.

[Linked Image]

Dave Graf