J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Coulda, Woulda, Shouda

So my curiosity was killing me so I tore this pump apart for a much more careful inspection. First the flat inner wall surface of the pump is noticeably worn and has a ridge outboard of the shaft matching inner radius of the impeller. 2nd I really should have taken a magnifying glass to the shaft itself, it has multiple problems. There is a small diameter change in the shaft from the area that fits the impeller to the shaft itself. To my eye this is a machined feature, not one caused by wear, but would need to see the new shaft for comparison or the drawings. 3rd the impeller is still fine, but the shaft seal is burnt toast. The shaft was going to kill the new seal even if it had primed. If it had worked initially I think it would have failed again pretty quickly..

I don't have the tools to do a careful QA inspection, but my take on this is that the pump housing back wall wear and the shaft itself were both shot. Putting on new cover plates only solves the wear problem on the cover plate side. The inner side is wearing out too. I had been thinking it was the circumference that had become too worn. I think when I was buying my rebuild parts I looked into a new shaft and it was about $100 all by itself. It may be that replacing the shaft would have extended the pump life further, but this thing was well worn and has served its useful life.

The point of all this is that this simple little pump is not so simple.