Westerbeke Damper Plate

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Jun 21, 2013
1
Pearson Countess Freeport
I own a 1966 Pearson Countess sailboat. In 2004, repowered with a 120 HP Westerbeke w/a Velvet Drive transmission. Since then (3000 hrs) have had to replace 3 damper plates, at great expense, and danger. Westerbeke and dealer are no help.
Any ideas???????
Sharon
 
Nov 6, 2006
10,093
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
No help, unfortunately.. only questions..:
Pictures of the failure site ? have all the failures of the disks been the same?
120 HP is a lot compared to "normal" stuff.. I wonder if they are using the correct disk for your engine/trans and not using a "Will Fit" disk. If the disk is not rated for that power, the springs would run fully collapsed and the disk would be subject to a lot more fatigue.
Quite unusual to have that many fail in those number hours.
Has someone measured "runout" of the flywheel disk mounting surface and the runout of the trans input shaft? A bad mount or a little dirt between the flywheel and the crankshaft could cause enough runout wobble to fail a disk pretty quickly. Same with a slightly bent transmission input shaft.
EDIT: Beautiful boat ! and Welcome Aboard, Sharon.
 
Last edited:
Feb 26, 2009
716
Oday 30 Anchor Yacht Club, Bristol PA
Are you being told this when it breaks down and is fixed or are you seeing the actual damage? Don't trust blindly..... 3000 hrs .. you motor allot?
 
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