Peter, sorry I didn’t see this message until now. I’m still using the original, patched as best I can. It has a small leak, so I’ll be doing a replacement next spring
Over the spring and summer, Piccolo had a few more improvements:
I added an automatic bilge pump to handle possible water ingress while changing the shaft packing in the water. Turns out the algae seal from not starting the engine from November to February (PNW), meant no ingress at all when changing the shaft packing.
The other job was to replace the original stainless steel waterlock with a Vetus LP50. It doesn't fit exactly, and it's volume is slightly less. Mine is installed at a 10º angle (downward from the elbow), because the outlet is on an upwards angle. It's not a bad fit for an off-the-shelf solution, and it will protect the engine from any water flowing back from the long exhaust hose. I added some heat shield tape to the muffler that's closest to the manifold.
I added an automatic bilge pump to handle possible water ingress while changing the shaft packing in the water. Turns out the algae seal from not starting the engine from November to February (PNW), meant no ingress at all when changing the shaft packing.
The other job was to replace the original stainless steel waterlock with a Vetus LP50. It doesn't fit exactly, and it's volume is slightly less. Mine is installed at a 10º angle (downward from the elbow), because the outlet is on an upwards angle. It's not a bad fit for an off-the-shelf solution, and it will protect the engine from any water flowing back from the long exhaust hose. I added some heat shield tape to the muffler that's closest to the manifold.
