Topic: Repair of gear box on Bukh diesel
After 30 years the gear box on Virago finally started to slip while away on an extended cruise. Frantic searching on line by many people failed to come up with replacement parts. However, once I got home, my favourite diesel guru repaired it for me. This was a minor miracle as replacement drive cones could not be found. The cones were badly glazed so the friction faces were full of gunk. My diesel deity took the g.b. off and took it back to his shop where he cleaned the cones. Once refitted the gear box works as new and should last until I am too old to sail. An encouraging word for those of us with aging diesels. It wasn't cheap because of the labour, but it got the drive system going again. I guess the takeaway from this is that only one mechanic in quite a few knew that the cones could be cleaned and knew how to do it. It can be done! In the mean time I got to practice some fancy-pants sailing in crap weather and tight places.