"Steve" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jun 28, 10:53 am, "jim.isbell" wrote:
On Jun 27, 9:15 am, "MMC" wrote:

"Steve Doofus" wrote in message

roups.com...

Wall of text:

I had one of the engines (it has dual Perkins Prima 500 Series 50 HP
Marine Diesel engines) on my 44' Catamaran dump its lube oil suddenly
on me the other day on my way up the IWC. I did as much tinkereing
as
I was capable of and managed to find what has good potential of being
the cause. I'm no expert so I'm sure this description is gonna be
ugly at best, but here goes:

I test ran the engine a couple of times after cleaning the
compartment, and noticed oil dumping from a plate between the raw
water pump and the Cam Shaft area on the engine. So I removed the
pump, removed the plate, and with the use of a mirror and flashlight,
saw what looked to be a shredded seal that sealed the gap between the
camshaft and that plate.

After a bunch of calling around, I built enough confidence to loosen
(not remove) the camshaft cover and pull out the seal and here it is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/catsailor44/CamShaftSeal

Now my question is: what would be the quickest way to find a
replacement? I feel as if I'm getting a sort of runaround using the
archaic phone + yellow pages technique calling boating stores. My
most promising response was to wait for a shop in England to ship it

I really dont know why everyone is beatting around the bush?

Why not go to a Perkins dealer?

There is one in Tampa for sure and probably in every port city in the
world. I used the one in Tampa to get several parts when I bought my
boat there last year and was making it ready for the trip back to
Texas.

to me here in Daytona, Florida... ideally this is not my only hope.
I
also heard that I may be able to have a bearing shop(???) possibly
fix
the seal?

I'm in sort of a time crunch really, wanna get my second engine alive
again before I continue my transit. To continue on one engine due to
a $2 seal and have my working engine fail is a dumb move obviously.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I don't know the Daytona area, but check the yellow pages for "Miller
Bearing". There's one in Cocoa, about an hour minutes south on I-95.
Might
also try "Marine Pro" in Cocoa. I think they still stock some Perkins
parts.
MMC

I ended up doing that once you guys helped me narrow down my search.
Ended up with something like 6 seals (one perkins, the rest adequate
substitutes) once all the mail came! My initial problem was trusting
that West Marine actually did a thorough search of the immediate area
before saying that I needed to go to England for it. That had me
thinking I had some crazy rare oil seal or something. So after
getting the seal (locally from miller bearing) + a huge socket to set
it, the engine is alive and not dumping oil anymore. Thanks for all
the help!

Glad it worked out Steve!
Hope the rest of the trip is "smooth sailing".
MMC