Is a sail drive cover necessary to sail. I have a lm32 1984 volvo penta....... I purchased it without the cover. Does anyone know where to get a new one if they are necessary?
If you mean the fiberglass cover over the sail drive portion of the engine and sail drive compartment; no it is not critical to sailing, but your engine will draw it's air from the open area that is no longer covered instead of through the designed air intake. If the sole under your cockpit floor is dirty, dirt from there may find its way into the air filter. My LM 32's air intake hose runs under the starboard lazarette, from it's inlet very near the steering quadrant, to its terminus low down on the starboard side of the sail drive / engine compartment. Depending on how clean it is there ... you may get more or less dirt!
That said, if for any reason the sail drive's gaskets suffers a catastrophic failure, as the waterline of the boat is very near the top of the engine compartment, then the engine compartment could flood, and if you're in a sea then the seawater may slosh out of the engine compartment and into the bilge. Could fill the bilge quite rapidly I'd think.
I have no idea what the frequency of catastrophic failure of a sail drive gasket is ... and you have an alarm to warn you of water intrusion between the inner and outer gasket... so if you check the alarm function annually as noted in the maintenance requirements, and never rip the sail drive off your boat ... you may be fine.
If you could find someone nearby who owns a similar cover, perhaps they'd lend it to you and anyone with basic skills in fiberglass work should be able to make a mold, then a replacement cover for you.
Hello Isaac, I'm on Vancouver Island, on the west coast to a bit of a distance between us. There should be a few LMs in your locale, as the North American distributor was in Green Bay Wisconsin; but if you can't find one I can prepare an illustration of the size, radius' etc. and perhaps you could have one made.
I forgot to say in my original email, that the cover would also help to contain a fire if you were ever so unfortunate to suffer one. My LM had a Halon extinguisher in the engine compartment, but you can't get those refilled any longer, so I replaced mine when I bought the boat. Without the cover, the extinguisher might not put out any fire.
The cover also has some sound dampening insulation, which I suspect also has some fire rating ... so your boat would be noisier without the cover, than it would be with the cover.
