Moody 31 MkII advice before buying

  • Thread starter Petr Valenta
  • Start date
P

Petr Valenta

Dear colleagues, I intend to buy a Moody Eclipse 33 MKII with a Perkins engine and I need advice with one problem. It is a serious drawback that when a gear is engaged, it is still neutral and only after a while is the gear caught, so it is not possible to use a "detergent".
Reverse gear is OK.
Is the repair difficult? Thank you for the advice. Peter
 
Ahoj Petr,

You don't say what gearbox the engine has on it but if it's a Hurth, these are of a constant mesh design (I,e. the gears are always engaged) with selection by coupling different gears to the shaft with clutches which have a cunning servo function to hold them engaged. If it's not a Hurth / ZF gearbox, ignore the rest of this and tell us what make and model it is.

It sounds like the ahead clutch is worn. Some adjustment is available by stripping the gearbox and changing shims but most marine mechanics would charge the price of a new gearbox to do this. If you are mechanically capable, you can do the job yourself - it involves taking the gearbox out and stripping it down on a bench.

The expert on these gearboxes is David Longhurst - hopefully he'll be along shortly.

An alternative approach is to get a price for fitting a replacement gearbox from a marine mechanic and reduce your offer by that amount

It might help if someone with the necessary authority changed the prefix to Eclipse 33 please.

Peter.
 
Hello Peter Thank you for the quick advice. I am from the Czech Republic, the boat is in Croatia and I have not yet contacted the owner, but I already know that I want it with this defect. I will definitely become a member of the Moody owners association soon and I will certainly have a lot of questions.
I am sorry for my English. I help myself with Google Translate.
Thank you again and I wish you a trace of water under the keel. Peter
 
Hi Petr,

I guessed you were Czech from your first name and your English is much better than my Czech, despite me being married to a Czech lady. Croatia is a great place to sail - we used to race there in the Czech Offshore Regatta every September until a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I hope you will enjoy your Moody when you get her - they are well built boats although, at more than 25 years old, her condition depends more on how well she has been looked after than how she was built.

Saiing a boat with a 1.83m keel on the East Coast of England, a trace of water is all I'm used to under the keel, not at all like Croatia, so your greeting is well chosen.

Peter.
 
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