While in Malaysia back in 2013 we replaced the old Yanmar engine on our 1980’s IOR ¾ ton cruiser-racer Zen Again, fitting in its place a new Craftsman (Mitsubishi) CM3.27 engine. The new engine needed low-profile mounts to align with the propeller shaft. Two of the four low-profile mounts ended up at the bottom of their travel. Eventually, that came back to bite us.
Fast forward to December 2022. Zen Again was cruising the San Blas islands of Panama. We’dsailedabout30,000miles and the engine had 1,700 hours on the clock. During a routine engine check, we found three of four of the mount’s polymer inserts were disintegrating. The polymer inserts provide the shock absorbing ‘elastic’ in the mounts.
Thankfully the weather improved and we were able to cruise the San Blas with little engine use and no further deterioration. Along the way, we contacted the Australian mount manufacturer PolyFlex. After viewing the photos, they recommended renewing only the inserts, greatly reducing the
