What Brian is saying here is not just academic. On our Alaska trip this summer we met an R-31 owner in Juneau that we invited onboard and were trading tips and ideas. His boat is the Leprechaun (yes, it is green!). I was hoping he would respond to this thread but I don’t know if/how often he checks Tugnuts.
He (Bruce) told me that his solenoid went out not once but twice and left him dead in the water both times, requiring a tow. The first time was because the gland in the stuffing box had been spraying saltwater just as Brian described. He did not at that time know about the emergency procedure for locking the transmission in forward gear. He had the solenoids replaced and the installer, noticing that they were completely unprotected, attempted to pot the contacts in order to protect them. The second time was more frightening. He was on his way to Haida Gwaii, and turned into beam seas. He says there was too much water in the bilge and that the water splashed up onto the engine and the contacts, shorting them out. The potting had evidently cracked with heat and time. As the boat was drifting quickly with wind and current toward reefs and rocks, he tried to replace the solenoid with a spare he had aboard, but it was extremely difficult with the rolling boat, and the old contact crumbled with corrosion. He did try the emergency procedure to lock the boat in forward but it didn’t work for him. He says he just barely missed drifting onto the rocks.
He informed Volvo of these experiences and says he thinks his experience, along with others, is why they added boots for the contacts and more protection for the wires in more recent models. They also have an updated emergency procedure for locking the solenoid in more recent models. That procedure can be found in the owners manual. I have looked at our (2018 model) R-31 and noticed that, though the contacts have boots, the boots do have small cracks in them so I am thinking about some means of additional protection.
