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Doesn't the base / boiler interface have three small pins to hold it in position?
The fact it doesn't leak coukd be because the boiler (3) / base (5) connection is separate from the boiler / element (9).
That's the bit which seals in the water, with a very squishable o-ring (8).
The base should have three
https://theespressoshop.com/pages/la-pavoni-lever-boiler-and-base-components-exploded-diagram
I used a cheap <£10 oil filter wrench to tighten the boiler to element, following various suggestions on here & elsewhere. It didn't take much grunt at all to undo it / tighten it back up.
I seem to recall reading / hearing that the chap in the video has confessed to having very limited grip strength, hence the massive lever.
NotThamesWater
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Yep I think so, as long as the 3 allen bolts holding the element to the boiler ring are tight, there shouldn't be any leaks (assuming the brass ring isn't basically hanging off!).
I think the issue I'm facing is that the spacers (parts 4 & 6 in the diagram) aren't thick enough, likely just getting compressed over time. So while the element is tight to the boiler, the whole assembly isn't as tight to the base as it should be. With the original spacers, I ended up having to bend the p-stat pipe a fair bit as the spacers were presumably getting squashed over time, so the boiler ring had to be tightened to accommodate. I do have one of those little oil filter wrenches and it did work pretty well.
Might give it another tighten this afternoon and see how much is needed, haven't touched it in maybe 6-9 months at this point.
mmccarthy
This has been a constantly occurring thing for me, can only assume it's the boiler spacer/gasket (https://espressocare.com/products/boiler-spacer-europiccola), that's compressed over time and therefore loosened a bit.
I've not been great about re-tightening it, and I can turn the boiler using the lever pretty easily. But it's not a leak-risk so I tend not to bother. Not helped by the process of tightening the boiler flange being a pain. If I had a proper little workshop I'd absolutely make one of those little grouphead mounts for a vice and use that. But alas that's not the case.
Though this sort of thing seems like overkill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKu0qmFurrA