I need your infinate wisdom to solve 2 complex marine problems.

1st: Do you know who is the cheapest to rebuild starters or is it cheaper to just replace?

2nd: I found where I am taking on water. I have a fairly major leak around the gimbal. How is that held onto the hull? There is some slop of the actual gimbal to the hull if I lift on the lower unit. I would like to try and tighten that up but I can't figure out how the gimbal is fastened. Please tell me that I can tighten it and that I don't have to pull the engine again to tighten it.... please. If that dont fix it then. Is there a gasket between the gimbal and the hull or would it be just as good just to do the old faithfull silicon?

Ohh BTW: incase you forgot, it is a Mercruiser 302 V8 with a Mercruiser 888 out drive.

 

I would have to say, for your starter you might be better off getting an aftermarket rebuild. Like ARCO, they do a lot of starters and such. I use them all the time. Ill get you a price tomorrow, just remind me. Ill also look into that transom plate and gimbal housing for ya. Dont just slop a bunch of silicone on there PLEASE!! Im not sure off hand if you can get behind the engine and tighten it up, but I will check in the am and report back. Honestly you may want to use this as a good winter project and pull it off and reseal the entire thing. but i'll let you know if theres an easy way around it.


BREW

 

I was afraid you were going to say something like that....
I probably wont take it out anymore this year. Going to wait and see if I can get a starter before I fully winterize it thou. If I get it fixed by next weekend then I'd like to run some more of this gas out of it before I put it away. If I do take it out one last time for a bit I can run the bilge pump every few minutes and it keeps up. Something went wrong with the float switch it wanted to run non stop even when it was dry. So I have to remember to manually run it now.


I'll be out until late afternoon tomarrow. Got to go out of town to a customers to work on thier rental boats bimini's at thier dock. I'm leaving fairly early in the am to give me enough time to be home fairly early in the evening. So I'll look to see what you find as soon as I get back. Thanks man. I'm going to owe you a Beer.

You guys might have to buy some of our mooring covers, request that they be installed, and request that I install it, just so I can come up there and buy you a cold one.
That would cost a lot of people a lot of money just so that I could buy you a beer.

 

But it would be well worth it

Check your email. I sent you a picture of your gimbal. Hope it goes thru.

Oh yeh..get the starter rebuilt, its NLA


BREW

 

PSS-mag,

Are you 100% sure that it's the transom assembly that's leaking? (And I'm assuming you have a Mercruiser drive.) Remember, there's a U-Joint Bellows and a Shift Boot in there that - when compromised - will cause water to come in through that same area. I can't remember a transom assembly ever leaking in normal usage. Boots and bellows on the other hand - they go all the time. They tend to last about 5 years.

One quick check: With the boat in the water, trim the drive all the way down, then listen for water dripping in. Next, trim the drive all the way up to the trailer position and listen again. Also, turn the drive full lock right and left with it up. A bad Bellows or Shift Boot will cause you to hear a whole lot of water coming in when trimmed up. By the way, if this is the problem, the motor doesn't have to come out.

 

Hey 2stroked....I was thinking the same thing about the bellows, but he says when he lifts up on the outdrive he can see the gimbal move off the transom. So im assuming its pretty loose.


BREW

 

BREWDUDE,

Wow, that would be a first! As you well know, diagnosing this kind of thing from afar is next to impossible. If that's what's really loose, he's got a fun winter project ahead of him - assuming it doesn't sink and change the whole project scope and scale. I think I'd put in on the trailer and call it a season. I'll stay tuned for details.

 

Well Matts kind of a dadre devil...lol, so I think runnig one more weekend while shes sinking will give him one more thrill before the seasons over


BREW

 

Well it'll have to have a starter to start it before I can take it out again this year...

As for a first... LOL
Well welcome to my world.... If there is a remote possability of the worst. Then I am your man for it to happen to.

I just replaced the drive shaft bellow when I replaced the engine coupler back in May. The others were fine no sign of dry rot and still very pliable so I left them. The Drive shaft was $70 I wouldnt want to buy all at once.

It is definatly the transom/gimbal, Friday before we took it out Saturday I was replacing the bilge pump because the old one wasnt working. Well turned out the line was plugged and the old one pumped a higher volume than the one I had lying around here. So I blew out the line backwards and put the old one back on again. While testing it after assembeled I used a garden hose to fill the engine gully so the bilge pump could pump it out. Well it worked but while I was doing that then I was also checking to see where I might be taking on water from. When we spotted to solid streams running from the bottum of the gimbal on each side. Started investigasting that's when I noticed the slop. I can pull the gimbal about 1/8-1/4" from the transom. I'm hoping to god that isn't the core material in the transom breaking down. But remember from above, "I am your man". LOL The transom dosen't flex what I would consider exessively so I think I'm safe there though. I wasnt sure so I grabbed hold of a new boat today and lifted on it the same way and the transom flexed as much or more than mine does, But the gimbal didn't move on it! LOL

Now with the slop in the gimbal to transom in mind, This makes since to me but I'd like to hear from someone who knows... Would this be why it all of a sudden started to porpoise when trimmed to run the time before this that I took it out?

 

I would have to say yes. With the drive bouncing up and down that 1/4 inch, the normal flex of the transom, plus the extra flex put it on it, due to the gimbal being loose, I would say it could deff. have an affect on the way it runs.

Take something solid, say the butt of a hammer and tap the transom in different places. It should sound good and solid all over. If you can hear a "hollow" sound, then the transo is most likely full of water and rotting away. Im sure this isnt what you want to hear, but its better to find out now rather than when the transom falls off the back of the boat cruising across the lake. If you really want to know, once its out for good, drill some small ( 1/4" ) holes in the bottom back edge of the transom. At the bottom , not in the bottom (like under the boat) if theres water in it, it will start to come out. if thats the case, you need to get it out of there before it freezes and splits the transom wide open. Trust me, i've seen it. I have one at the shop right now and the transom replacement job is gonna be close to 5 G's

Sorry, didnt want to ruin your night...


BREW

 

Actually that is what I wanted to hear.
I'll do that check tomarrow. I've got a rubber mallot that will work great to tap it with.
I hadn't even thought of water getting in there wit hteh core material.
I appreciate you pointing that out. I'd rather know now, than to walk out one day and see a crack going across the transom.

 

If you do indeed have a transom full of water, there is soem stuff you can put in it after all the water has been drained out and the core has dried. I forget what it is, but if I remember correctly, it pretty much hardens it all back up. I'll have to look into it a little more. But if the botld were loose for any amoutn of time on that gimbal ring, then you can pretty much bet you have some water in there.

But no where near as much as I am losing from my pond


BREW

 

Probably some type of resin. Let me find out the extent of the damage before we start looking for a solution to problems that hopefully are not there.

Hope/pray!

 

if any of you guys need parts rebuilt or replaced

call me

or better yet get me here

i can make anything out of metal

even if it don't exist





yet

...zap!

 

If the entire Transom Assembly is loose, you've absolutely got water getting into your transom. I don't know of any builder who seals the edges of the cutout before they install and seal the Transom Assembly in - because I've never seen one come loose. So, even if you don't find water when you drill the holes, it's in there and needs to be dealt with. Yes, this is going to be a fun project!