CigaretteSam

Get a chance to get out on the water yet today?

KL2

I took it to the lake yesterday. I was in the water for five minutes or less. As soon as I launched it, I popped open the engine compartment. It looked and sounded like Niagara Falls coming in.


Turned on the bilge, threw my keys to my buddy and said go get my truck now!

Had to crank it back up on the trailer, didn't even fire it up. Took on water fast.

Left it in the parking lot and preceded to go on lake with buddy and fam. in the bow rider.

Back in yard last night. Got to figure out where the major breach is. It looks like maybe a bellow seal. Where the outdrive comes through the back and connects to the engine, it was running water all around that.

Have a theroy that it could be loose bolts from sitting.

Or, could be bad seal from having it sit with outdrive up all those years in god knows what type of storage.

Only problem I have is that I don't know how to go about to tackle the problem. I was going to do the free fix and tighten the bolts. If anyone has a scematic of the outdrive and connections I'd appreciate it! Or, if someone can point me in the right direction for repair, I[d appreciate that too!

CigaretteSam

Maybe at one point, the boat had through-prop exhaust, and when they converted it to thru hull, they didn't properly seal the bellows???

InstaGator

Sounds like we both had problems this weekend. I blew up the motor in "Showtime" on Saturday on the way home from the Glenn. Now I'm looking for a new BBC for her.

Powerquest_Baby!!

Wow! Tough weekend for both of you guys....KL2 the odds are its your bellows. Insta--hope you can get showtime back out on the water soon.

KL2

Man that sucks! I think it was a problem weekend everywhere. Guy who launched after me, his boat wouldn't start. The bowrider that I went with friends on while leaving mine in the launch, was running poppy. It would stall if you gave it any fuel in reverse.

Went up today and did a little investigation. Around the transom seal you can obviously see where it's not sealed now that I can look at it closely. There's a plug where the exhaust used to come through before it was converted to thru hull, it almost looks like it says furncoe on it. That's not what a furncoe is lol. (at least the ones I'm familiar with). I think since the transom seal needs to be replaced I should just do all of them. I see they have kits on ebay, I'm also going to call the local dealer and have them run my hin for recalls. I've been reading a lot on a sub company that Chris Craft used that didn't use up to snuff materials.

InstaGator

I think I found a complete motor (454 Gen VI) in the Tampa Bay area. . Buying it from an insurance company throught a friend in New Port Richie. I was told it has extremely low hours (approx. 30 hours) due to a new boat catching fire in the galley area. Hopefully the deal goes through. Keep your fingers crossed for me...

KL2

That's great, I hope it works out for you! I was watching the news and they said that Hurricane Beryl really caused havoc in Florida. Hope that your vessel didn't end up like the one that they showed on the news; smashed outdrive and fiberglass.

I did a lot of research and found some very helpful materials that detail my transom assembly. I also did a serial number search and verified that I have a Gen. 1 mercruiser. Upon researching, I discovered that my vessel was manufactured in January, and resided on Lake Ontario in Canada. I found a kit on another site for $115, from Sierra? (IDK never heard of them). I don't need the exhaust boot in the kit, yet the rest are needed. I also found some great information on how to create a bellows tool. Going to order the kit this week, and tackle it next week.

KL2

Just a small update, went to the marine store this weekend and purchased some 3M 4200, 3M marine sealant with silicone (said gasket adhesive so I figured I may need it), and some sierra bellows adhesive. I ordered the transom/bellows seal kit online. It's supposed to be here on Friday, so I'm hoping to install it this weekend.

Sunrocket24

Sierra are good parts, and it looks like you also got all the adhesives you need for the job. There are a lot of videos on you tube that show how to replace bellows. Do a search and watch those, its not a hard job to do if you "handy" or "mechanical type of guy"