Bondo

Ayuh,.... I changed my last bellows at 8 years old,....
No holes in it, but it was bloated, 'n way over due,...
Mine's a sweetwater barge, docked from May to October each year,...

Merc says 'bout every 5 years,...

masi242

Just had mine done last year and I'm thinking it was close to 10 years but that was pushing it. Fresh water also but i keep it docked during the summer.

speicher lane

most people only consider replacing the bellows when the gimbal craps out due to water intrusion. Marina generally give a quick inspection on the boats at spring launch and fall winterizing (unless customer draws attention to an issue)

merc bellows seem to last longer than Sierra

thirdchildhood

I just heard from owners of an '04 and '88 boats like mine with original bellows!

AllDodge

Bought my 95 Rinker new in Dec 1995. Changed boots for the first time in August 2016 (21 years). This is a fresh water only boat, trailered and drive stored down always. Boots look good and pulled them for all I was worth and no rips, tears or cracks. Installed with new Merc boots and also did the Merc Bravoits install. Recon I have another 20 before I do it again

thirdchildhood

It sounds that if the bellows is inspected regularly and the drive is pulled annually that the bellows does not need to be replaced every 5 years or whatever. It seems that if it does leak that water will not come into the boat but the gimbal bearing and u-joints will be exposed to water. This would probably cause damage in salt water faster. I grease my gimbal bearing regularly and my u-joints are sealed so damage would be slow to occur. Even if no tear in the bellows is visible you would catch the problem when the drive was pulled at the end of the year for alignment, bearing and u-joint check. Anyway, that's my take on it after the posts here and being contacted by others.

BUP

a couple of tablespoons of water that enters into the gimbal bearing will start its way for failure then in due time is growling meaning the gimbal bearing shot. for the guys with these 15 to 21 years old bellows - when pulled off no way they were in their nature set state - I bet they were not. They were not hard ? See as you trim way up and completely down - hard spots or mushy spots can get a small tear - that small tear opens up as you trim up letting water in - as trim down the tear closes itself up but not 100 %. water can stop leaking thou. That small tear becomes bigger over time. When you pull off your drive you need to pull your bell housing up and then check for small tears in the bellows from the inside out. Can not tell you how many times I poked my finger thru them - from the inside - outward.

Anyways this guy use to be up here and for sure he never did annually drive and transom service plus checks. . the key is maintenance so it does not bite you down the road like this. The pics will tell story on a bellows that was never check nor a drive pulled annually or once every 2 years for checks and maintenance..

Anyways some food for thought. And yes a big tear in your bellows can sink your boat especially left in the water . Seen 4 actually that that torn bellows caused the bobber. Good luck -

its kind of like sometimes you get 25 K miles out of set tires on your auto and sometime you can get 60 K miles out of the same brand of tires. When they get old and worn its time to change them regardless no matter of the miles.

http://www.formulaboatsforum.com/VBF...-bellows-tears

boatnt

if you search long enough you will get the answer you were after,,
my thought is ,a boat should not sink for cost of fuel for one weekend

Wasted Income

Just saw this posted on FaceSpace this morning. Apparently the culprit was a rotten bellows.

Pismo10

My 1996 changed in 2014 first time.. Still was not leaking. Kills the gimbal bearing quickly and ujoints a few years later..and sinks the boat if not discovered.