What Is Real World Life Span Of Drive Bellows?
03-20-2017, 04:38 PM
#21
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Thread Starter
My boat does not stay in the water. It stays in a garage. I've been told that very little water actually makes it's way into the boat through a torn bellows. I kind of did get the answer I was after in that a 2004 Donzi Classic like mine still has the original bellows, An '88 still has the original bellows and a '96 was changed at 18 years and was still intact. I will inspect mine closely this spring with the drive in every position and I will replace it soon but I'm not gonna sweat it. Thanks for the replies.
03-22-2017, 01:02 PM
#22
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If nothing else, I would do them every 10 years. It's rubber. Rubber dries out and cracks. When the bellows goes, there's the possibility of the boat sinking. It's cheaper to replace the bellows than pay the insurance deductible.
To be perfectly honest, I start to worry about them after 5 years.
To be perfectly honest, I start to worry about them after 5 years.
03-22-2017, 05:11 PM
#23
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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. 
I had a very small slit in my bellows and the bilge pump was going off every 5 minutes. Of course it was the second day into a ROTO trip, 7 hours away from home.
Luckily I was able to find someone with a lift that I could use for the weekend because there was no way I was keeping it in the water .
03-23-2017, 07:21 AM
#24
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^^^^^^^^^^^^ You had me at, "small slit"! 
03-23-2017, 04:43 PM
#25
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ICDEDPPL is 100% correct. Even a small hole in the bellows will have your bilge pump working overtime. I had a shift cable bellows on my old 17 footer go and it really opened my eyes as to how fast water can enter the boat.
03-23-2017, 04:56 PM
#26
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