ok- time to get started on my bellows repair

Willhound

Way to stick to it! When you get her all sealed back up it'll be better than new.

aero3113

@rasbury , your going to love the first time out on the hook sipping a nice cold drink once this is all over!!!!

rasbury

True dat!

GMSLITHO

You’ll have a better job than if you paid someone to do the job abs saved as they say “a boat load of money”you might want to seal the exposed wood  up with some west system 

rasbury

Oh, it will be sealed up!

rasbury

So, I drilled some holes around the bottom of the key hole- everything looks fine. That seal on the gimbal looks awful- the way it flatten out I dint see how it seals anything. So will get some stuff ordered and work on getting it back together!

zaverin1

Sweet 

Dream_Inn

Sure is great to hear you are getting that boat all back together!  Ras, you better spend some nights on the hook with your family!  That is truly the best part of boating!!!!

trip_n

@rasbury==keep up the good work==may the rinker be with you

Liberty44140

Awesome that it is all dry! Great that Rinker took the right steps to make sure that the core is protected from rot from a leak. Thanks Rinker! 

rasbury

thanks all for the input- other stuff to do getting it back together-and then there is life but I'm mighty pleased with the result!

rasbury

So, thinking ahead of myself a bit....when I pulled the motor, the bolts for the inner transom plate and motor came out easily so that tells me the motor was aligned and level as they did not bind. So, going back in....the transom assembly bolts are obviously smaller than the holes for them in the transom. I don't know if those bolts are resting on the bottom of those holes or if they had a jig to center them? Point is, although not much "slop" for error, would seem impossible to have it exactly in the same position going back on than coming off. I'm more concerned with the left to right as I can adjust the up and down. How do they set this up when they install? Will I end up drilling new holes for the motor mounts as a result? I know the motor was out once and they used the same holes but the transom assembly was not removed...

rasbury

I'm mot worried about the front, I'm worried about the back ones, the left to right!

rasbury

The holes in the transom plat in relation to the holes for the motor mounts.

Handymans342

I guess you got the bolts out .Post some more pics!

rasbury

Yes I did...took a torch...i will tonight. I'm getting my parts list together so I can go shopping...having a little trouble with the trim sender/limit switch part numbers but will get it figured out. What a learning experience-

J3ff

I'm about to pay for someone to do this for you! This has been such a long time with no boat for you! 

rasbury

Sigh.....I'm happy to put my address out there! I'm mot cheap, per say, but have a hard time paying someone a lot of money that does not know much more than I do. The time lost really sucks and way longer than I had hoped.

Dude_Himself

It's not worth the headache to pay someone. Trust me. Lesson learned over and over. I've yet to pay for services boat-related and been satisfied with the results!

zaverin1

Well
if you have time,all proper tools
and room then
sure anything is possible.
i winterize and Service my personal and customer Boats all the time.
There are few jobs I won’t do and those get outsourced for a reason.

J3ff

Dude_Himself said:

It's not worth the headache to pay someone. Trust me. Lesson learned over and over. I've yet to pay for services boat-related and been satisfied with the results!

So I ended up paying someone almost 20k to do a re-power for me (lots of extra little things were replaced at the same time, and one big one).. the first month of ownership. Six months later I drive by, the place was out of business!!! Doh! 

I guess it at least retains the factory warranty (paid for a 3 year).. 

rasbury

I would have sunk the boat and called the insurance co....just kidding GEICO!

rasbury

OK- officially everything is torn apart. Here is a series of pictures of my misadventures getting here. The last thing I did, and I was afraid to do it as I did not want to try to get another bolt/nut loose that I had to torch or  otherwise destroy- removed the steering pin and it actually came loose with no banking, soaking or anything which was a sign it was probably in pretty good shape. You can tell from the pictures of the gimbal, it was definitely leaking around the seal and behind it in the lower bottom. While I determined that the transom itself was solid, I can only think that all my banging getting that bearing out messed up what little sealing was going on at the bottom there and then the water was really coming in. I wire brushed it before these pictures and have more cleaning up to do- I have the merc outdrive paint and the zinc pre coat so I will clean all this up and start putting it back together. Steering pin looks good, will replace what ever seals it (not much from what I see!) and start putting this back together. I messed up two of the trim hoses, one outer and one of the inner ones, I have to replace the trim senders and see them new on ebay for 50 bucks so I'm thinking to get the transom back on the boat I will spend 200~250 bucks tops in parts.  Here goes a series of pictures, not sure what I have posted prior and what I have not so sorry for duplication!

craigswardmtb

You are nuts if you put that steel pin back in there. It will rust and your seal will fail again. It's $100 for the nuwave SS pin. How was the shape of your gimbal ring. That swivel pin hole can start to round out and you end up with steering slop. 

rasbury

I did not have any leaking with the steering pin- no corrosion and it came apart easily..gimbal I would love to replace some of the studs but think it will clean up ok.

craigswardmtb

I forgot you are trailered. So it would be less prevalent. The previous owner must have trailered as well. 
Even so I see a little rust. It sits below the water line. Its only a matter of time. Cheap insurance when you are already in there. 

bella-vita

Well he knows how it all come  a part now,he could take it apart again lol.

rasbury

I hope I don't live long enough to use anything I've learned!

craigswardmtb

I'm in the process of changing my 2nd swivel pin.  It and the seal were a mess.  I replaced the gimbal ring as well.  I'm having the marina do both drive bellow kits, shift cables, and gimbal bearing while i have it apart.  One of my ujoint bellows was apparently leaking only after 3 seasons.  I figured it was all coming from the swivel pin as that was leaking too.

rasbury

yikes! I could not handle two drives with two sets of problems...heck can hardly handle what I have. Good luck with that. I don't think my bellows had ever been replaced and while I thought that was my leak, they were in good shape and if I'm correct, 10 years old. Just sat on a lift, had 100 hours showing when I bought it about 4 years ago.