Finally, no water in the bilge!!!

rinker312

Been on the lake for a little over a month now and for the first time since I have owned my boat (about 5 years), I finally have a dry bilge.  I went looking for the old forum web site which is apparently no longer around as I wanted to thank everyone for the help they had given me over the years.  I see some of same names here, so thank you all.  Particularly alswagg, if he is on this new site.  I hope he is, he is a wealth of information.

 

Capt_Steve

Hey @rinker312...glad to have you here. And, yes, you'll see @alswagg prowling around on a regular basis, dishing out excellent advice.

Babyboomer

TikiHut2

So what was the original issue and what ended up being the fix? 

Is lake wheeler in Decatur/Huntsville? We have family up that way. Beautiful country up in the hills.

Welcome back, Mike

Dream_Inn

Welcome back 312!  Definitely follow up with your fix so we all can keep learning! :-c

raybo3

Welcome back 312......

rinker312

yes, Wheeler flows through that area, although we are on the other side near Athens/Rogersville.  We really enjoy it there and it is not crowded, like having the lake all to yourself most of the time.

Ultimately my problem was the swivel shaft seal, was barely anything left of them.  I used the JR marine kit to remove the gimbal ring.  Kit worked great, but actually getting the shafts to come out was not fun as everything was all corroded up.  Strangely enough my gimbal rings did not need any repair, but the steering connectors were loose, which caused play in my drives.  But after all sorts of new parts, all is working well, no water, no play in the steering and I also added an exterior tie bar from eddie marine.

Again, thanks to everyone for all the help. 

 

Black_Diamond

Does the tie bar do much for a cruiser? I know on HP boats they use them. I was told overkill otherwise for mine

rinker312

I cannot really say that my boat is performing any better.  If it is, it is too little for me to notice.  I had read somewhere that the exterior tie bar would help reduce wear on the gimbal rings, so I figure between the upgraded stainless swivel shaft and ubolt, and the tie bar, I hopefully will not run into gimbal ring wear problems any time soon.

 

 

TikiHut2

My gimbel ring seals and steering pin are overdue for attn. Glad you found your fix and thanks for posting. We've been on the Tenn river out that way and you're right, I don't think we saw another boat all day. Great spot. Have a good season. Mike