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Driveshaft Bellows
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That's a Problem! The gimbal bearing was shot, and when I took apart the outdrive, I found that the oil seal on the bearing assembly was damaged.
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She's got a Mercruiser 898 sterndrive. I tinkered for about 3 days and got her started. She ran but was not ciculating any water. After going through the outdrive, I found that the driveshaft was not turning, the coupler has been spun out.
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Day 1
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Port motor stringer
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When I pulled the engine to replace the coupler, the port side engine mount came out with the engine
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I cut out the fiberglass and found out why. That's all thats left of a timber about 5"x6"x42". This contributed to the coupler failure no doubt.
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Engine Mount Stringer
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The cavity is cleaned out
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Luckily everything surrounding the engine stringer was solid.
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Once it was cleaned out, I started to rebuild the stringer. The 1st piece gave me a level surface. Everything was epoxied in with West Systems Epoxy.
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Filling the void (1)
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Filling the void (2)
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The main piece was made from a treated 6x6 timber. More epoxy!
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While I had the engine out, I replaced the shutters because you can't get to them with the engine in place.
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Exhaust shutters
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Back together.
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I reused the cutout piece of the original fiberglass, so that the mount would go back to its correct location. It was glassed in with one layer of woven roving then a layer of 6 oz. mat, again more epoxy. A coat of paint, reinstall the engine mounts and bilge pump. Now I'm off to tackle the coupler.
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Here's the old coupler. It's completely stripped! No splines left at all!
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Old Coupler
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Exhaust in place
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The exhaust "Y" is inplace and I'm ready to re-install the engine.
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Dropped the engine back in using a fork lift. On to the alignment.
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Engine
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Outdrive on!
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It took about 3 hours, but I got the engine alignment done and the outdrive back on.
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These are 2 of my 7 , yes 7! reasons for working on this boat. They are posing for this just prior to my maiden voyage. They will be staying behind until I'm comfortable that the boat is seaworthy.
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Little Helpers
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Headed out!
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I'm headed for the Chagrin River, then on to Lake Erie.
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I put her in the Chagrin river for the maiden voyage on 072105. We made our way to Lake Erie and ran around for about 45 minutes. Everything went smoothly. The lake was nice, but not nice enough to run WOT. Maybe next time!
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Headed down river.
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