sea ray 160 motot mount repair

etallen150

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Apr 10, 2014
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Currently undertaking a light resto on a 1990 sea ray 160 with the 3.0l engine. The front motor mount core is wet and starting to rot, previous owner had a power steering issue that leaked into bolt holes rotting out the core.
My question- is there any way to block/crib up the motor to avoid taking it out of the boat? Once the mount is removed from the motor I should have more than enough space to cut the top of the fiberglass shell off of the wooden core.
Currently it appears that the wood core is pine or Douglas fur by the wide grain structure. I have a Chunk of 6/4 white oak that I can size to fit (it will then be sealed in epoxy). Was told that white oak is a good choice for the core because of its density and water resistance compared to soft woods. The mount is roughly 1 1/2" thick x 3 1/2" Wide and 23" long, my guess is it was originally a 2x4.
Once the core is repaired I will reglass it all back in and drill new bolt holes and seal them before installing the front mount.
Any help would greatly appreciated wife is doubting my ability to finish boat in time for the season
 

tpenfield

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Welcome to iBoats . . .

Plenty of threads to review here with similar issues.

One thing to be sure of before proceeding too far is to know how far the rot/moisture has progressed. Rot & moisture usually goes farther than you think.

If it is truly isolated as you indicated, then you may be able to provide some lift to the engine with a couple of 4x4's going across the beam of the boat. It would be a good idea to remove the outdrive and loosen up the other mounting points for the engine.

Post some pictures when you can, as that always helps for responses.
 

Bondo

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... Pull the drive, before ya go jackin' on the motor,....

Ya don't want to bend the shaft,...
 

Bob_VT

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Welcome to iboats.

Yes White Oak is a good strong choice.

Now food for thought we sell epoxy here Fiberglass & Epoxy Boat Repair & Building AND you need to remember this rule

Epoxy will stick to fiberglass BUT not the other way around so if you use epoxy for your stringers it is a great strong choice (Strongest actually) but if you use it topside it does not afford uv protection and needs to be painted.....you can not adhere fiberglass over the top of epoxy.
 

etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

hey thanks guys. After spending all weekend standing on scaffolding painting my house the thought hit me. I'll use one set of scaffolding and a 4x6 to build the frame to raise the front half of the motor. The drive is already off, had that taken off to replace the impeller. The repair seems pretty straight forward now, let's just hope I have enough epoxy left to finish. Does anyone know if the motor mount on my boat goes through the stringers on either side or if it was just "fit" in between them. Would be nice to know before I started cutting fiberglass.
Thanks again, hope to get some pics loaded when I can get my 10 year old to show me how
 

Woodonglass

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Just an FYI. Since the motor mount is having issues and you will be working on it, now would be a good time to do a thorough inspection of the transom and the rest of the stringers and bulkheads in the boat. 24 yr old boats that have issues such as you are describing usually have them elsewhere. As mentioned, your boat is made from polyester resin and you can do a great repair using the poly resin and Chopped Strand Mat and some 1708 Biaxial Cloth/Fabric. Get those pics posted and you'll be getting lots of help from the members.
 

etallen150

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Apr 10, 2014
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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Thanks again. Ive checked the stringers at their lowest point in 1' intervals and the transom and no rot spotted anywhere else. All in all the boat was in good shape minus the 24 year old interior and the motor mount. Its good know that they used polyester fiberglass so I can save a little money on my motorbox repair. Thanks Ill throw the photos up tonight hopefully
 

etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Finally got some pics to show whats going on. after some heavy scraping and drilling I think i uncovered a crappy lazy repair. looks like the previous owner tried to pump some epoxy into the core to stop the damage. Good news is it never set up and pulls out like chewing gum. so I've got my scaffolding rated to 900 lbs set up on each side and a 4x6 going across the boat. my plan is to raise the motor up 1/4" with the screw on the motor mount and attach my support strap and then lower the mount and remove it.
Question is where is a good place to put my 3" strap to hold the motor up?NCM_0115.jpg
 

etallen150

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Apr 10, 2014
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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Ok another dumb question. It appears that I have an alignment lifting eye on top of the thermostat. Also one bolted to the head( on left hand side if facing front of motor) is this a safe supporting point to hold the motor up while replacing the wooden core under the mount?
 

Bondo

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Ok another dumb question. It appears that I have an alignment lifting eye on top of the thermostat. Also one bolted to the head( on left hand side if facing front of motor) is this a safe supporting point to hold the motor up while replacing the wooden core under the mount?

Ayuh,.... You can use those points to raise the motor,...

But get yerself a come-a-long, 'n don't use the motor mount bolts to raise the motor,...

'n pull the drive, Before ya start,...
 

etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

So I tore into last night. Have to say, that was a very poor install from the factory. The core was yellow pine and the fiberglass on top was 5/16" thick. The sidesandbottom had at most 2 coats of resin that didn't even enencapsulate the entire 2x4. The only thing that saved the stringers was the fact they where completely sealed before the mount was fiberglassed in
The white oak has two coats of West epoxy and is tabbed to the stringers. The only thing left is building the top up to the correct height and applying the bilge coat.
One last question hopefully. When removing the mount from the motor I found that my power steering bracket is broken where it attaches to the power steering pump. Does anyone have any leads on where I can find it. I believe the part # is 65606t.[NCM_0117.jpgATTACH=CONFIG]228853[/ATTACH]
 

Woodonglass

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Uhhmmm... Sooo... From what I can see, you removed the top of the shell where the old wood motor mount was, cleaned out all of the old wood, fabricated up a new wood mount from white oak, coated it with epoxy, put it back into the shell casing and now want to build up the top of the casing to match the orginal height of the former casing? That about cover it? If this is what you are proposing to do to fix your problem, IMHO this is not the proper method to effect this repair!

As for the bracket...You'll just have to google it to find one.
 
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etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

I Just built it back like it was before with the one exception of I added screws going from the cross member between the stringers into the oak mount. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears. I have no problem redoing what I've done so far.

The only thing wrong before was rotten wood
 

Woodonglass

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

IMHO, in order to "Put it back the way it was" you need to cut out the old casing all the way to the hull, bed the new oak mount in thickened epoxy and then glass the new mount to the hull and stringers using the epoxy resin and 3-4 layers of heavy fabric, i.e. 18 oz biaxial. It needs to be totally encapsulated in epoxy and fabric and bonded to the hull for strength and structure. You don't want it to move a fraction of an inch in any direction. Once you get it back to the necessary strength and height requirements when you drill into it, make sure and predrill and then coat the hole and hardware with a good quality marine sealant such as 3M 4200 or 5200 so no water can get to any bare wood again.

Anywhooo that's my recommendation. Others may come along and have a different opinion.
 
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Mud Puppy

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

The only thing left is building the top up to the correct height and applying the bilge coat.

I guess I am a bit confused by building up the top too. Any building up should be only fractions of an inch on the top side. You may be able to add say 1/4" to the bottom using Peanut Butter (PB). The 1708 or the biaxial Wood spoke of will give the repair its strength, but if you talking building up any more than that, your white oak was probably not tall enough to begin with.

Have you got something to gauge how high the front was before you started. If it is either too high or too low it will shorten the life of your drive line to your sterndrive. There will be quite a bit of adjustment in your mount, but you basically want the mount back where it was height wise. Too high and you may not be able to drop the front of the engine far enough.

There are posts here on how to grease a shaft (and dimensions for building an alignment shaft, any good machine shop can turn one for a few buck) and insert it into the gimbal bearing, Sliding it up into the back of the engine, to check for proper alignment. It will mark the shaft; what you are looking for is an even pattern of grease on the shaft when it is removed. Any build up will tell which way to adjust. You move towards the build up.

You have moved things and it may not have been right before you started either.

There are also some pretty good vids out there too that are step by step on how to go back with it.
 
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etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

Before I tore it out I made a template of the hull and put a leg on top to show the original height. As of right now I'm off about 1/8" . Sense I only have one layer of cloth on top. I think with 2-3 layers more I should be real close to the original height . Sense the drive is already off I was able to check the alignment . As of yet the motor has been raised just a fraction just supported. When i reinstalled the mount and checked alignment it was showing a fuzz low. At every layer I plan in checking height.
I am a general contractor by trade, and have some stainless inserts that we install in our commercial door frames that are the correct inside diameter for the mounting bolts that have a shoulder at the top. Was thinking about installing them into the oak mount holes to help build up the gap and beef up the holes. What do you guys think?
 

Mud Puppy

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

I am a general contractor by trade, and have some stainless inserts that we install in our commercial door frames that are the correct inside diameter for the mounting bolts that have a shoulder at the top. Was thinking about installing them into the oak mount holes to help build up the gap and beef up the holes. What do you guys think?

I have used those before, (I have drove nails for a while too) and I don't see why they wouldn't work. Are they the type that epoxy into the wall behind the jamb?. If they are, why not use those to set your height and the rest will just be cosmetic.

I think that they would be better than just a lag into wood like mine was.
 

etallen150

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

That was the plan, and yes they epoxy behind the jamb. I would have to cut them to length because they are 4" deep. The original mount had through bolts that butted on the bottom so no lag bolts, thankfully.
I'm located in Knoxville and the best thing happened today. Starting a remodel on a retired sea Ray engineer. He has offered to come take a look. He is also going to see if he can pull some other info on the boat for me. From my 15 minute lunch break conversatio ive learned that the mount was only designed to handle a 200 lb lateral stress ,( just thought that was funny because the motor weighs so much). Exact words where " those where designed to be trade in boats,toget the first time boater in the door and upgrade then in a few years. We never designed them to be around this long"
While that is a little disappointing I find it a little funny, Because of the over all good condition of the boat ( minus the mount)
 

Bondo

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

That was the plan, and yes they epoxy behind the jamb. I would have to cut them to length because they are 4" deep. The original mount had through bolts that butted on the bottom so no lag bolts, thankfully.
I'm located in Knoxville and the best thing happened today. Starting a remodel on a retired sea Ray engineer. He has offered to come take a look. He is also going to see if he can pull some other info on the boat for me. From my 15 minute lunch break conversatio ive learned that the mount was only designed to handle a 200 lb lateral stress ,( just thought that was funny because the motor weighs so much). Exact words where " those where designed to be trade in boats,toget the first time boater in the door and upgrade then in a few years. We never designed them to be around this long"
While that is a little disappointing I find it a little funny, Because of the over all good condition of the boat ( minus the mount)

Ayuh,..... That's been Standard Operatin' Procedure since the 60s or earlier for All trailer boats,.... ;)
 

Woodonglass

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Re: sea ray 160 motot mount repair

So, did you just put the oak back inside the existing casing?
 
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