Put new Volvo Penta bellows on my boat in Spring 2015 and found water in the bellows when I winterized the boat today. Are bellows only supposed to last two seasons? What are the chances something weird happened and I will be fine if I check everything closely and make sure it is clean before I put it all back together? I know people around here that have ran over 10 years on a set of bellows. What gives? Starting to hate boating - I have seriously spent more hours working on the boat than using it - thought I was moving past that point this year but this is a setback as I expected to get at least 5 years out of these.
For reference, this is a boat with 265 hours that has seen only 80 hours of use in three full seasons of mid-western fresh water lakes only on these bellows. Boat has been trailered out at the end of every day and stored indoors year 'round except for a one week camping vacation each year. I take the outdrive off every season to service the u-joints, gimbal bearing and check the alignment. The bellows look to be in great condition everywhere I can see and I don't see any issues with the bellows lip and leading edge of the bearing carrier on the outdrive. Not sure what gives here. No sign of any damage at all that I can see. Also, looks like the water came in the bellows vs. the gimbal bearing as the grease inside the gimbal bearing still looks clean so I don't think it is the gimbal grease tube. We also don't leave the outdrive in full up position - typically only put it about half way up when trailering and storing. Baffled.
For reference, this is a boat with 265 hours that has seen only 80 hours of use in three full seasons of mid-western fresh water lakes only on these bellows. Boat has been trailered out at the end of every day and stored indoors year 'round except for a one week camping vacation each year. I take the outdrive off every season to service the u-joints, gimbal bearing and check the alignment. The bellows look to be in great condition everywhere I can see and I don't see any issues with the bellows lip and leading edge of the bearing carrier on the outdrive. Not sure what gives here. No sign of any damage at all that I can see. Also, looks like the water came in the bellows vs. the gimbal bearing as the grease inside the gimbal bearing still looks clean so I don't think it is the gimbal grease tube. We also don't leave the outdrive in full up position - typically only put it about half way up when trailering and storing. Baffled.