[Polar_Bus]

Hi folks,
I am the proud owner of a used '98 22' Stingray cuddy. Overall I am very happy, and my project boat should be all panned out and ready for water next weekend. I picked up this boat used for VERY short money ($6600), but for a reason. There are severall issues that need to be fixed:

1) bad gimbal bearing. We knew this prior to final negotiating, as we performed an inspection of the bearing before we purchased the boat. Old bearing is out, no further damage.
1a) ripped drive shaft boot. which is what trashed the gimbal in the first place. Will be repaired with the gimbal bearing while the drive is off.
2) Bilge was inopperative. We found this out when there was 6" of rainwater under the engine. No signs of consistant water in engine well (boat sat in dry dock for over 2 years unused). I yanked the bilge, and sure enough it was siezed.
3) Horn inoperative. Blown fuse.

4)Power Trim gauge inoperative. Found a broken trim sensor wire on the outdrive.

So all in all, not a big deal to fix these inssues. The seller was very motivated, and understood of all the necessary repairs, and we mutually negotiated a final deal.

I have turned wrenches for the past 30 years on virtually everything with wheels and an engine, but never really got greasy with a boat. Thanks god a close friend has been into boating, and boating repairs for almost 30 years, and was my "eyes" throughout this whole sale!! It pays BIG TIME to have someone experienced looking for trouble !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll post up a bunch of pics as I make progress....

[180shabah]

If you don't find any major hidden problems it sounds like it is just overdue for routine maintanence. Bellows life span is only about 5 years and the trim limit switch and sender, if replaced while you have it all apart for the bellows is no big deal.

Do yourself a favor and get the real mercruiser manuals for the engine and drive, and pay very careful attention to wire routing and hose clamp orientation when you are reassembling it all.

What engine did you get?

[Polar_Bus]

Originally Posted by 180shabah

If you don't find any major hidden problems it sounds like it is just overdue for routine maintanence. Bellows life span is only about 5 years and the trim limit switch and sender, if replaced while you have it all apart for the bellows is no big deal.

Do yourself a favor and get the real mercruiser manuals for the engine and drive, and pay very careful attention to wire routing and hose clamp orientation when you are reassembling it all.

What engine did you get?

My boat has the 5.7L carb 250hp option.

I purchsed the boat from the original owner, and I have all the factory Merc service and maintenence procedures manuals. VERY informative. I specifically wanted either the 5.0, or 5.7L engines, as I have wrenched SBC's for the past 25 years.....so I am very comfortable with them. Thanks for the tips on wires and clamps, i'll jot down some diagrams as I dissasemble.... I also like to take pics BEFORE I start as well if it looks like I am going to get into possible trouble with re-assembly..