Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

My 79 cobalt that has been out of the water for a number of years. See my signature for a few before pics..

The boat is an hour south at my mothers, I visit each weekend and been putting in some hott and humid hours to get her ready for the water...We are planning to take her out this weekend. First time it's ever been in the water for us, and the first time in atleast 4-5 years for the boat.

I've changed all the fluids, plugs, etc. Replaced the carb. Installed an aftermarket temp gauge even though the factory one was moving and showed 'ok', just wanted reassurance. She isn't perfect, but I ran her on the muffs for 20+ minutes and the temp gauge never got above 130ish.

I haven't pulled the upper part of the out drive to check the gimbal, from what I've read this is quite a job and you 'might as well' replace quite a few $$ parts while in there. I have no problems doing this, and not trying to skate on the job. I just want a bit of reassurance I have a boat worth fixing, before I start fixing it. Not planning a 10 hour day pulling tubes/skis, just a she floats. She drives, she doesn't spontaneously combust trial run before spending more money.

Things i've done:
cleaned the boat(it was a mess)
replaced plugs/fluids/points/belts
checked that it goes into drive, neutral, reverse
checked the trim goes up/down.
pulled the lower drive and replaced the water pump impeller. The old one looked brand new(Which makes me feel the PO had done maint on the boat..) replaced gear oil
ran it on muffs quite a bit, not had any issues.
Goes into forward, reverse, neutral on muffs without issue.
steering turns without issue.

TBH after reading some stories, i'm worried what'll happen on the water. People's good boats, that have been known to work not going over 10mph. taking on water, spinning prop hubs, over revving, sinking, etc.. Who knows what will happen with mine.

Here's my 'plan' for this weekend.
Friday evening take it to the lake when it should be pretty dead, hopefully an empty launch area. Float the boat on the trailer. Start the boat. Let it run for a while(20 minutes?), while still connected but floating.
Kill boat, pull out of water. Check to see how much water, if any, is in the bilge, give everything a once over.
Put back in water, crank again. Take off trailer.
float around the marina for a bit.
Either put back on trailer again, or take it for a small 'cruise' to make sure she'll plane.
Put back on trailer, check for leaks etc.

I figure this all take an hour or two. If at the end she is still floating, not over heated, is able to plane, goes into gear, and hasn't taken any(or much) water on.. I should be 'ok' ? Any other things to do once I get her on the lake for the first time in 5 years?

I'd like to do the above Friday evening, and if all checks out, take the family out on it Saturday for a light day. Not cruising at full throttle or pulling skis, just mainly get on the lake and enjoy the water.

running last weekend..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRVz-brQivg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

thanks for all the input on this forum, been a valuable source while working on this boat. I've never done this much prep before taking a boat out. Growing up on a pawn shop, if I could get the boat running.. I took it out. Ignorantly blissful of the huge amount of things that could of went wrong and caused serious issues.. guess I always got lucky!

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

Sounds like a good plan. Don't forget the plug! ;-)

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

Friday evenings are usually pretty busy around here at the launch.

Don't stray too far from the launch (no further than you want to paddle) for the first couple of times.

Make sure everyone is wearing a PFD before you leave the launch.

Good Luck!

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

I didnt see where you listed greasing all the zerks on the drive, for the hinges , swivels and gimble bearing.. Dont be afraid of checking the gimble bearing. If you changed the impellar you can check the gimble bearing. Ya pull the whole drive off, not just the lower half. Ya just remove the trim rams nuts, [ JUST AT THE AFT END} pull out the metal rod, put a bungee or something around the rams and tie em out of the way,. Remove the 6- 5/8 nuts from the back of the drive and it pulls straight back, I would do that so you can check the u joints for play, rust and lube em. Then you can check the gimble bearing. Stick your fingers thru the u joint bellows and spin it by hand . Its right at the transom. It should turn nice and smooth, no play, and not be all rusty, Look thru the gimble bearing to check the coupler splines, make sure there not all worn away, you then lube the drive shaft that slides into the coupler before reassembly. Check engine alingment, if ya can get you hands on an alingment tool. Then you can also check your shifter mechanism for water intrusion and lube it all up. Check your u joint and shift cable bellows for tears and holes and signs of water intrusion. If they are bad you can take on a bunch of water in a hurry...
.BTW an impeller can LOOK new, but the vanes lose thier flexibility and dont do their job. They compress and expand rapidly to pump water. Im sure u noticed the off-set as you put in the new one. It takes a little finess to re attach the drive, but very DIY able, just read up a bit on it ...............The whole [ you might as well replace a bunch of $$$ while your in there is BS] I can pull my drive off in 10 min [ including a break] But I do take mine off enough so thats its not all corroded together- that would be the only real hitch. If you ignore the maintenance and all the stuff I just listed and the gimble bearing or a u joint craps out on ya at 3000 rpm -then yes you WILL be spending a bunch of $$$.:facepalm:. An ounce of prevention..........................................

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

I'm no expert but it looks like you're missing your exhaust bellows from what I saw in the video's. I would think you would be better off to install a new one before dropping it in the water to keep water from backing up in the engine.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

mcvette said:

I'm no expert but it looks like you're missing your exhaust bellows from what I saw in the video's. I would think you would be better off to install a new one before dropping it in the water to keep water from backing up in the engine.

Click to expand...

and i'm even less an expert.. where are they missing?

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

paultjohnson said:

I didnt see where you listed greasing all the zerks on the drive, for the hinges , swivels and gimble bearing.. Dont be afraid of checking the gimble bearing. If you changed the impellar you can check the gimble bearing. Ya pull the whole drive off, not just the lower half. Ya just remove the trim rams nuts, [ JUST AT THE AFT END} pull out the metal rod, put a bungee or something around the rams and tie em out of the way,. Remove the 6- 5/8 nuts from the back of the drive and it pulls straight back, I would do that so you can check the u joints for play, rust and lube em. Then you can check the gimble bearing. Stick your fingers thru the u joint bellows and spin it by hand . Its right at the transom. It should turn nice and smooth, no play, and not be all rusty, Look thru the gimble bearing to check the coupler splines, make sure there not all worn away, you then lube the drive shaft that slides into the coupler before reassembly. Check engine alingment, if ya can get you hands on an alingment tool. Then you can also check your shifter mechanism for water intrusion and lube it all up. Check your u joint and shift cable bellows for tears and holes and signs of water intrusion. If they are bad you can take on a bunch of water in a hurry...
.BTW an impeller can LOOK new, but the vanes lose thier flexibility and dont do their job. They compress and expand rapidly to pump water. Im sure u noticed the off-set as you put in the new one. It takes a little finess to re attach the drive, but very DIY able, just read up a bit on it ...............The whole [ you might as well replace a bunch of $$$ while your in there is BS] I can pull my drive off in 10 min [ including a break] But I do take mine off enough so thats its not all corroded together- that would be the only real hitch. If you ignore the maintenance and all the stuff I just listed and the gimble bearing or a u joint craps out on ya at 3000 rpm -then yes you WILL be spending a bunch of $$$.:facepalm:. An ounce of prevention..........................................

Click to expand...

sounds good, i'll do this.. I wanted to check the ujoint but thought it was a huge job. The two biggest things I am worried about is the ujoint/bellows and taking on water... since neither I have been able to check.

and I was planning on greasing everything friday. I see several zerk's, need to make sure which is for the gimbal as I read it takes a different grease? The rest I can just use marine grade grease and a grease gun.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

is this the only boat you have? do you have a dighy with and outboard? any thing? also do you have a friend with a boat? if you have any of those bring them with you the dighy or friend can help you to get back in and help you to not worry to much about getting stranded.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

have some paddles, rope, and swam competitively when younger? though that was many lbs ago haha

I do have a friend with a boat, if he's in town he was going to bring it along.

I do hope it's an empty launch, the particular lake/launch isn't a busy one. I'd be perfectly fine running it for 30 minutes on the trailer floating just in case..

maybe a really really really really really long rope, and if i break down swim to shore and pull once on land?

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

if i were you i would hope the ramp and water ways are busy that way to you have people willing to help you if needed. when ever i'm on the water if i hear some one needs a tow i'm willing to help but i've never bin close enough to help out. i would hope some one would help me one day.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

mcvette said:

I'm no expert but it looks like you're missing your exhaust bellows from what I saw in the video's. I would think you would be better off to install a new one before dropping it in the water to keep water from backing up in the engine.

Click to expand...

The exhaust bellows being disconnected or missing isn't a big deal. It isn't preventing water from goint anywhere, but the presense of the exhaust shutters is what is important.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

I would not do any sudden throttle chops or back up too fast until you get the exhaust fixed up a bit and know the condition of the flappers/shutters. Just to lessen the chance of water intrusion through the exhaust. so come down off plane (or close to) very slowly so the wave/wake doesnt hit the transom and just idle in reverse. Good luck the drive isn't that bad to remove but have a friend as they are kind of heavy and awkward.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

Where abouts in Missouri are you located, and where are you gonna take your boat? I noticed you had videos from Joplin on youtube, I'm about 50 mile northwest of Joplin. I mostly boat at Crawford State Park. Anyway, just wondering.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

guy74 said:

Where abouts in Missouri are you located, and where are you gonna take your boat? I noticed you had videos from Joplin on youtube, I'm about 50 mile northwest of Joplin. I mostly boat at Crawford State Park. Anyway, just wondering.

Click to expand...

I live in Springfield. The boat is in Arkansas, just south of the border off 65.

This weekend, I am going to bull shoals. It's about 25-30 minutes and your in the water from my house.

Long term, I haven't decided. My home town we usually went to either Bull shoals or Beaver growing up. I have gone on table rock some, down by the state line. I haven't done any of the lakes north of Springfield, though.

I kept eye ballin taking the upper off all weekend. It didn't look hard, but didn't know what was inside and if it was something where taking it off is easy, but lining everything back up/installing is the nightmare.

When I took the lower drive off, I actually carried it inside. Setup a small table, grabbed a couple beers and replaced the water pump. Amazing how much nicer it is to work on the boat inside A/C with cold beer and nice seat

I tried finding a pic of 'exhaust bellows' and just found pictures of the bellows, not on the boat. For some reason I assumed all the bellows are around the center where the engine/outdrive connect? The only thing I noticed missing/damaged were the round tubes going to the vents on either side of the hull. I assumed this was for the blower and not 'critical'(just open hatch for a while before cranking this weekend in addition to running blower), are these the exhaust bellows?.. stupid question I know.. most terms I can google and find a picture or post referencing them..bellows and gimbal bearing were two terms I was completely oblivious to prior to joining this forum.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

I was hoping you might be closer, I could use a good excuse to take my boat out to help out a fellow I-boater. Sure would beat sitting around here and watching the crops dry up and die. Anyway I found a diagram of the bellows in an outdrive: http://www.sterndrive.info/sterndriveparts/bell_housing.html
Hope that might help.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

quick test to see if your bellows is good, obviously look at it if its cracked its probably bad.... otherwise take the boat to the water put plug in and dunk it, leave it on the trailer. if it takes on any ammount of water with in 1-2 minuites you've got a problem pull it out fast. if not then take it off the trailer and park it if still no water then they should be good.

if you pull the drive for u-joints or gimble you might as well replace.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

jmorgan87
Maybe too late but I just read your post and also looked at your second video on youtube ..."first start in 4 years" and noticed not only the exhaust bellows missing but also it looked like water was running out of the "hull plug hole"?? Was that the case, like a hose leaking on the motor or something?
Hoping you have a great time with this boat. Be safe no matter how much it takes to check things out.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

haha, I forgot that video was up there. It was the wing nuts for I assume winterization. They were all wide open. One ended up being missing. All have been closed, and the missing one replaced. after the lengthy run last week, no water was coming out the drain plug That video was a few weeks ago.

definitely confused about these bellows, i'll have to look when I get home I see what you guys might be talking about behind the engine, but I really can't tell where you guys see that. lol

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

In your older video, the round pipe that the exaust is coming out of is supposed to be connected to another pipe with the bellows, so that the exaust comes out of the lower unit either though the prop, or behind it.

Re: Taking her out this weekend..This forum has me scared to death, though.

I wish you the best of luck and a successful launch and boat trip. I kinda know what you mean by this forum being scary though. Good Luck!!