Centurion Questions

Howdy folks I've bitten by the inboard bug so I've been cruising Craigslist for an affordable Mastercraft, Nautique, Malibu, Centurion, etc. Most recently I ran across a nice lookin' '89 Centurion. It looks good in the pics, but the owner says it's leaking gear oil from "the gasket", the "yoke has a little play in it", and the prop has some dings. He wants $3000 for the boat. I have recently done a nearly full restore on an '84 Wellcraft I/O so I know my way around a boat, but I havn't messed with inboards at all, so I have a few questions

1. What gasket might he be talking about? I would assume there is a seal and/or packing on the rear of the gear box/tranny.

2. How big a deal would it be to replace seal/s in the gear box.

3. What does he mean by "yoke". This is not in my boat vocabulary at this time.

4. With the prop being dinged, whatever the yoke is, loose, and leaking gear box, does it sound like the guy had a prop strike? If so, what other problems should I look for.

In speaking with the guy, he doesn't seem to have much knowledge about the workings of a boat, so I'm trying to gather information before I go look at it, as I don't think I can trust his assessment, and mine expertise is limited to I/Os. BTW, he mentioned he used the boat to wakeboard for a while, which would explain his lack of knowledge

Thanks

Re: Centurion Questions

3. What does he mean by "yoke". This is not in my boat vocabulary at this time.

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Ayuh,... I'd think this means the aft, output end of whatever the tranny is,...

It's gonna have either a drive shaft yoke, or propshaft drive flange...

Yoke implies a driveshaft, but I don't know...

Re: Centurion Questions

Could the "yoke" refer to the steering arm? Seen a few I/O with a bit of slop in the arm.
Regarding the "gasket" maybe the after seal on the bottom section of the drive, weeping oil out through the prop hub?
Just a couple of thoughts.

Re: Centurion Questions

Thanks for the reply. I guess I need to just drive the 2.5 hours and see for myself what he's talking about. What is the proper term for the gear system in an inboard? Transmission, gear box, gear housing??? This boat has a Ford 351 in it and something called Tru Trac II. What is Tru Trac II?

Re: Centurion Questions

triman said:

Could the "yoke" refer to the steering arm? Seen a few I/O with a bit of slop in the arm.
Regarding the "gasket" maybe the after seal on the bottom section of the drive, weeping oil out through the prop hub?
Just a couple of thoughts.

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Steering arm makes sense. That would be an easy fix too, I would imagine.

As far as the "gasket" is concerned, I suppose I just need to look at it to see exactly what he's talking about. I don't have any idea how these drives are constructed. Seems like it couldn't be very complicated though. Is the forward gear typically 1:1 or a different ratio like I/Os?

Re: Centurion Questions

BigBoatinOkie said:

Thanks for the reply. I guess I need to just drive the 2.5 hours and see for myself what he's talking about. What is the proper term for the gear system in an inboard? Transmission, gear box, gear housing??? This boat has a Ford 351 in it and something called Tru Trac II. What is Tru Trac II?

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Ayuh,... Find a Ski-boat forum, 'n poke around,... don't see any/ many 'round here...

Re: Centurion Questions

Bond-o said:

Ayuh,... Find a Ski-boat forum, 'n poke around,... don't see any/ many 'round here...

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Will do. I just figured you had all the answers Bond-o. You're right though, there aren't many inboard ski boats being discussed here at iboats. Perhaps I need to find a clunker and do a complete resto so everyone else here can have an example.

Re: Centurion Questions

Call the guy???? Get pics,all around.Inside the engine compartment.
Find out if it's a straight drive(inboard).
Or an I/O (sterndrive)
The transmission shouldn't have a yoke.
A sterndrive will have gear oil,the transmission will have tranny fluid.
The yoke is the piece comming out the front of the sterndrive.It connects to the u-joints and the front drive shaft(called the couping end).
Figure out what you have and then we can tell you what's needed to fix????

Re: Centurion Questions

Ok a couple of things to look for ...

What year is the boat ?
Does it have wood stringers ?
The direct drives are a 1:1 velvet or pcm 1:1 something in that nature ..

Basicly you have 5 key issues to discuss ,
What is leaking ? Why? How bad is the damage ? Can it be repaired ? Are u sure it has been driven buy a person that understands the driveline ..

Inboards have the engine / drive/ drive shaft / strut that holds the drive shaft / prop ..

Now if he has hit something then the first thing i would do is get under transom and move the prop shaft in all directions , if you have play in any directions you either have a bad cutlass bearing ( what keeps shaft straight through strut) or the shaft is bent causing the cutlass or the gear oil to leak from the output rear seal of the drive :

To see if shaft is bent get a dial indicator and a C clamp and clamp to strut to check the run out on the shaft
0.003 no more is tolerable ...

Also 0.003 is the max for the coupler to coupler gap ( meaning tram or trueness of engine alignment ) ..

I have a 86 supra sunsport that i just completely rebuilt .. Stringers / deck/ engine / velvet drive ...

To make the price right for you i would offer 1500 less so that if you do have issues you have the $ to repair ..

Skidim.com is your friend for parts

But most important !!!
If it does have wood stringers and not composite then i would take a tool bag and put a 1/2" wrench on the engine mount lag bolts and make sure they tighten up .. If they spin ... Walk away .. Or u are up for a 10 month rebuild and about 25 gallons of poly and fiberglassing

Good luck and take some pics !!

-lively-

Re: Centurion Questions

Thanks for the great info. I think I'm going to look at the boat Friday and see for myself what's going on with it. I'm fairly certain these
'89 Ski Centurions have fiberglass encased wooden stringers. I'm no stranger to wood rot as you can see in my Wellcraft restoration thread below. I'm comfortable with my judgement when it comes to the hull and the engine itself, but I was unsure what to look out for as far as the drive components are concerned. Lively, I did my resto with 8 gallons of epoxy and 6 months, but I didn't do stringers. Just transom, deck and bilge area

Thanks.