Bad start to the season

TeamPCBeach

Seaman
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Feb 10, 2011
Messages
73
Was having a trim problem on the STBD side so I had the marina take a look. Turns out the transom assembly is cracked on the STBD side. They noticed the Bravo 3 sticker on the PORT side was bubbled. Pulled it off and found the assembly corroded all the way through. Both engines have to be pulled from the boat for this repair. I used to think a $1,000 repair was a big repair. This fix is going to run me just under $10,000! Ahh, the joy of having a 16 year old boat.
 

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alldodge

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Was having a trim problem on the STBD side so I had the marina take a look. Turns out the transom assembly is cracked on the STBD side. They noticed the Bravo 3 sticker on the PORT side was bubbled. Pulled it off and found the assembly corroded all the way through. Both engines have to be pulled from the boat for this repair. I used to think a $1,000 repair was a big repair. This fix is going to run me just under $10,000! Ahh, the joy of having a 16 year old boat.

Sorry to here about your troubles, that's a real bummer. The hull sure is clean, is the boat kept on a lift r in the water?
 

TeamPCBeach

Seaman
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Feb 10, 2011
Messages
73
ALLDodge > It is kept inside. Each time we are done using her we pump the holding tank, flush the engines and AC, do a quick cleaning and the the marina takes her inside and puts her on the shelf. We are the second owners of the boat and the 1st owner stored the boat at the same marina. It still has all the original canvas from when it came from the factory. No one that sees the boat can believe it is a 1999. The one down side is we have to do a little planning when we want to go out as the marina has to put the boat in the water. Eliminates those spur of the moment outings on a nice evening after work.
 

dpospres

Seaman Apprentice
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Aug 17, 2007
Messages
49
I am just curious why they quoted you $10k? An entire assembly including plate, housing, trim cylinders, hoses, etc should run around $2,500. Engine removal and reinstall should run $1,000 or so, and labor to remove and reinstall the plate maybe another $1,000. Why do you need to remove both engines? How does the port side look? I would also try to figure out why the aluminum corroded so badly on a boat that isn't even stored in the water.
 

alldodge

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ALLDodge > It is kept inside. Each time we are done using her we pump the holding tank, flush the engines and AC, do a quick cleaning and the the marina takes her inside and puts her on the shelf. We are the second owners of the boat and the 1st owner stored the boat at the same marina. It still has all the original canvas from when it came from the factory. No one that sees the boat can believe it is a 1999. The one down side is we have to do a little planning when we want to go out as the marina has to put the boat in the water. Eliminates those spur of the moment outings on a nice evening after work.

Taking care of it that well and still corrosion like that, wow. One small pin hole and a little salt and the rest is time.

BTW Costal Marine Export is selling bravo transom assemblies for under 2K each on Offshore Only in the classifieds. Only down side with Costal Marine (Mike Wood) you get brand new never used assemblies but the serial number will be removed. He says they have full warranty but he will pay to have it fixed if needed by Merc. I bought 2 transom assemblies from him and one had an issue but he did fix it, PM if you want full story.

There are two others which I can recommend for similar prices
 

TeamPCBeach

Seaman
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Feb 10, 2011
Messages
73
I am looking at about $2400 for each assembly, which includes new trim rams, hoses etc. Removal and Install of engines will be between $2000 and $2400. On the 1999 300 SE the engine room size is OK, but the access hatch it not that large. The engines will not be able to come straight up. In addition the generator sits at the front of the engine compartment and will have to come out to make room for the engines. I have seen engine remove quoted from $1500 to $2800. Really depends on the access. My marina has a really good reputation and previous work I have had them do I felt the hours charged were reasonable.

Dodge> thanks for the tip, but items with the serial number removed make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Might be all above board, but there usually is a good reason the serial number is missing.
 

alldodge

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Hey 2400 is the standard retail price for the items and it sounds like your marina is pricing it correctly, no issues here. As before there is a reason Costal is so cheap and it has nothing to do with hot items (there is another thread here and on OSO about it). They are all legit, as before the other two vendors and the reason behind it will advise but you have agreed to the deal so your good to go.

BTW the transom assembly comes with new steering rams, transom plate, trim hoses and senders. Plug n play
 

TeamPCBeach

Seaman
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Messages
73
Dodge> Since I was having my marina do he work, I just let them order the parts since they didn't seem to be jacking the price much. That way if there is an issue, I just deal directly with them. I would like to hear the story on Merc supporting a part that has the serial number missing.
 

gaugeman

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
May 1, 2013
Messages
35
I have never seen damage like that when the zinc electrodes are in place and bonded properly. Very interesting. I'm going to look at mine more carefully!
 

TeamPCBeach

Seaman
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Feb 10, 2011
Messages
73
Realized I never followed up. I wondered about the cause of the corrosion also since the zincs were good. The cause of the corrosion turned out to be a pinhole leak in the exhaust crossover. It was spraying directly on the transom mount from the inside. By the time I had the transom mounts replaced, exhaust cross over replaced and the odds and ends that were found while the engines were out of the boat, this turned into almost a $13K repair. Hopefully the rest of the year will go better.
 

alldodge

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Thanks for the follow up, sure hope the rest of the boating season will be uneventful,
 
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