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    Mercruiser alpha lifting point

    I'm a big guy, I can probably single arm curl a drive... :) It's in a storage shop that is jam packed for winter storage, and doesn't have a work bench. Hanging the drive is the best option, assuming that hole was meant for it.
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    Mercruiser alpha lifting point

    Quick question for the experts... I have my outdrive already off for winter, and am looking for an over-winter storage option that ISN'T on my wood stand. On the top cap on the upper unit, there is a useless little loop through the cap. Is that intended to be used as a lifting point? (and...
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    Can’t get outdrive fully seated

    That is where the patented 'merkick' comes into play! Sometimes you just need a good boot to it! But usually rotating the prop while it is in gear will let it drop in.
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    Boat firing then dies

    Primer bulbs are not allowed on an inboard engine. WAAAAAY too much of a fire risk! In any case, it isn't needed. Something else is wrong.
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    Trim will go up but not down

    The wire is rubbed through in your shifter. The fact it moved for a second rules out the solenoid. I've had the exact same thing happen on mine, its an easy fix if you pull the shifter handle apart.
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    Winterize carb

    been a while since I've had seadoo's, but I think you just dodged the bullet there. I THINK the cutoff years were between 97 and 98, with some of both of those years getting the old or new lines depending on what was still on the parts rack. Surprisingly, you need over 10 ft of line for each...
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    Winterize carb

    its not the fuel exactly, it is fuel lines that can't stand up to ethanol. They slowly dissolve and turn gummy, and that is the stuff that gums things up. 90's era sea doo PWC's are a perfect test case. Nearly 100% of their carbs gummed up eventually until you finally went through a somewhat...
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    Alarm capacitor 4.3L

    obviously depends on your boat, but I taped mine, and it is more than loud enough to hear while underway. (inadvertently tested it out with a low drive lube alarm already)
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    Alarm capacitor 4.3L

    not worth the risk... A potential failure means you have no alarm, it definitely isn't worth the couple seconds of annoyance. Put a piece of electrical tape across the hole on the alarm. It will mute it a bit but still loud enough to hear it easily.
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    Off-Season Float Battery Charging, 2 Batteries

    Make sure it is charged in the fall (around Oct), disconnect the negative, and don't touch it until late May or so. My winter gets down to -40, and batteries last 7+ years. (I usually pre-emptively replace around the 7 year mark) I have lost more batteries due to maintainers cooking out the...
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    283 stalls when engine cover closed

    There is no way a bilge is that air tight enough to starve a motor at idle. An opening the size of a straw would flow enough air. I'm thinking pure coincidence that you closed the hatch at the wrong time.
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    Alternator

    Worse yet, looks like an automotive grade alternator.
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    Mercruiser Vacuum Gauge

    Personally, it is of almost no value in a boat, and eventually is going to cause a vacuum leak... I guess if you really want to fill a spot on the dash, maybe, but there are about 10 other gauges I'd put in first.
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    Sorry probably should have spelled that out. It was a tilde, not negative, approximately... yeah, at -20, its going to turn solid quickly! (and by the time the weather has turned to -20, that block would be long gone)
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    Experiment over, block is officially 'frozen'. I am honestly surprised, it took almost exactly 24 hours of sub freezing temp for the block to get low enough to freeze water. As Scott mentioned, there is a pretty substantial thermal mass that needs to change temp, and that takes either time or...
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    Takes way longer to freeze than I would have thought. 10 hours under 32 degrees, the block is at 37 but dropping. (Also it is way more depressing to visually see mid 70's 5 days ago, and now we aren't going to get above freezing as the daytime high!)
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    An ambient weather station with a couple wireless Ambient sensors. I use a raspberry pi with a TV Tuner USB running SDR (rtl_433) to grab that signal over the air and then send it to a cloud server via MQTT, which Telegraph grabs and dumps into InfluxDB, finally to be graphed by Grafana. I...
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    Yeah knew about it, but my engine tilts back quite a bit. So not only is the plug somewhat of a pain to get out, I also have to hop back down and crank the jack way down, and then crank it back up to get the water out of the bilge. Overall time to zip off the 2 bolts holding the thermostat...
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    I freeze my block so you don't have to!

    Every year there is inevitably a couple of threads of 'how cold is too cold'... I'm going to find out this year! I winterized my 4.3l last week, and although I'm a firm believer in the air-don't-freeze method, the amount of water left over in the valley under the thermostat is always...
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    Nauticus Smart tabs vs Bennett Self Leveling Trim Tabs?

    Depends on the boat... I've had nearly identical jet boats, one with smart tabs, one with a hydraulic ride plate. (basically a large single tab). Although I had more control with the hydraulic, the smart tabs gave a better ride, better low speed planing, but also a larger hit on top speed...
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