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    This lady wants to give me all her money

    There is a question at the end of this, bear with me, I'm a storyteller. A couple of years ago I moored my houseboat in front of this ladies house and paid her half of what the marinas were asking for a mooring. During my time there I demonstrated enough boat mechanic skills to impress her and...
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    DIY flame arrestor?

    Swapping my GM 250ci straight 6 for a Chevy 350 with a 4 barrel carb. I don't plan on reusing the skinny little arrestor from the I-6, but I'm even less interested in spending $50+ for what is essentially a screen door for my carb. Anyone ever make one? Doesn't look like it'd be too hard to...
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    Are clearances between moving parts greater on a marine engine vs a car engine?

    I had a local speed shop tell me you can't use a truck engine in a boat because the clearance between the pistons and cylinder are greater on a marine engine, reasoning that marine engines run cooler thermostats and under load the block won't get as hot and therefore won't expand to the same...
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    Upgrading drive to an Alpha, what can stay, what needs to go?

    Last year wasn't so good for me. In the water for about 4 hours before I hit a rock, then spent the rest of the summer trying to find parts or fabricate new ones after shearing the driveshaft in my R drive. I was thinking I was going to get it back together and in the water this spring, but the...
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    Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good?

    Re: Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good? Alright, pics are ready. To get the coil off the shift dog so that the pin would release and allow the shift dog to come off the shaft, I used my skinny hand, and two o-ring picks. One was straight, the other was a...
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    Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good?

    Re: Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good? The drive shaft is an 8 spline. Shot of the sheared off spline in the pinion gear. No threads below the water pump. There are 2 recesses visible 180? apart below the outer bearing race, I assume to assist in...
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    Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good?

    Re: Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good? Photo Blast! Here's my reverse gear in the bearing carrier. Here are the two carriers I've tried that didn't fit, and my original repaired one in the center/back. Side view. The two newer ones are on the board...
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    Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good?

    Re: Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good? Here's a couple shots of the cleaned up bearing carrier as I was working on repairing it. The new ring was turned down and thinned a bit to match what was left of the old ring. I don't have a photo of it finished...
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    Measure your tool for me.

    Not that one.... This one The pinion nut tool. Somebody here has to have one. I think i've done a pretty good job of drawing up the dimensions just by internet pics for this tool, but it'd be a lot easier if someone could give me dimensions I could compare to, to the nearest 1/16". I need...
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    Replacing vertical drive shaft. As long as it's got a preload pin Im good?

    Hit a rock the other day, screwed up the prop, and also lost the ability to spin it. Started my teardown, looks like I'll be needing a new vertical shaft. The one in the drive has the preload pin. The shape of the cavitation plate looks like a Gen1 Alpha 1, but the top cap and bosses where...
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    Chartplotters. By that I mean people holding charts in their hand. A Lesson.

    I question whether this is a SHT, or should treated as a more serious PSA and a serious reminder to new and old boaters alike.-- A little background on the start of my season first: The cracked/broken bearing carrier I pulled out of the boat worked well for as long as it was back in service...
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    Need help locating correct bearing carrier!

    I'm getting down to the wire with some commitments to get my boat out of dry dock, and only a mooring, and drop a guy off on an island on the lake for a week. I thought I was going to be wrapping up my drive work tonight, but somehow it didn't register that the bearing carrier that I bought...
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    Making extra beefy tools, and my outdrive still wins... for now...

    Tonight I made a tool to remove the bearing carrier retaining ring on my Merc MC-1 lower. Original plan was to just copy the design of all the other ones I see on the market, but then I got looking the four posts that engage the retaining ring to turn it, and then got looking at how old and...
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    Prop sizing for a big heavy houseboat

    Mercruiser service manual says for the 165hp engine, with a RPM spec of 3900-4300 I'd want a 16", 11 pitch, 3 bladed prop. Under the "approx boat length" I fall under "houseboat", and it is a houseboat. Next column is speed range, listing 10-18mph Row above is 30'+ 16-24mph, (I'm probably 36ft...
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    Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

    Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed Made a driver to remove the shift shaft seal today to whittle away at the boat issues between times I can work on the mooring issue...
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    Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

    I moved north out of the Burlington Vt area almost to Canada. While my 38ft houseboat has been in Malletts Bay, I enjoyed a nice sandy bottom. The new location I've worked out to moor the boat is much more rocky. I haven't done any diving to inspect the bottom at this location, but what time...
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    starter solenoids...

    This is the merc starter solenoid that I need to replace on my boat http://www.iboats.com/Starter-Solenoid-Sierra/dm/*******.603950944--gd_get_grid.1--gd_grid_id.485--gd_search_3724.165--gd_search_3727.1973--session_id.629814383--view_id.172047 It looks just like any other starter solenoid off...
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    4th of July storm

    https://plus.google.com/photos/100315182670889068613/albums/5762024783796673169?authkey=CNvd6ZuJpbOS1AE Small photo album with a couple boat pics and a short video of the storm. It was dead calm, then this storm rolled thru at 45mph, raged for 15 minutes and then it was dead calm again. Tons of...
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    Check out the progress on my "restoration"

    Boat is a 1970 steel hull Stardust Cruiser 40 who had exhausted her re-plating on the bow. I figured it was time to dump the dead weight and start fresh. https://plus.google.com/photos/100315182670889068613/albums/5708911482929678545 I'm linking right to the album, as theres about 90 pictures...
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    Manual flush head to power flush

    http://www.iboats.com/Whale-Gulper-Toilet-Pump/dm/*******.297289602--session_id.828283700--view_id.258969 Would I be able to use the above linked pump in place of the hand pump provided I could make all the fittings work? I assume "For Holding Tanks & Vacuum Systems" means as long as its...
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