2006 Sea Ray 195 Sport, Water in Bilge!

[CTboater78]

Hi Everyone. I've gotten amazing advice here over the years but this is my first post. I have a 2006 Sea Ray 195 Sport with the Mercruiser 4.3 MPI. I've done a disservice to the drive by never pulling it to properly service it since buying the boat in 2012. I've only removed the bottom half to replace the impeller every 2 years. Ever since I bought the boat, which I trailer, I get a fairly descent amount of water in the bilge after a day on the lake; maybe a half gallon or so. I would just pull the drain plug when I got home, tilt up the trailer for 20 seconds and call it a night. I'm very concerned now because a close friend bought a house on the lake and I'll be leaving my boat in the water instead of trailering her 40 minutes every weekend and sometimes during the week due to my flexible job. I went to my local Mercruiser parts/service dealer today and, of course, left with my head spinning with all of the possibilities of what to look for inside the engine compartment such as water stains, etc. I could find no signs of anything that would jump out at me as a means of water intrusion. He also, though, told me to check the shift cable bellow for dry rot and/or cracks. I didn't notice any cracks but I did pick up on something that I found unusual: The larger end of the bellow has a 2" hose clamp in place but the tapered smaller end that fits against the shift cable had signs rust on the rubber and an indentation that, to me, indicated there once was a clamp there that rotted away. I did watch a video on YouTube of a shift cable replacement and the guy said that he was going to wait until he had the cable all set and connected inside of the compartment "before he put the clamp on the cable end of the bellow". I also google'd the bellow and everything I see looks like a crimp clamp versus a hose clamp. On to the question.....Could the absence of this small clamp on the shift cable bellow cause that amount of water to come in to the bilge after 4-6 hours on the water or am I looking at a bigger problem? I'm definitely pulling the drive and I expect to find rust so at a minimum I'll be replacing the gimble bearing and bellows, but I'd really like your thoughts on the water issue and any routine maintenance I should perform with the drive off. Thanks very much and I look forward to all of the experience that you have to share here!

 

[Rick Stephens]

If you are going to leave the boat in the water you should do a complete service of the bellhousing with new bellows, gaskets and o-rings. They have a limited lifespan anyway.

 

[wahlejim]

I would also add that changing the lower shift cable wouldn't be a terrible idea at this time. You are halfway there with changing the bellow and you have a 10 year old boat.

 

[CTboater78]

Excellent suggestions; thank you. While I have everything apart it makes total sense to service everything while I have access. Regarding the part of the bellow that fits against the shift cable, do you think that's the culprit of water entry into the bilge due to the absence of a clamp? And why not use a hose clamp? This "C" style crimp clamp can't possibly be as effective. I'm not dismissing the other servicing but do you feel the root cause of the water intrusion is the missing clamp on the bellow? Thanks very much!

 

[wahlejim]

It is possible, but probably unlikely, especially if bellows adhesive was used on the install. Those claps that come with it work just fine. It is more likely that there is some dry rotting or crack in the bellow, if it is a bellow issue.


The people you spoke with are right. A half gallon of water for one day on the lake could be caused by a lot if things. Heck, just a couple of people swimming would cause that to happen.

All of the items that have been listed are routine, preventative maintenance items that can only be addressed with the boat out of the water. The rest is water testing and searching for the leak.

 

[Mad Props]

There are a lot of ways for water to get into your bilge and a bellows is one way... A long day on the water with a slow leak will accumulate more water than you think. The first time I ever took my boat out after a motor swap I pulled the drain plug and about 10 gallons of water came out. I found that the hose clamps on the exhaust couplers weren't tightened by an east african gorilla. There was a steady slow drip, but it adds up quick...

I can't say for sure whether or not thats where the water is coming from, but my suggestion would be to put your boat on muffs and let it idle for 5 or 10 minutes and get up to temp and snoop around and looks for water dripping... This will at least eliminate the possibility that the water is coming from an internal source and not through the transom...

 

[CTboater78]

Thank you so much guys. My dealer actually has the complete gasket set, all of the bellows, the gimbal bearing, gimbal ring & tool, new water intake hose, gear lube line and throttle cable in stock. The bill wasn't pretty but happy boating sure is! I did a ton of research today before coming back to the forum and I simply could not find an answer of a video that described or showed how the u-joint bellow connects to the lip on the gimbal ring once hammered into place. My understanding is that it doesn't use a hose clamp and relies strictly on the bellows adhesive in the gimbal side. Once the exhaust and u-joint bellows are glued and clamped to the transom side, how it it possible to get in there and properly secure those bellows on the bellhousing end? I would imagine that the exhaust is easier because it uses a hose clamp on both ends but the u-joint only relies on the lip of the gimbal ring and the adhesive.....please correct me if I'm wrong. I did see the bellow spreader tool but I'm not that confident that going to pull that bellow evenly onto the ring and hold it there until the adhesive dries and end up not breaking loose while under way, but I will defer to you more experienced folks. I watched a video of a guy who says that he puts his exhaust and u-joint bellows on the bellhousing side "first" and uses extra bellow adhesive as lube so when he slides the bellhousing back on, the bellows slide into place. However, he did not show this in the video! Your thoughts on how to accomplish this would be much appreciated!

 

[wahlejim]

There is a lip on the gimbal housing that the bellow attaches to. It absolutely uses a hose clamp that should have come on the bellow when you purchased it. If it did not, go to the dealer and get one.

The u-joint bellow does not require the spreader tool. To install the u-joint bellow, I put it on the gimbal side first, then tighten the clamp. A flexible extension with a 5/16 nut driver works well here. Then I line it up with the bell housing and push. Sometimes it takes some finagling, but you eventually seat it. Then tighten that hose clamp.

Exhaust bellow you can attach at the same time as the u-joint bellow to the gimbal side. After the u-joint bellow is installed on the bell side, you use the expander tool for the exhaust bellow. Slide it through the exhaust hole on the bell, into the exhaust bellow, expand, and start finagling. All bellows should have clamps at both ends.

If you want to bypass the exhaust headache, you can get a boot instead. The exhaust bellow is not as critical as the u-joint. In order for water to get into the boat, it would have to go through the engine. There are shutters in place in your exhaust system to prevent this from happening.

 

[Rick Stephens]

This is for a 2006 - a GenII. There is no screw clamp on the bellhousing side. Your mechanic stated it correctly. Both bellows get installed on the gimbal housing. The bellhousing is pushed on over the u-joint bellows. Then the internal ring is pushed in using something like carb cleaner to lubricate the rubber.

Consensus around here is that there is nothing quite so frustrating as installing after market bellows kits. The OEM Mercruiser rubber is a lot easier to get on.

 

[Hoosmatroos]

The u-joint bellows is glued to the gimball housing and secured with a hose clamp. There is a groove in the ring were the bellows fit in. The bell housing side is not glued but the lip of the bellows is inserted in the bell housing (always a bit difficult to get in) and a aluminum ring is hammered in to secure this. It pushes the bellows from the inside out. The exhaust bellows is clamped with two clamps. Not glued. A bit of a struggle to get the bellows on but with two men and a bellows spreader doable. Did this the last two week 3 times (changed bell housings)

When everything is connected and you are putting the leg back on then the round side of the leg, were you can see the retainer ring, pushes against the bellows, just next to the aluminum ring, to make it water tight. can post some pictures in about one hour.

 

[CTboater78]

That's exactly my confusion.....which end do you start from? Are the bellows connected to the bell housing first and then pushed inwards and connected onto the gimbal housing or vice versa? I think you just clarified that. I was also under the impression that the silver ring was hammered in leaving enough of a lip to get the bellows on there with a clamp. Now, if I understand correctly, the bellows comes in through the bellhousing and then the ring gets hammered in and secures it my pressure alone. Do I have that right?

 

[drolds72]

Just an outside-the-box thought. When I first got my Azure 258/Bravo 3, I was taking on gallons of water after every outing. Turned out to be the anchor locker drain was mis drilled, and every time bow went down, I took on water. Quite a bit considering it was a .25" hole under a clamshell vent. Fixed that, and dry ever since!

 

[Rick Stephens]

That's exactly my confusion.....which end do you start from? Are the bellows connected to the bell housing first and then pushed inwards and connected onto the gimbal housing or vice versa? I think you just clarified that. I was also under the impression that the silver ring was hammered in leaving enough of a lip to get the bellows on there with a clamp. Now, if I understand correctly, the bellows comes in through the bellhousing and then the ring gets hammered in and secures it my pressure alone. Do I have that right?

Install both bellows into the gimbal housing. THEN push the bellhousing over the u-joint bellows and secure with the internal ring. Three armed monkey time.

That ring is not needful to hammer on. A little carb cleaner for lube and press it in. Nice to have a tool, seen it done with fingers.

 

[turbocorrado]

half a gallon isnt alot of water depending on what the boat is used for. my last boat took on no water at all, but if i took a bunch of friends out and we spent the day getting in and out of the boat i would get a surprising amount of water in the bilge just from everybody dripping in the boat. you may want to take this into consideration, unless your taking the boat out and noone is getting in the water and you still get water in.

another thing to consider, if you have a cover, and it leaks a little it could just be residual rain water making its way back into the bilge after running it. half a gallon of water isnt alot. while no water is ideal, if its only getting a half gallon or a gallon a day its nothing your bilge pump cant easily handle

 

[CTboater78]

I really didn't think much of it until this year now that I'll be leaving my boat in the water for the entire Summer/early Fall. I used to trailer and it was never a problem but now I'm afraid of not using the boat for a week and having my engine compartment filled with water without me knowing. Yes, I do have an electric bilge pump but I've always been more of a pessimist unfortunately. I'm going to completely service the outdrive anyway as I doubt it's ever been done before. I've praying I find a torn bellow!

 

[CTboater78]

Hey guys, I'm sorry to bring back a post that's almost a month old but I wanted to update you. The transom rebuild surprisingly went very well, with the typical battles involved. I ended up finding dry-rot and tears in my U-Joint bellows so I'm only "assuming" that could have been the cause of my water entry....only time will tell. I do fear, though, that I made a rookie mistake that I'm paying for now that everything is completed and I'm praying that someone proves me wrong. Obviously I had the boat in "forward" when I pulled the drive and did all of the work. While I was waiting for parts and had the outdrive on a stand I decided it would be a good time to change my impeller off of the boat. I removed the necessary hardware, replaced the impeller, o-ring, gaskets and spline key and the top of the unit dropped back down nicely. Skip to last night when the outdrive went back in with a bit of TLC. I noticed it was hard to shift and the prop was ratcheting so I figured that the new shift cable needed some adjusting. I did that this morning and the shifting was much smoother, perfect actually. I read a post on this forum that after a transom rebuild you need hook up the muffs and start up the boat to get the dogs and gears lined up before jumping to any conclusions. I didn't panic and she started up on the first turn this morning. I waited about a minute or so and shifted into forward and she purred like a kitten; same in reverse. After a few minutes I shut her down to go and check the prop and this is what I have:

In forward: Ratcheting sound rotating clockwise and prop feels tight. Locks when rotating CC.
In neutral: Moves freely in both directions with no sound at all.
In reverse: Very slight ratcheting sound when rotating counter-clockwise and louder ratcheting sound when rotating clockwise. Moves freely in both directions.

Can anyone please shed some light on this for me? Did I potentially cause this by separating the upper and lower halves of the drive while pulled from the boat? And lastly, I doubt what I've described is normal but would it be considered unusual for the boat to shift perfectly and the prop to operate perfectly while running and hooked up to the muffs? Thanks very much guys!

 

[Bondo]

In forward: Ratcheting sound rotating clockwise and prop feels tight. Locks when rotating CC.
In neutral: Moves freely in both directions with no sound at all.
In reverse: Very slight ratcheting sound when rotating counter-clockwise and louder ratcheting sound when rotating clockwise. Moves freely in both directions.

Ayuh,.... Was this while trimmed down, or trimmed fully up,..??

The clickin', 'n lockin' is correct,....
If yer test was trimmed fully down, the lower shift cable needs alittle adjustin', so it does the same in reverse,...
If yer test was trimmed fully up,.... trim it down, 'n try again,....

 

[CTboater78]

Trimmed her all the way down and started to slowly adjust the new lower shift cable. I slowly moved the barrel one turn at a time away from the jam nut. All in all it took about 4 turns and a 1/2 hour but now everything is spinning and locking as it should. Thanks Bondo!!! Forward still spins a bit tighter than reverse does. Should I just leave this alone ?

 

[Rick Stephens]

The best way to adjust shift cables is by setting the correct measurement exactly. Chris does a great video on doing that. Follow it precisely and you won't be wondering if you have it right.