Finished up my "normal" spring/almost 300 hr engine and pontoon duties yesterday. On paper, it would appear to take only a few hours but was actually 2 full days spaced a week apart) i take my time, plus nothing rarely goes smooth).
Made re-enforcing patches for boat cover support poles. Repaired snaps. Installed new, taller windshield, had to drill my own mounting holes. Thats a one shot deal, no margin for error. New SS spring clips all around, new toon anodes.
Finished adding a fuel/water separator, time consuming itself, which involved me screwing up the tank fitting, which then required a replacement, which required removing then adding the old pickup tube, which was in great shape....and most importantly clean. Which means my 20 year old tank is clean, which is what the initial reason for all this fuel thing was all about in the first place.....hope nothing leaks, test to come.
New spark plugs. Installed an "anode" in the thermostat housing. A new product/idea from an individual claiming direct protection from internal corrosion, for salt/brackish water. I dunno, but inexpensive, non intrusive so giving it a shot....snake oil? maybe....
Regardless, 2 years on the bay and the thermostat/housing/passages looked great. Motor is a 2021.
Re-installed the orig Merc. 4-14x14 with a new, quieter (claim) advanced hub. That prop 4years ago only allowed 5800 rpm on the new engine. Hoping that after 260+ hrs the motor will get me to 6000 rpms , by myself, which would be ideal.
Then the biggest worry. Dropping the lower end to replace the impeller. Only did it once with the original 60. I used the "ratchet strap" method, which worked. And my old black and decker workmate for a stand...nice.
Minimal corrosion, original impeller looked great, housing, old gaskets, all looked good. So once again, brackish water not harming anything. Great.
Of course, re-installing the lower unit was.....as usual for us diy'ers not accustomed to doing this.....took about an hour. It's never the shaft alignment, it's the shifter alignment.
It can move without you knowing it moved. The trick is a thin, long enough plier to tweak the shifter back to neutral (which is where I start from) while moving the unit up. The strap helped....can be interesting for a one man job. Hope everything shifts ok, we'll see.
anyway....done. Fluids and engine low pressure fuel filter done in the fall.
bottom re-paint later......I'm painting , the marina is doing the prep, worth the $288.
I know because I did everything myself 2 years ago for the initial application....that was 4 full days of work .
Made re-enforcing patches for boat cover support poles. Repaired snaps. Installed new, taller windshield, had to drill my own mounting holes. Thats a one shot deal, no margin for error. New SS spring clips all around, new toon anodes.
Finished adding a fuel/water separator, time consuming itself, which involved me screwing up the tank fitting, which then required a replacement, which required removing then adding the old pickup tube, which was in great shape....and most importantly clean. Which means my 20 year old tank is clean, which is what the initial reason for all this fuel thing was all about in the first place.....hope nothing leaks, test to come.
New spark plugs. Installed an "anode" in the thermostat housing. A new product/idea from an individual claiming direct protection from internal corrosion, for salt/brackish water. I dunno, but inexpensive, non intrusive so giving it a shot....snake oil? maybe....
Regardless, 2 years on the bay and the thermostat/housing/passages looked great. Motor is a 2021.
Re-installed the orig Merc. 4-14x14 with a new, quieter (claim) advanced hub. That prop 4years ago only allowed 5800 rpm on the new engine. Hoping that after 260+ hrs the motor will get me to 6000 rpms , by myself, which would be ideal.
Then the biggest worry. Dropping the lower end to replace the impeller. Only did it once with the original 60. I used the "ratchet strap" method, which worked. And my old black and decker workmate for a stand...nice.
Minimal corrosion, original impeller looked great, housing, old gaskets, all looked good. So once again, brackish water not harming anything. Great.
Of course, re-installing the lower unit was.....as usual for us diy'ers not accustomed to doing this.....took about an hour. It's never the shaft alignment, it's the shifter alignment.
It can move without you knowing it moved. The trick is a thin, long enough plier to tweak the shifter back to neutral (which is where I start from) while moving the unit up. The strap helped....can be interesting for a one man job. Hope everything shifts ok, we'll see.
anyway....done. Fluids and engine low pressure fuel filter done in the fall.
bottom re-paint later......I'm painting , the marina is doing the prep, worth the $288.
I know because I did everything myself 2 years ago for the initial application....that was 4 full days of work .
