Saline Marina
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2014
- Messages
- 162
I believe the thought is related to this: If you pulled the sterndrive and driveshaft off the boat, there's two housings that mate up together as the nuts are tightened, and a "formed o-ring" type seal that is a flange-gasket between the two housings. In function, its between the "gills" where the water is sucked into the lower unit and the flex hose which runs up thru the transom plate.
There also can be o-rings which seal the same flex hose to the transom side of that same cavity.
If any of these seals are compromised, it ends up as the same effect as sucking water thru a cracked straw. Despite best efforts, a lot of air is getting pulled in. I wanted to be sure when i pulled my drive that I didn't create this situation and used a light coat of grey RTV on cleaned and dried surfaces to further enhance the "formed o-ring". It will require a utility knife to carefully slice thru the RTV when i next pull the stern drive but in my mind that's a small price to pay.
There also can be o-rings which seal the same flex hose to the transom side of that same cavity.
If any of these seals are compromised, it ends up as the same effect as sucking water thru a cracked straw. Despite best efforts, a lot of air is getting pulled in. I wanted to be sure when i pulled my drive that I didn't create this situation and used a light coat of grey RTV on cleaned and dried surfaces to further enhance the "formed o-ring". It will require a utility knife to carefully slice thru the RTV when i next pull the stern drive but in my mind that's a small price to pay.
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