my new old 1988 ss20v

[ab59]

Right or wrong it is what it is. 1st. pic is of the smoke we are trying to breath.
still have to bolt the seats down so if anyone has any advise about placement I would like to hear it BEFORE I lag them into the deck. A few catch up pics.

 

[ab59]

And ,

 

[ab59]

and lastly ,



that's it for now folks------gotta work out the doghouse turtle shell fit problem and then either splash or paint for boat and trailer. will have to give it some thought.

 

[Watermann]

Looking good, you're getting close now. I know what you mean about the smoke, after over a month our air has finally cleared here.

 

[ab59]

Breathing wildfire smoke with fire retardant and who knows what else is not good for the human body , or any other kind of body now that I think about it. Seems like every time they get close to putting one fire out two more start 30 miles away in the same area. More than just a little suspect to me.
Got the seats bolted down and took the turtle shell to a Pro Upholsterer and he promptly told me 70 bucks an hour PLUS materials and would not give an estimate or use the skin that is 90 % complete , but told me at least 4 hours probably more. Hmmmm , now I remember why I was doing this myself with whatever help I could get from family.
I will get this one finished somehow and then buy a used commercial sewing machine for upholstery when I sell the boat. Basically , it would seem that one can buy all the tools you need to reupholster your boat for hundreds of dollars less than what you would pay an upholsterer to do your boat. If they can do it , I can do it.

 

[ab59]

While considering my options on the turtle shell I went to mount a transducer on the boat and found 8 or 10 screws that did not line up with the transducer that I was trying to mount so looks like I will need to patch some holes and then I thinks that I will buy a cheap cutting board down at wally world and make a plastic mounting board for the transducer. Too many holes below the water line for me so they all get plugged and abandoned . I did see one hole that had an odd shape and what I hope was some old 5200 in it and I have dug most of it out . Hoping its not electrolysis if it is then it would be the only evidence of it anywhere on the boat . I can see the transom through the hole and it is still solid with no rot so I guess I will fill it and plug it .
Would you guys back butter the plastic sacrificial mount with 5200 or just the screw holes. It will be below the water line.
I am tempted to use a little poly fiberglass resin and cloth to patch this up but not sure that would be a good fix.
I tried to start the engine yesterday and of course the carb flooded again . I went ahead and installed some new needles and seats since I saw a couple of youtube flicks on the "O" rings going bad and causing this same problem. After installation I hit the key and she started in a few revolutions with no sign of flooding. Hope that was the fix , kinda hard to tell since it seems to flood one time and not another but time will tell I guess. Today i am going to reset the floats once more to factory specks and then check the timing .
I guess that I better check all 4 wheel bearings on the trailer before I even think about heading for the lake . I've already lost a wheel on a trailer once and although it was an exciting few seconds I do not think I would like to repeat it again.
I guess I will shoot for a backwards splash being that I will get her wet and fish a little and then paint the boat and trailer after I put her through her paces a little.

 

[Watermann]

I'd for sure back butter the plate covering the holes but first I would fill the holes with JB Water weld or similar and sand them down. I put an AL plate over the mass of holes in the stern of my Chief. I added a ducer/speedo pitot mount on the stern of my SS so no more holes, I can replace the mounting plate on it if ever needed. The SS looks like this.

 

[ab59]

Picked up some water weld yesterday to patch the holes and sprayed a goodly amount of corrosion converter in the holes just in case. . I was just looking at some poly transducer boards on fleebay for about 20 bucks and thinking about one of those since when I back butter the mount it will really seal up the 12 holes in the transom in addition to the water weld and I would not have to worry about them again. I would just use a cheap cutting board and fit it to the Tran. but I cannot find one that is thick enough to suit me.
I'm curious though , did you make the mount on your SS ? looks nice and clean. I have some Aluminum around here somewhere I could make one from although I'm not too sure about making it look that good .

 

[MTboatguy]

I'd for sure back butter the plate covering the holes but first I would fill the holes with JB Water weld or similar and sand them down. I put an AL plate over the mass of holes in the stern of my Chief. I added a ducer/speedo pitot mount on the stern of my SS so no more holes, I can replace the mounting plate on it if ever needed. The SS looks like this.

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Hey WM, what is that screen on your boat? Is that the intake for your live well?

 

[Watermann]

Yeah I made the mount out of .080 5250 AL using a home made break for the bends. The screened fitting is my LW pump intake.

 

[ab59]

Looks good WM. I will have to borrow that idea from you on my next one. The expendable mounting plate is a smart idea , you never know what you might need in the future.
Pulled the boat out into the sunshine to wash and buff it out and the more I buff ( or rub should I say since I can't find buffing compound here anymore, probly California bs regulations ) the more deep scratches and rock chips I find in the paint. I had thought that I could buff the majority of them out but this carpy rubbing compound just does not get the paint stirred up like the old buffing compound did so it doesn't cover the chips and scratches . Even using it with a DA buffer does not do much more than make what's left of the paint shiny .
I believe that once i get some of these other pickup items finished I will have to get the paint gun out and repaint. Did not think it would need it but it sure does.



It definitely has a 20 20 paint job as it sits, 20 ft away at twenty miles an hour she still looks great.

 

[ab59]

CRAPPIN CARPS I GOTTA LEAK ! I don't believe it , the hull looks perfect and all holes in the transom are sealed but she's taking on water at an uncomfortable pace.
I took the boat to the ramp down the street just to start her up in her natural environment . I sat there and shot the breeze with one of the guides that are in and out from there all the time and after about 20 to 30 minutes of the boat being in the water i shut the engine down and pulled her out. I should say before i forget that it is difficult to put her into gear from neutral 1st or reverse the same stiff feeling.
Anyway , after I pulled the boat out and was tying it down i reached over and pulled the drain plug and the water came out full force , not a dribble but a lot of water and after a couple of minutes i put the plug back in and finished draining it at the house because i wanted to test the bilge pump as well. There looked to be another two or three gallons in the bilge when i kicked the bilge pump on. Thats a lot of water , especially for only being in the water for 30 min. tops. Could i be getting that much water through the gimble ? Can't see any other place that i could be taking on that much water unless i forgot to seal something up somewhere .

 

[Watermann]

Bellows, shift or drive will leak a lot. Did you see any water dripping out from the bottom after bringing her home? It could be the transom assembly but not likely. Y pipe will leak too if bolts are loose or a hole in the bottom of it. Did you make sure the water wasn't leaking from a hose while the boat was running? You'll need to put it back in and get in there to watch where the water is coming from.

Stiff shifting, disconnect the cables from the motor and see if it's still shifting stiff. If it frees up then it's your lower shift cable.

 

[ab59]

I don't think it is a hose because I ran it on the ear muffs without any water coming in the bilge. I WAS going to put a new bellows assembly in when i had the lower and engine out but somehow that got lost in the scheme of things . I ran an inspection camera down the Y tube and felt the bottoms of the same from the outside but did not see any problems there so i guess it must be in the bellows someplace . i will look again and now that you mention it i do not believe that i checked to see if the bolts to the Y tube were tight . I sure hope that is not the problem because i would have to pull the engine again to fix that . i think .
i will go ahead and take her back to the ramp tomorrow and pull the bottom of the doghouse out so i can get a good look up in there and hopefully see where the problem is .
i will also pull the cables at the engine like you say and check that as well.
Glad i didn't load up some gear and take off out on the lake for a day of fishing and boating , i don't think that i would have had much fun treading water .

 

[Watermann]

I keep forgetting you have a OMC drive, I only know Mercruiser so maybe I'm giving you incorrect info about cables and bellows but I think the OMC has them as well?

 

[ab59]

I'm pretty sure that as far as bellows , shift and throttle cables they are very similar in both the omc and the mercruser . I did have to replace the steering cable that was froze up so maybe the other cables have some rust in them as well. Odd though, I dont remember the shifter being that hard to shift the last time i used it but that was last year.

 

[ab59]

i must be getting too stupid to chew gum and walk at the same time. I took the boat back down to the ramp and watched the water pour in. then I pulled back to the top of the ramp and started looking for leakes under the transom area and saw there the FIVE SCREW HOLES that i had removed the screws from and forgot to water weld when i filled the other 12 holes a couple of days ago.I brought her home and slapped some silicone on the holes just for a quick test and went back to the ramp. this time the water was almost non existent but i still had a little dribble . When i pulled up from the ramp and checked, the fresh silicone was already washed out of two holes so i brought her back and just got finished water welding the holes this time . Will wait an hour and go back to the ramp again.
I don't think that this was the only problem but i guess it could be possible , time will tell.

 

[BWR1953]

Doh! But it sounds like you're on the right track now.

 

[ab59]

back from the ramp again but the news is not totally good. The big rush of water is gone thanks to plugging up the 5 holes i missed the other day. However, i still have a dribble that I can't quite trace down to my satisfaction . In addition , now i have leaks at the rubber boots on the turn backs where they go to the Y pipes. I tightened the clamps with a wrench and still did not get them to seal up completely , guess I'll take them loose and re set them on the boot as well as try to push the boot a little further up onto the Xo between the boots.
looks like i need to brush up on replacing bellows on an OMC Cobra. Still have a little hope though , will see tomorrow.

 

[ab59]

Guess i'll bring this back here for the leak chase. I have the dive out of the boat and the drive bellows show no sign of water intrusion . The bearing feels rough when turned by hand so I will replace both but i do not think that this is my leak problem.
when i checked the leak for the last time yesterday i did not run the engine and at first it did not leak but after a couple of minutes it began to leak or should i say trickle and in 10 min i had a couple of quarts of water in the bilge.
the drive like spline grease looked like it might have some mild contamination from moisture but it is not white but is discolored .
After i got the drive out i took a water hose and stuck it up the exhaust bellows and flooded the Y pipe while looking at the inside of the transom but did not see any water coming in . I hope that means that the Y pipe is not the problem but now a more sinister thought occurs to me about the main transom seal.
My transom seems solid from inside the bilge and when i was patching screw holes from old transducers i stuck nail into the holes and the wood felt fim not spongy so i do not think that the transom is bad.
could i have mounted the outdrive in such a way as to allow water intrusion ? I use the recommended OMC gasket sealers as directed but i noticed when i took it loose yesterday that all i needed to do to separate it from the gimmel after losing the bolts was to give her a firm shake and it popped loose with no prying. is that normal ?
if the main seal is the problem do i need to remove the engine to replace it ?