my new old 1988 ss20v

[ab59]

 

[Watermann]

If the outdrive were to leak then the drive bellows would have water in them but they look fine. Shift bellows look alright too?

If the transom assembly were to be leaking into the boat then you should be able to see water coming in, if not and water is moving into the bilge from further up the boat then it's most likely a hull leak, probably see it dripping underneath the trailer though.

 

[ab59]

i don't think an OMC cobra has the shift bellows at least not at the gimble . it has some kind of corny bellows boot at the other end up at the engine area. speaking of the shift cable i did disconnect the shift cable at the engine looking for the cause of the stiff shifting lever and without the cable hooked up it shifts like butter so guess i have to figure that one out too.
So do you think that flooding the bottom of the Y pipe would show a leak if the problem was there ? i'm running out of places to look . I stuck my inspection camera up inside the bilge but still could not tell where the water is coming from.

 

[Watermann]

yeah if the Y pipe had any issues then it would show up when you added water to it.

If you sponge out all the water in the bilge, start the motor on muffs, check for water, move on if still dry. Since the drive is pulled it's not possible to check for leaks at the transom properly.

With the drive on I would get in the boat and have someone back the boat into the water only submerging the transom, even if you have to leave the stern straps on. With the transom in the water I would look and feel around for water entering at the transom, by the sounds of the amount coming in, it wouldn't take long. If nothing then put the boat in a little at a time until you see water start showing up in the bilge then check to see if it's coming in aft or forward.

 

[ab59]

looks like i'm waiting on parts for now but i have a couple of more tricks to try and find the leak for sure. I've got this feeling that the engine and transom are going to be coming out soon, but i haven't given up completely yet .
the water comes trickling down the plate just below the bottom of the Y tube and there is very little room to get a look at where it is coming from. i have an inspection camera with a little 2" screen and a bendable wand and i stuck that in there a few times but cannot really get a good look and where the leak originates from.
As i wrote in another post , when i put the new bellows back in i'm going to install the drive and back the boat into the water again and if I still have the leak then i will run silicone around the outside of the gimble and seal it up and if ieaks when i test it after that then i will know it's not the transom leaking or of course if it does not leak I will know the leak is the transom seal and or a rotted transom.
i guess it could be possible that just the center of the trandsom is bad but the rest still solid.

 

[ab59]

Anyone ever make their own gasket for their outdrive ? just want to do some more tests before i tear this down and don't want to wait on another gasket for the drive.

 

[ab59]

scratch that , i already made one and put it on. tomorrow will tell the tail. hopefully anyway.

 

[MTboatguy]

What did you make your gasket out of?

 

[ab59]

I just went down to the local auto store and bought some gasket material that was water and oil resistant and used the old damaged gasket as a pattern and cut it out with a razor knife . For what I'm doing it will be good. I don't plan on keeping it on there very long , i'm just doing some more leak testing before i order parts as i'm not sure what i may need in the end.

 

[ab59]

Well , i guess Waterman was right all along it seems that the transom is leaking. Can't believe that a transom that looks so good and is so solid in all places i can get to is rotten at the core. ( had a couple of girlfriends like that when i was young )j .
I sealed the gimble up with silicone , waited 2 days and tested for the lesk . just got back from the test at the ramp. With the gimble sealed NO water came into the boat for the 20 minutes that i had her in the water. i take that to mean the transom is bad at the seal or mounting plates.
I guess i've got an " I told you so " coming from the Waterman as he told me to replace the transom while i had the engine and deck out the first time. i can be more than a little hard headed sometimes .
I guess i'll start tearing out the jewelry on the engine this evening or in the morning while it is cool . Temps suddenly back to 100* for some reason after some really nice weather for a few days so the mornings sound good to go.
Anyone got any advice for getting the transom out lemme hear it , once again on virgin ground here. yes i have been surfing other transom jobs as i can find them .

 

[astor]

sorry to hear that, might as well fix it now though

 

[MTboatguy]

As long as your current transom is good for a pattern it is really not that hard, takes a few days, but them you don't have to worry about it for years. If you are going to tear a boat down like has been done, it always pays to be safe and replace that transom with a new one.

 

[Watermann]

Oh man more hoisting iron, that's a bummer but it's easy work doing the actual transom.

Below is the first thing I noticed and took a pic of on the Chris Craft donor when the guy said take it out and have fun with it, I passed on the test run. The goop around the transom assembly. The whole boat was a rotten mess covered with new carpet and upholstery.

 

[ab59]

Takin a break for a couple of minutes , got most stuff loose now. i took the old bellows back out again and then wrapped a plastic bag around a rag and wrapped that around the shift cable behind the pivot then jammed the whole mess up into the shift hole and took a screwdriver and packed it in there real good . no leaka that. Then i filled the shift cable tube with water to make dang sure that i am doing the right thing and with the tube full of water there was no leak . I just had to make sure that i'm not taking this apart for no reason. after that i removed the outdrive and took the jewelry off the engine , have not decided if i should take the carburetor off too just to be safe. Could make a cover out of wood i guess to keep carp out of the manifold.
Two things , when i took the outdrive off i noticed that the little nut under the the bolt head on the end of the shift cable is gone. don't know what happened to it and don't know how long it's been gone. i was going to replace it anyway as the boat shifted a little stiff and after sitting for at least 13 years i guess it was due. Is this nut important and if i can't find out what happened to it should i be worried about it being in the bottom of the lower somewhere ?
Secondly , i am about to finish up unbolting the engine. i plan on taking the single nut off the top of the mount and leaving the mounts lagged to the stringers so i can have a chance of it being inline when reinstalling , you guys see any problem with that or should i be unscrewing the lags instead ?

 

[ab59]

The easy part is done as i just got the engine out and i pulled the outdrive last night . Now the real work begins of undressing the transom . Looks like a lotta stuff to have to remember how to put back together again but i'm going to try and set my little cybershot camera up on a tripod and see if i can make a few one hour clips and upload them to my computer for the replacement part of this job. The engine removal would have been easier if i would have had some help but i found that i really didn't need any and it was so peaceful not having someone second guessing every move i made.
Tomorrow i will see the elephant i mean see the reason for the leak.

 

[Watermann]

Leaving the lags in the motor mounts won't help out much for getting the alignment correct after replacing the transom. I forget did you replace the wood in the motor mount pads?

Things will go much easier for you to remove that transom cover.

 

[ab59]

yep made new wood for the mounts the first install. I started taking the transom cover loose but called it a day before i finished. i did consider trying to leave it in because of the rivets being under the carpet but found that i could just take the screws out of the transom instead. they had to come out anyway so it's all good. by the time i got the power steering fluid out and dried up the bilge it was time to quit so hope to have the transom out by tomorrow. i can only work an hour or two at a time so things take me a little longer than a lot of people.

 

[ab59]

I finally got the transom cover pulled , man i think the engine was easier work . |Because of the carpet and the kind of glue i used just getting to the rivets took as much time as getting the rivets out ! :beguiled: Funny , i thought that i'd get the cover off and have most or all of the stuff unbolted and a jack under the transom by this evening , oh well i'm on my way to getting this latest problem solved anyway . Have a look here at the transom, looks DRY and SOLID would never think it was bad to look at it. That's why i never thought it was bad to begin with. It is a little dark around the 1/2 inch plate in the middle but when i stab it with a knife it is still pretty solid feeling. Must be bad where the bolts go through below the waterline.
Have a look-------------

 

[ab59]

and

 

[Watermann]

Pull the transom assembly apart, normally the transom starts rotting from the bottom up in particular around the keyhole if leaking. Even if it looks alright to you, I would replace it anyway since your that far in and it's the original.