New to owning a boat

[coreysmach1]

Like the title says just picked up my first boat. I have been on boats my whole life living in MN but never really work on one. I just picked up a 2000 Larson sei 176 with the mercury 3.0 and alpha 1 out drive. This boat looks like its been sitting in water a while and has not been taken care of real well but I got it for a great price. The motor starts and runs great oil was full and looked like it hadn't been run. The boat goes in and out of gear forward and revise. There was a little rattling in the lower unit and the prop is a chewed up some ( the boat looks like it might have gotten away and sat on shore for a little time. The prop has about a 1/8 in of play back and forth in it and that does not seam normal but again I'm not sure. I also drained the gear oil out of the lower unit and it was a little milky. what direction should I go in next for the out drive? I do plan on replacing the prop so what should I look at for props brand, price, pitch? I am very mechanical inclined working on cars and motorcycles my whole life.

Thanks for any input
Corey

 

[Bill kubiak]

Right off milky oil is bad, you have leak in the lower until, you will need to pressure test that to find which seal is leaking, most likely culprit is the pair of Prop seals right behind the prop.
Rattling also does not sound good and play in the prop hmm? I do not know much about outdrives, will defer to the experts here
How was the engine oil?

 

[littlerayray]

If you remove the prop there should be a brass washer on the shaft between the housing and the prop if it's not there then you will need a Flo torque II kit I believe

 

[littlerayray]

Oh yeah welcome to Iboats

 

[coreysmach1]

Right off milky oil is bad, you have leak in the lower until, you will need to pressure test that to find which seal is leaking, most likely culprit is the pair of Prop seals right behind the prop.
Rattling also does not sound good and play in the prop hmm? I do not know much about outdrives, will defer to the experts here
How was the engine oil?

The motor oil was at proper level and looked brand new like it had been changed or just not run.

 

[coreysmach1]

Oh yeah welcome to Iboats

Thank you

 

[Alumarine]

The 1/8" of play in and out is normal I believe.
The rattling might be ujoints or gimbal.

You'll want to pull the drive to check things out.
Here's a link to an online manual.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...es-outdrives/295720-adults-only-no-exceptions

 

[littlerayray]

The 1/8" of play in and out is normal I believe.
The rattling might be ujoints or gimbal.

You'll want to pull the drive to check things out.
Here's a link to an online manual.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...es-outdrives/295720-adults-only-no-exceptions

1/9 inch is not normal on the alpha one I can almost guarantee parts are missing you could end up spinning the prop right off the shaft

 

[coreysmach1]

No Title

Ok so I test drove the boat on Friday. there was a clunking sound coming from what sounded like it was coming from behind the motor. Also the boat went in revers with no problem but when it put the boat in forward it just revved but didn't move and with playing around with It, it would then catch and go forward(kind of jumped in gear when it caught). I recheck the stern drive oil and this time no milky, I replaced the washers on the vent / drain plugs so maybe that was a part of it. I have now removed the out drive and inspected the shaft and ujoints that seem to be in good shape but when I pulled the drive apart water came out from where the gimbal bearing is. Since I have it apart I am going to change out the gimbal bearing anyway. What else could be wrong? what else should I look at / replace?