Taking on water through outdrive?

[RaiderGrad78]

I'm sorry if this isn't the correct forum for this question.

I have a 1995 Four Winns 200 Horizon (SX outdrive) that is taking on water to the point where the automatic bilge comes on every couple of hours or so.

I had a shop look at it last winter and they said it is coming from the bell housing area and to fix it would require removing the motor. He said he put water in the boat and could see it leaking out of the bell housing on the back of the boat. His explanation was that if he lowers the drive down onto a block of wood, he can slide a business card up through the bottom of the bell housing and the transom, and when he raises the outdrive off the ground it goes back to a very tight fit.

He thought that when i had the boat in reverse, it was separating enough to allow water in. However, the boat takes on water even when I'm just anchored and floating all day.

I will say that over memorial weekend, I had the boat beached on sand and lowered the outdrive slightly so the skeg would keep my boat straight on the shore, and it took on a lot more water than normal.

I guess my question is whether or not the bell housing itself is supposed to be water tight where it's butted up against the transom?

I'm just trying to figure out what else I can look for before I think about yanking this motor out.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: Taking on water through outdrive?

I'm sorry if this isn't the correct forum for this question.

I have a 1995 Four Winns 200 Horizon (SX outdrive) that is taking on water to the point where the automatic bilge comes on every couple of hours or so.

I had a shop look at it last winter and they said it is coming from the bell housing area and to fix it would require removing the motor. He said he put water in the boat and could see it leaking out of the bell housing on the back of the boat. His explanation was that if he lowers the drive down onto a block of wood, he can slide a business card up through the bottom of the bell housing and the transom, and when he raises the outdrive off the ground it goes back to a very tight fit.

He thought that when i had the boat in reverse, it was separating enough to allow water in. However, the boat takes on water even when I'm just anchored and floating all day.

I will say that over memorial weekend, I had the boat beached on sand and lowered the outdrive slightly so the skeg would keep my boat straight on the shore, and it took on a lot more water than normal.

I guess my question is whether or not the bell housing itself is supposed to be water tight where it's butted up against the transom?

I'm just trying to figure out what else I can look for before I think about yanking this motor out.

If you are lucky your transom is not yet rotted. This problem needs to be fixed, the sooner the better. It would be best not to use your drive against the bottom to hold the boat.