Re: taking on water
Yeah, it's the bellows. That's the rubber boot around the outdrive that- guess what?- Keeps the water from coming in!
When ours went, we were anchored at an island with the out drive all the way up so as to not bounce off the bottom. Leaked like a sieve and I noticed from the beach that the boat was riding low. Went back on board and also noticed the bilge pump was running. Yikes! Fortunately, on ours, when the drive was lowered the leak stopped. Back to the lift, ASAP!
Don't remember the price - ~ 400.00 I think.