4Winns2
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2006
- Messages
- 327
Re: Water in the bilge on my OMC 4.3
I haven't called but one marina, the local Four Winns (I have a 90' Four Winns Freedom 195 if I hadn't directly mentioned) dealer who will work on OMCs, and they told me that the job could range between $400-600 depending on what they found after pulling the drive and gimal housing. Of course I would replace as much as possible in parts once they had the drive and everything off. I didn't have him break down the labor cost since he was reluctant to give numbers without talking with one of his techs- -he knew enough to be dangerous. I'll post whatever the other two marinas estimate on $$ that I'm going to call later but first there's been a new development on this issue (for those interested).
I called my father out at the lake this morning. He's been watching for leaks on the stern and the drive area. Remember, I filled the bilge with 4-6 gallons of water to test for leaks coming out of the boat. Well, he informs me that he's noticed a drip coming out of the hull drain- -has the plug it in still, obviously. Before I left last night, I had pulled a ring of dried up silicone rubber from around the brass drain housing where the plug screws in. Of course I immediately suspected a problem in the past since someone had put silicone rubber around it. So, we're going to start with this as a fix to the problem by draining the bilge and drying the area completely.
My wonder at this point is whether to go cheap and re-do it with silicone rubber or pull the housing (3 brass screws) and re-install with brass screws and back em off with nuts (if acessible in the engine compartment) to insure that the housing is solid to the hull; no more wood screws which I think is what is in there now. I'm also wondering what's behind that housing- -gasket or o-ring- -to the outside hull. Any input from anyone who has ever done this job would be greatly appreciated. This looks to be a good candidate for point of failure being that I think the amount of pressure on the hull while in the water could produce the quart of water coming in the bilge per hour. Thanks in advance for any help out there, gang.
I haven't called but one marina, the local Four Winns (I have a 90' Four Winns Freedom 195 if I hadn't directly mentioned) dealer who will work on OMCs, and they told me that the job could range between $400-600 depending on what they found after pulling the drive and gimal housing. Of course I would replace as much as possible in parts once they had the drive and everything off. I didn't have him break down the labor cost since he was reluctant to give numbers without talking with one of his techs- -he knew enough to be dangerous. I'll post whatever the other two marinas estimate on $$ that I'm going to call later but first there's been a new development on this issue (for those interested).
I called my father out at the lake this morning. He's been watching for leaks on the stern and the drive area. Remember, I filled the bilge with 4-6 gallons of water to test for leaks coming out of the boat. Well, he informs me that he's noticed a drip coming out of the hull drain- -has the plug it in still, obviously. Before I left last night, I had pulled a ring of dried up silicone rubber from around the brass drain housing where the plug screws in. Of course I immediately suspected a problem in the past since someone had put silicone rubber around it. So, we're going to start with this as a fix to the problem by draining the bilge and drying the area completely.
My wonder at this point is whether to go cheap and re-do it with silicone rubber or pull the housing (3 brass screws) and re-install with brass screws and back em off with nuts (if acessible in the engine compartment) to insure that the housing is solid to the hull; no more wood screws which I think is what is in there now. I'm also wondering what's behind that housing- -gasket or o-ring- -to the outside hull. Any input from anyone who has ever done this job would be greatly appreciated. This looks to be a good candidate for point of failure being that I think the amount of pressure on the hull while in the water could produce the quart of water coming in the bilge per hour. Thanks in advance for any help out there, gang.