Whats more common to sink a boat? Bad bellow or transom seal.....

[Newbie@boats]

I have a customer of mine who's son has a 19-20FT Bow rider with a 5.0 Engine in it and it has the OMC COBRA outdirve......Well he came in and told me his boat sunk up to the carb because the bildge pump couldn't keep up and killed the battery.....I have never messed with the OMC's only outboards and Mercruisers. He told me he thinks its coming from the transom seal? My first thought was the bellow ripped since the boat is a 1992.....I am going to check it out tonight, but I was wondering what would be more common? I know the transom seals really only develop a leak when the transom is rotted....but he did have the outdrive all the way up when this leak happened, the boat was sitting at a dock.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Transom seals don't go.... The transom rots and the seal becomes ineffective as the wood core turns to mush

Inspect the bellows, inspect the transom.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Is there a good way to inspect the transom without trying to poke it with a screw driver? I would imagine from inside the boat there wont be much room due to the size of the engine

 

[Scott Danforth]

Step on the outdrive and bounce, have someone look for movement. Any movement is bad

 

[Blind Date]

Just tap it on the inside with a small hammer. A dull thud is bad. Should sound like your hitting a formica counter top. The transom has to get really bad before the transom seal starts to leak.

 

[Newbie@boats]

I am willing to bet its a bad bellow.....will post up tonight with what I find......

 

[Newbie@boats]

Just looked at the boat, the bellows look new, but the "bell housing" on the outdrive is NOT tight to the transom. There's about a 1/4inch gap between, I also just found out the engine is NOT original so someone has played with this before. I attached pics let me know what you guys think....






As far as I can tell there is no gasket in there but there was some sort of sealant in there which I peeled away to find the gap.

Do you think we could re-apply a sealant and tighten up the bolts and see if it pulls it in?

Or are we pulling the engine and replacing the seal

 

[ricohman]

There is not supposed to be any sealant there. Somebody has been slathering on silicone.
I think the transom has rotted to the point of replacement.
And if the transom is rotten the engine mounts, stringers and deck are probably rotten also. Time for a thread in the restoration section.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Not my boat and the owners will definitely not be replacing the transom, i was doing a bunch of searching on google and found a few "best case scenarios" where is was actually the seal......assuming that there is supposed to be a seal between the plate and transom? I did poke around with a screw driver pretty hard and it all seemed awfully solid.......I am waiting to hear back from the owners of the boat to see if they want to proceed with removing the engine/drive and see if its truly rotten or just a bad seal

 

[Newbie@boats]

I am going to stop back there tomorrow after work and do some more poking around this time with a flash light and see if I can find anything else out, I did see a few nuts behind the engine that look like they go thru to the transom plate on the outside of the bolt I wanted to try to tighten them up to see if they're loose or not.

If they are tight and don't move:does that mean the transom is not soft and the gasket does need to be replaced?

If I can tighten them up:does that mean the transom is soft and that's why there's that gap?

I just really want to try and give them an honest opinion before we go ahead and pull the engine and everything else out.

Thanks for all the help

 

[ricohman]

Before you do anything, put some weight on the drive and see if it moves as mentioned above.
I would bet the silicone was put on to stop the leak and the transom is just deteriorating further.
The only i/o's I've seen with leaks at the transom had a rotten transoms. The seal itself should last as long as the boat if the transom is solid.

 

[JASinIL2006]

For your friend's sake, I hope it's not a rotten transom. Unfortunately, you won't find too many accounts here of transom bolts spintaneously loosening. You will find many similar stories that wind up with the discovery of a rotten transom...

 

[Newbie@boats]

I agree I would bet its a rotted transom but it seems we just wont know without pulling the engine and drive, and I know if we do that and the transom is rotted , that boat will be taken to the scrap yard.....which is a shame because overall its a nice boat.....I will keep you guys posted

 

[JaCrispy]

Bolts could be rotted from sitting in a damp transom.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Just wanted to come back and update like I said I would......met the kids father there so I could further show him the issue of why his sons boat sank.

We actually found a piece of the transom that was "exposed" wood in between the fiberglass on either side of the transom and we were able to stick out fingers right thru the wood with very little effort, so if the wood is rotted that high I could only imagine what it would look like lower down with everything removed. He is going to weigh his options and figure it out, such a shame because the motor is BRAND NEW this season.....if anything changes I will post back but I guess he can chalk this up as a $4,000 loss.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Transoms are repairable

 

[Grub54891]

First I would get that motor running and cleaned out. The sooner the better, if you don't you will have a shot new motor

 

[Rick Stephens]

Agree with Grub. Pulling a motor is an hours job. With the motor out it is a lot easier to survey the transom and motor mounts. The motor is not a $4k loss if you get it dried out and running again quickly. Firing it up sitting on blocks is a piece of cake with a boat motor. They make them so self contained usually all you need is water, gas and a couple electrical connections.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Pulling the motor and drive would be the least of my worrys. The rotted transom would be my set back, I wouldn't even know where to begin, and I don't want to pull his motor and him decide it's not something he's interested in pursuing and give up.

The motor IMO is OK! drained the oil multiple times, ran it, replaced oil again, changed filters, removed spark plugs and poured oil into them and that's how it's sitting now. I tried finding someone local to replace the transom but as soon as I tell them the age of the boat they push me away.

 

[thumpar]

I would pull the motor/drive even if he doesn't want to fix the transom. That is the only money that he is going to get out of it.