TOPIC: Very Short Boating Season

Took my 72 Sea Ray SRV 190 out to do some fishing yesterday (Thursday) . Only had it out on the lake 3 times so far this year and the first time was just a test run to see if everything was OK. Was headed north at about 2000 rpm just below planing speed (Admiral doesn't like to go fast) and the sterndrive suddenly whined, and quit working, engine revved way up, I shut it down immediately. Bad smell of burning. That went away quickly but I pulled off the engine cover just to check. It won't go into gear. Used kicker O/B to get back to the marina , it was only a couple hundred yards away. Looked for any leaking seals. Didn't see any water getting in. Came back next day (this morning) water was up to the sole. Pumped it out. Pulled the boat out and parked it in the storage lot. Called the marine repair I use today. Will take it to them next week. The last serious look at the sterndrive was 8 years ago. Hasn't been apart since then, just routine maintenance. Oddly enough I was planning on having it rebuilt this winter. Well, now it'll be there all summer. This sucks. I'll still go fishing, I'll just have to use my 12 foot rowboat. I have a little 2 HP O/B for it.

Bummer! Any idea what went wrong?

Not Sure. Unfortunately my knowledge of stern drives is not very good. I know the basics, but I have never worked on one. I told the Admiral a long time ago, I don't do transmissions, and I don't do sterndrives. I don't have the tools and place to do it anyway and would probably hurt myself. Some on the Club Sea Ray forum suggested a coupler or prop hub. I hope it's not the coupler. They would have to pull the engine out to fix that. A prop hub is a relatively easy fix. I think the heat (you could smell it) damaged the bellows or some other seal and that's whats leaking.

I don't think it's the prop hub, you wouldn't smell that. But an engine coupler shouldn't cause a water leak. Regardless, pulling the engine isn't that bad on your boat.
Here is mine going in after an engine swap from a 140 to a 165.

And you still managed to keep your depth finder in place?
It's the "whine" part that throws me. Hot smell and noise usually spells bearing failure. A hot bearing/race could destroy a rubber seal aka smell.

Yes, that was 2004 & it still works yet.

Good point about a bearing, low oil in upper housing will cause a spun bearing but usually in the top cap. I'm curious about the water too.

Been thinking about the leak. It may be incidental. The drive was in the up position for months because the trim/tilt wasn't working. I only put it in the down after it was launched. And, I usually keep it in the down position at the dock. When this happened I immediately put it in the up and left it there. The seals tend to take a set and if changed to fully up or down (depending on where it was for a long period, months) they can leak a little . It may have nothing to do with the problem. Anyway, the shop will figure it out and will probably have to replace all the bellows and seals anyway.

As for the problem, it definitely smells like a bad bearing. I'll know soon enough.

Could it be a clutch in the trans? Not sure exactly how that one works but I would imagine you'd still have reverse though.

I feel your pain. We have had the Silverton in the water since May 27th. The first time out the starboad engine temp gage wasn't working. Ok, it was just a shakedown cruise. the connection at the sensor needed to be cleaned is all. Then the same engine was burping coolant, overflowing the overflow tank. A new radiator cap seemed to fix that. But then the port engine started bogging and wouldn't rev past 2500 rpm, was smoking out the breather, and pushed oil out the dipstick tube. If my worst fears are correct, we have a collapsed ring. If so, our season is done.

It may be time to sell and get a smaller, simpler boat!

This is a really old sterndrive. 1972, so going on 48 years. Yes it has a typical cone type clutch in it. Could be that. No forward, no reverse. Still waiting for a call from the repair shop. Wow, sounds like you had your share of misfortunes this year. Hope it gets better.

Actually not cone clutch, typical sliding shift dog in Mercruiser 1 drives including current production Alpha gen2.

Look what I found yesterday....looks like chocolate milkshake.

uh ooow. Time to pull the head and change a gasket. Hope the internal block isn't cracked. Jan can give you some tips on swapping to a 350 to put some spring in your step.

After 40 years of winterizing, I know it's not cracked. Drained, antifreeze & drained again.

I've never seen an inline crack internally, always horizontal below manifold (3 litre/140 will warp head & blow gasket if overheated, mine is 6cyl) or bottom of manifold. Nothing there. Pulled hose & manifold wasn't full, so I suspect it's rotted out. But could be head gasket. Pulled plugs & cranked. Looks like moisture came out #5 or 6. Runs smooth on all 6.

Ran, fogged heavy & drained oil. Will change filer, fill oil & run to get clean oil. Loosen manifold. & see if water is present at a port.

First my apologies for not getting back to this right away. For some crazy reason my spam filter sends all my Fiberglassics e-mails to the spam folder. I have told it timeand again that this is not spam but it won't listen to me.

Anyway, thanks for the tip on the clutch. That oil looks ugly. My old engine ( a 1972 model) did that. It literally rusted out from the inside out. Some of the head bolts on the Merc 165 ( the GM 250) actually pass through the cooling passages. The metal rusts away eventually exposing the head bolts to the water. On mine the water started seeping out under the bolt heads, not real fast but enough you could see it. Other than the tiny seep around two head bolts there was no other indication of a problem. Engine ran fine. When they took it apart they found that not only was the head rusted internally, the block had a hair thin crack that could only be seen on the inside. And that's probably how water got into the oil. But I can't complain. It lasted 46 years. Now if my 1978 model lasts as long I won't have to re-power until 2024.

Well my boating season just got shorter. Boats only been in the water for a week. Had the marine repair guys plug up the hole for the I/O. Maybe sometime in the future I''ll get a new drive. But today some dumb &****$$&** hit it. Fortunately not too much damage and as far as I can see no hull damage. Knocked my windshield off it's track but the windshield itself is not broken. Put big skid marks across the deck, seat and engine cover on the starboard quarter. It's a mess, but can be cleaned up. The only damage to the deck is a small crack just forward of the vent louver and that can be repaired. Knocked the Bimini off it's tracks but didn't damage it. But the worst insult is it was a Bayliner! Not that I have anything against Bayliner (used to know most of the execs at their HQ in Arlington WA) Anyway. It's not taking water, and he didn't hit the brand new kicker O/B, Sheared off the stern light pole. (oddly enough the light still works) Boat next to me got hit too. He has a fairly new aluminum Tracker. Big outboard on it, and the offending boat hit the O/B. $$$$$$$$. He hasn't had the O/B looked at yet. Could be big bill if that O/B is damaged.

I've cleaned it up, re-installed the bimini. I still need to figure out how to remount the windshield. I have a short list of things I need to replace, like the sternlight pole, a windshield support rod, and some new bimini track slides. Later I'll see about getting the crack in the deck fixed. I've done a little fiberglass work in the past but I might hire a pro for this.

Ouch!
After the glass work, you'll need gel coat, I believe they called that color Citrus or at least they did in 1970. Try Spectrum Color in Florida. You may be able to send them a sample (perhaps cut from behind a rear seat back) for a custom match.
Windshield support rods are generic, made by Taylor Made. Any good dealer should have a catalog with them & bikini hardware to choose from.

I never saw the fix for your outdrive problem.

My water must have come in over the riser, the check valves are long gone. I've put lots of time on the engine with no further issues.
Early MerCruisers did not have exhaust relief holes in the transom plate above the trim cylinder pins. They came 72, 73 timeframe. My exhaust bellows was torn for years & I replaced it last year. According to my seat of the pants, I lost some performance with a good bellows installed. Regardless, when the engine is shut down all water surges uphill to the waterline, actually it surges higher then stabilizes. (in the case of mine, from 2' below the surface). With relief holes, water won't have as much of a surge because it doesn't all surge from as far down. Bottom line, I shut it down with 2 big guys in the rear seats, reducing the height of the riser & increasing the depth of the prop hub & force of the surge.
I removed the good bellows & installed an exhaust tube. So now I have some exhaust relief & the performance is back to normal.

If you can post a picture of your windshield brace and the bimini track rail I might have what you need. Free....just pay postage. I'm getting rid of my "stuff".

I appreciate the offer, but for now everything is on hold. My insurance (BOATUS/GEICO) wants me to do nothing until an appraiser looks at it. That sucks. I want to go fishing and I probably will anyway. No telling how long this will take.

Normal for insurance companies.
The offer stands, if things pan out and you decide to accept a check from them and go ahead with the repairs keep us in mind.
I have some gently used bling hardware that I need to clear off my shelves that I've gathered over the years. I'm giving away. Some other items I'll have to wait for a swap meet or show.

The insurance adjuster called today and she told me what I already know, it's not covered becasue it's a liability only policy. Now I can get on with it. What I need to figure out is how the windshield was fastened to the deck. There is a track on the bottom of the windshield (looking at it upside down). There are some small brackets that somehow slide in that track and hold the hing down. But how they put it together is a mystery. The side window and the front window are hinged and the hinge is just the end of the side window sliding in a track on the end of the front window. Anyway I'll get it figured out. The support rod is 10 1/2 longs not counting the balls on the end. With the balls its' 11 1/2" or there about. The attach photo is the section in question. The support rod is on the right. The one on the other side (the starboard side) is missing. For some reason it won't let me attach the photo.


FinallY!!!

I had a similar winshield on one of my boats. It had flange bolts that slid into the track on the bottom of the winshield. The bolts went thru the gunnels and deck with washers and nuts underneath.

Those windshields are separate pieces. The slide together at the joints. Most of them have flat head bolts that slide in a groove on the bottom on the bottom frame, the bolts then attach to the gunnels and bolted underside.
I'll see if I have a matching pair of the braces and send a picture and the bimini slide rail, What is the length of the rail?

I don't need the bimini slide rails. Mine are fine. I have a couple of the slides as well that work fine. They don't match the originals but what the heck. They work.

Sabre thanks for the info on the windshields. I'll have to check the underside of the deck.

The only 10 1/2" I have are the black ones.

The longest slides are 53"...but ya don't need those

Just an update. Turns out the guy who hit it doesn't have any insurance. So that really sucks. Most of the repairs I can do myself (and I already have) I talked to the folks who work on my drive and engine and they have a partner who does fiberglass and glass work for them. But right now everything can just wait. The boat is operational and so I'm going fishing.

Can't get blood from a turnip. Just guess you have to bite the bullet and get her fixed in good time.
Hop in and go fishing. Carpe diem.