Tim wrote:
On Sep 18, 10:10 pm, "CalifBill" wrote:
"Tim" wrote in message

...



1983 Chris Craft 169, Mercuruiser 140 hp 3.0 with alpha 2.
OK, here's the deal. Last time I took the nephew tubing, we puled
hard, and naturally to plane we did quite a few hole shots. we shut
off for a while and I went swimming the kids, and their mom laid
around in the boat. I noticed the boat was sitting a bit low in the
aft, at least enough for me to take notice. I asked her to go up by
the wheel and flip the pump to "on" she did and the bildge started
pumping. It pumped a pretty good stream for about a minute or so.
Maybe 20 gallons? and the aft raised back up to a respectable level.
i thought that was odd, because when I'm out on the lake by myself or
with the wife just tooling around, I'll run on plane for quite a
while. then when trailering up, I'll pull the plug and it seems I'm
lucky to get a shot glass of water out of the hull.
Wo I'm wondering how the water is getting in and what should I look
for.? I realize that when soaked kids get back in the boat they're not
dripping THAT much water...
Weather permitting I'm planning on taking them out again this weekend.
I'm sure all will be ok, but I AM wondering about the water situation.
Thanks!
I would look for a crack or leak in the bellows up higher than normal. You
may have been lower in the water.

I was wondering about that, Bill. I haven't inspected the billows
since I had the boat, and I've stored it with the outdrive "up" for a
season, and that's actually not recommended. I think this winter I'll
tear it down and replace it, plus the impeller. also I wonder if it
might be coming in around the gimble housing. But i've inspected the
stern fromt he inside and have not seen any sign of seepage or leakige
around the gimble housing gasket.

hmmmm.


If you have a leak in the bellows and that's how water got inside the
boat, check to see if is a bearing on the drive shaft between the engine
and out drive. If so, you now have to replace that bearing. Once it
sees salt water it's days are numbered.

With some out drives that bearing is held in place by a snap ring on
either side, so you have to remove both the transmission on top of the
out drive and the engine to get to both sides.

Cost of bearing, $10. Labor is going to be . . . a lot. Let's hope you
find a dripping water hose. Or a dripping kid.