Mat,

I have an inboard that was hauled for bottom painting ( I keep my boat in
the water ). ( making a long story short ) The fork lift operator lifted the
stern first causing all of the water in the exhaust pipes to run into the
motor. This caused my engine to h-lock.
I understand some inboard boats have been designed with not enough lift in
the risers. This can happen without being lifted ( as it was to my neighbors
Albemarle-27.dual inboard). He has both engines replaced before the
correction.
Ray

" wrote in
message news:ysOPa.41075$N7.5307@sccrnsc03...
Well, looks like Dale Coleman at the rec.sport.waterski NG was right.

As I pulled the plugs so I could turn over the engine in order to count
the
teeth on the ring gear, water poured from #8, and there was some evidence
of
water droplets on spark plugs in #5,6, and 7 as well. The left bank
looked
fine. No water in the oil as far as I can tell.

Here's the million dollar question:
I had a marine shop check the drivetrain prior to purchase. They showed
compression of 155-160 in all cylinders. Only other remarkable item was
exhaust risers beginning to seep. I had them replaced by same shop for
about $140. Since then I have had the boat out five times for a total of
about 14 more hours. No real problems in those outings other than an
occasional reluctance to start( wouldn't turn over) which I attributed to
a
five year-old battery which was then replaced.

Never overheated, nothing remarkable really. Took the boat out mid-day
for
some skiing, power was fine, response fine, temp fine. Moored it for a
couple hours, then went back to start it and had the same "no turnover"
condition that I had before the battery was replaced. Went through the
usual checks then tried several more times to start it. That's when the
"no
turnover" became no turnover with a rapidly spinning starter (sounds like
some fireworks I bought on the Rez.) In hindsight it seems obvious that
the
engine was hydrostatically locked. That's when I sheared the teeth off
the
ring gear. Couldn't have done my starter much good either.

Could anything besides a cracked head/block or leaky head gasket cause the
motor to take on enough water to lock up? If that was the case, how could
the marina have gotten compression ratings of 155 -160 on all cylinders?

What needs to be checked/replaced now that the boat is goiing in for a new
ring gear/starter? Will I be lucky to get out of this with a new head
gasket?

And thanks Dale. While I'm feeling quite ill at the expected cash outlay,
I'm glad that the potential cause was identified so I didn't have to
replace
two ring gears and starters before it was truly fixed.

BTW, if it is a head gasket, how much $ should I be looking at for
replacement by local marine mechs?

Thanks,

Matt