A few people, including myself, have inquired about aftermarket
outdrives. Aside from postings from the represantatives of the companies
that manufacture them, we have had no first hand postings on the subject,
so I thought I'd offer up mine.

I placed my order for the outdrive with SEI (Sterndrive Engineering
International) on Tuesday, June 15th. At that time they said it would be
up to seven days before the drive was shipped out. After having a bad
experience with a previous parts supplier out of Louisianna, I was happy
to find, and paid $10.00 extra for COD shipping.

The sales person said she would email a tracking number when it was
shipped. After not hearing from her the following Tuesday, I contacted
her on Wednesday, She informed me the Drive was shipped out on Tuesday
June 22nd, and gave me a tracking number. On Friday the unit arrived,
with each half entombed in custom styrofoam packaging within a cardboard
box. In short, the unit was properly packed.

The fit and finish seemed fine. It looked great, or it least it did before
I started assembly and installation. To save money, I used the nuts, shift
shoe, and washers from the previous unit. I needed to add a shift
bushing, which I think would have been better if it had been pre-installed
as I believe it supposed to be a pressed fitting. I noticed the
intermediate shaft was devoid of a groove for an o-ring which goes into
the upper gear assembly.

After hammering in the shift bushing, I put the drive together and bolted
it up to the ginbal housing on Saturday. After installation, I noticed
was unable to move my shift cable. ****! I went home, came back Sunday,
tore the drive off, disassembled the drive, and hammered in the bushing
until it was below the underside of its carriage. Put the drive together,
and it statically shifts F-N-R. Contacted SEI about my comments (no
o-ring groove) and problems, and received a helpful and prompt response.

Here are my thoughts so far. The company does a good job of shippoing
their product and ansering questions. The drive came properly packaged
and had a good fit and finish. The drive is "working" in static
operation. So far it looks like a winner, but is too early to be sure.
As I test and gain experience with this drive, I will provide feedback to
this group. My opinion is even if these drives last only three years,
their low cost would justify the manufacturers repeat patronage.

Bob Dimond

I will, Wayne. Hopefully as I go forward, Neutral, and Reverse!

In article , Wayne.B
wrote:

Bob, thanks for the info and please keep us posted as you go forward.

Bob, thanks for the info and please keep us posted as you go forward.

======================
On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:22:42 -0400, (Bob
D.) wrote:
A few people, including myself, have inquired about aftermarket
outdrives. Aside from postings from the represantatives of the companies
that manufacture them, we have had no first hand postings on the subject,
so I thought I'd offer up mine.

I placed my order for the outdrive with SEI (Sterndrive Engineering
International) on Tuesday, June 15th. At that time they said it would be
up to seven days before the drive was shipped out. After having a bad
experience with a previous parts supplier out of Louisianna, I was happy
to find, and paid $10.00 extra for COD shipping.

The sales person said she would email a tracking number when it was
shipped. After not hearing from her the following Tuesday, I contacted
her on Wednesday, She informed me the Drive was shipped out on Tuesday
June 22nd, and gave me a tracking number. On Friday the unit arrived,
with each half entombed in custom styrofoam packaging within a cardboard
box. In short, the unit was properly packed.

The fit and finish seemed fine. It looked great, or it least it did before
I started assembly and installation. To save money, I used the nuts, shift
shoe, and washers from the previous unit. I needed to add a shift
bushing, which I think would have been better if it had been pre-installed
as I believe it supposed to be a pressed fitting. I noticed the
intermediate shaft was devoid of a groove for an o-ring which goes into
the upper gear assembly.

After hammering in the shift bushing, I put the drive together and bolted
it up to the ginbal housing on Saturday. After installation, I noticed
was unable to move my shift cable. ****! I went home, came back Sunday,
tore the drive off, disassembled the drive, and hammered in the bushing
until it was below the underside of its carriage. Put the drive together,
and it statically shifts F-N-R. Contacted SEI about my comments (no
o-ring groove) and problems, and received a helpful and prompt response.

Here are my thoughts so far. The company does a good job of shippoing
their product and ansering questions. The drive came properly packaged
and had a good fit and finish. The drive is "working" in static
operation. So far it looks like a winner, but is too early to be sure.
As I test and gain experience with this drive, I will provide feedback to
this group. My opinion is even if these drives last only three years,
their low cost would justify the manufacturers repeat patronage.

Bob Dimond

In article , To wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:22:42 -0400, (Bob
D.) wrote:

A few people, including myself, have inquired about aftermarket
outdrives. Aside from postings from the represantatives of the companies
that manufacture them, we have had no first hand postings on the subject,
so I thought I'd offer up mine.


Huh? I talked to the mechanic while he was putting the drive on your
boat this weekend.


So in your conversation, did he tell you anything about my boat????
Answers please!!!

Actually, Larry the mechanic was doing the transom assembly (bellows,
gimbal bearing, shift cable). He neither removed nor installed the
drive. I got there as he was finishing up, we might have just missed each
other.

Perhaps you left abruptly as you heard there was a floating Bayliner on
the Huron and ran to "duck and cover"?

The one just past the 42' Searay, it looked like a 25 ft Wellcraft if I
remember correctly.

If your traveling down into the marina, you remember correctly. The
Wellcraft designation is Antigua 265. It is a narrow beamed 26 foot
vessel (my guess is the length is measured bow to transom) with a bow
pulpit and generous integrated swim platform. It is listed on the title
as a 28 foot boat. I have no specifications (e.g. LWL, LOA) other than
that.

Now Wally, and others in this group. Please remember every boat has
three lengths:

Actual Length (ACTUAL)

Length you tell the girls (ACTUAL + (WEEKS WITHOUT SEX))

Length you tell the dockmaster (ACTUAL - (WEEKS UNTIL PAYDAY))

A fourth length consideration specifically for rec.boats (RB) will be
brought under RFC. Please be advised it a a very crude approximation of
the human behaviors observed within this group, and by no means applies
equally to everyone.

The actual length of the poster's vessel (ACTUAL) is divided by the
product of the inverse of their self perceived knowledge (HEAD) multiplied
by their arrogance in stating their statistics (ASS).

RB = ( ACTUAL / ( (1/HEAD) * ASS) )

WHE

HEAD is a scale value between 1 and 5
ASS is a scale value between .01 and 1

So someone who owns a 15 foot boat who makes authoritative statements
(e.g. HEAD = 3) in the most arrogant and rudest manner (ASS = 1) can be
said to be an ASS(whole) who owns a ( 15 / ( .33 * 1 )) or 45 foot RB
boat.

Others may own a 15 foot boat and makes very authoritative statements (e.g
HEAD = 4) but presents it with only modrate rudeness and arrogance (ASS =
..5) , has a ( 15 / ( .25 * .5)) or a 120 foot RB boat. However, since we
know they have a knowledge value too high for their arrogance, so we often
equate this to: "If they think we believe they have a 120 foot boat they
have their HEAD up their ASS".

Someone who has a 15 foot boat who rarely contributes anything useful to
the group (e.g. HEAD = 2), yet always posts rude remarks without
provocation (ASS = 1) is a stupid ASS(whole) who has a ( 15 / (.5 * 1)) or
30 foot RB boat.

Comments :^)

P.S. If anyone got this far without figuring out this was a joke, my apologies.

Bob Dimond