No one ever said boats are cheap

[Donald]

My boat is at a boat place in Delaware and they are checking some things for me. Hopefully next year when I am living in Delaware I will be doing all normal maintenance and winterizing.

Asked them to drain and fill the outdrive gear oil. Not a big deal but both props need to come off. They found metal shaving in the gear oil. I said OK pull the drive and find the cause. Now they say the outdrive is stuck and they cannot pull it off the boat. They are trying some things before they have to do something major like cutting the driveshaft with a saw.

And the price of a VolvoPenta DuoProp drive is mega-bucks compared to a Merc Alpha One.

Better to deal with it now than in the summer. The outdrive being stuck is not going to fix itself.

 

[AZjeff]

Are you ready for the 2nd happiest day of your life yet?

 

[wpod]

Not cheap at all , but a good time on the water requires a well maintained mechanically sound boat. There is nothing worst that getting to the lake for a fun day + on the water and having problems.

 

[KJSmith]

Bust Out Another Thousand

 

[OVERKILL]

And this is why I like inboards.

 

[Passport1]

My brother lived in Miami and had a nice boat. We'd go out fishing and he'd ***** about how much the maintenance cost. Kept me from ever buying one.

 

[wings&wheels]

Think of the nice days.....

 

[Donald]

Previous owner said the outdrive was off in the fall of 2019 for gimbal bearing maintenance,

 

[wpod]

I have owned 4 boats over the decades I have Maintained them to a tee myself and never had any problems with them through out my ownership of them . I bought them used and went through them right away kept them up. Time on the water is worth it.

 

[LouC]

there are bad days....
better days.....
then great days....
its all part of boating.....
this little job started with an overheat in 2013, then blown head gaskets at the end of 2016 season, rebuilt the top end that spring and back in business for a pair of remanufactured cylinder heads and gasket/head bolt set.

 

[wings&wheels]

there are bad days....
better days.....
then great days....
its all part of boating.....
this little job started with an overheat in 2013, then blown head gaskets at the end of 2016 season, rebuilt the top end that spring and back in business for a pair of remanufactured cylinder heads and gasket/head bolt set.

pretty boat

 

[OVERKILL]

Previous owner said the outdrive was off in the fall of 2019 for gimbal bearing maintenance,

Yes, my uncle went through this on his Glastron. I then understood why my grandfather only bought inboards. That's why we bought the Supra, it will be pretty cheap to own (for a boat). My dad's already got more into his Four Winns than I think we paid for the Supra and put into it to get it to 90% (heat doesn't work, bypassed, gas gauge isn't accurate and the one speedometer doesn't work).

 

[Donald]

It looks like when the drive was pulled in the fall of 2019 no or the wrong grease was used on the splined part of the driveshaft. They sell special spline grease that does the get flung off the spline (in theory). The spline was stuck in the coupler. Poor maintenance.

 

[biggusblockus]

Boats are expensive in every way. My current boat is 30’ with 2 inboard/out board Volvo Pentas. Double the fun, but double the maintenance and 1.5 times the fuel

 

[UncleDave]

The sport can go off the charts in terms of cost.

A #6 drive like this is 70K and CNC milled cleaver props are 7K-8 a piece.

 

[LouC]

it doesn't take much to keep an I/O going, just regular maintenance.
I use OMC/Evinrude triple guard grease on the splines for the driveshaft and propshaft. Drive slides right off and prop slides right off. If you can get the tools, drive jack and learn how to do it yourself. I started out just maintaining the engine and letting the shop do the drive/transom mount but I got the OMC shop manual, drive jack etc and started doing it all my self about 15 years ago, the only thing I can't do are internal drive repairs and certain seals, the rest I do myself. I have not had it back to a shop since 2006.

 

[LouC]

Here it's just pulled....see the grease is still on the splines....a season moored in salt water.

 

[wpod]

Here it's just pulled....see the grease is still on the splines....a season moored in salt water.

The worst thing you can do to a boat is put it in the water.

 

[Langanobob]

It looks like when the drive was pulled in the fall of 2019 no or the wrong grease was used on the splined part of the driveshaft. They sell special spline grease that does the get flung off the spline (in theory). The spline was stuck in the coupler. Poor maintenance.

Well, at least it looks like they got it apart without any collateral damage. Now for the verdict on the metal shavings?

 

[Donald]

Well, at least it looks like they got it apart without any collateral damage. Now for the verdict on the metal shavings?

I assume the conclusion will end up being someone hit something and chewed up the gears just a small amount. Skeg has a chip but props are perfect. One thing for sure is that it will not fix itself with continued usage.