Advice needed on sterndrive replacement

[blued]

Hi all,

A friend ran my boat into shallow water when I was wakeboarding and damaged the sterndrive, an Alpha One Gen 2. The boat went in for assessment and the workshop found the propeller and driveshafts bent and twisted. They recommended replacing the sterndrive and coupling and provided an estimate for my insurance. Several weeks later and it sounds like the insurance is going to write it off due to the cost of repair and factoring depreciation.

I'm still waiting to hear from my claim officer but have been given an indication of the payout figure from someone else at the insurance. It falls far short of the repair cost quoted to me, but I usually do my own servicing and repairs so have some options:

1. Buy a Mercruiser remanufactured complete sterndrive, approx $5k + freight
2. Buy a complete used and serviced Mercruiser sterndrive, approx £3-3.4k + freight
3. Buy a complete SEI aftermarket sterndrive, approx $2800 + freight

Does anyone have any experience with the SEI drives, good or bad? I've read some mixed reviews and the insurance assessor told me they're no good, but insurance only deals with genuine parts, so I'm not sure he is unbiased.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth going remanufactured (essentially new), the boat is a 2008 Tahoe, and maybe the extra money over used/aftermarket is better saved/used for other maintenance that may be required as the boat gets older.

My past experience of these Merc legs is that they're reliable so long as you service them, so is a new aftermarket going to be as good as/better than a used drive? I'd be buying the used drive from a dealer, not privately.

 

[Paintman1960]

Hi all,

A friend ran my boat into shallow water when I was wakeboarding and damaged the sterndrive, an Alpha One Gen 2. The boat went in for assessment and the workshop found the propeller and driveshafts bent and twisted. They recommended replacing the sterndrive and coupling and provided an estimate for my insurance. Several weeks later and it sounds like the insurance is going to write it off due to the cost of repair and factoring depreciation.

I'm still waiting to hear from my claim officer but have been given an indication of the payout figure from someone else at the insurance. It falls far short of the repair cost quoted to me, but I usually do my own servicing and repairs so have some options:

1. Buy a Mercruiser remanufactured complete sterndrive, approx $5k + freight
2. Buy a complete used and serviced Mercruiser sterndrive, approx £3-3.4k + freight
3. Buy a complete SEI aftermarket sterndrive, approx $2800 + freight

Does anyone have any experience with the SEI drives, good or bad? I've read some mixed reviews and the insurance assessor told me they're no good, but insurance only deals with genuine parts, so I'm not sure he is unbiased.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth going remanufactured (essentially new), the boat is a 2008 Tahoe, and maybe the extra money over used/aftermarket is better saved/used for other maintenance that may be required as the boat gets older.

My past experience of these Merc legs is that they're reliable so long as you service them, so is a new aftermarket going to be as good as/better than a used drive? I'd be buying the used drive from a dealer, not privately.

SEI has a warranty, not sure on how long without looking.
I heard good things , It will be my option if mine fail, but I have a spare drive also
I would go that route !

 

[blued]

SEI has a warranty, not sure on how long without looking.
I heard good things , It will be my option if mine fail, but I have a spare drive also
I would go that route !

It's a 3 year manufacturers warranty, although I've not looked into what it covers.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has had issues covered under warranty and the turnaround times, our boat has been off the water for almost 2 months already which isn't something I want to repeat!!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Buy the shafts and rebuild the drive

 

[blued]

Buy the shafts and rebuild the drive

I considered this but with enough impact to bend both shafts I expect bearings are likely to be damaged also? I spoke to a stern drive repair shop and they were saying approx $700 per shaft, $200 for seals, 4 hours labour per unit. They can definitely rebuild but said depending on internal damage costs can escalate. I'd save money on labour doing it myself but would need to buy at least one special tool and it would take me a lot longer to sort out.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Nothin' wrong with an SEI,.....

 

[blued]

Ayuh,.... Nothin' wrong with an SEI,.....

Assuming you have one can you share a bit more info please?

- How long have you had the drive fitted?
- Do you use it in fresh/salt water?
- Is your boat trailered or on a mooring/pen?
- Any problems even if minor?
- Is the finish/paint still in good condition?

 

[markhodges78]

I have an SEI on my boat ...It was in there when I bought the boat 6 years ago .... I have no complaints and that would be my choice if i needed a new 1 they have a 3 year no fault warranty if I'm not mistaken... that means next time you run it aground within the warranty it's covered....

 

[tank1949]

Assuming you have one can you share a bit more info please?

- How long have you had the drive fitted?
- Do you use it in fresh/salt water?
- Is your boat trailered or on a mooring/pen?
- Any problems even if minor?
- Is the finish/paint still in good condition?

These are excellent questions. It seems to me that prop rubber bushing would have failed before all else, but I am not an engineer. SS props are great until you hit something. In my opinion, I'd check ebay or craigslist for used freshwater upper and lower. People are unloading MCs for 4 stroke OBs and reducing their maintenance headaches and weight, if they can afford them.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I ran a new SEI for a bit. They are fine.... with the caveat that the paint chips off easily. Support was superb with Justin doing all the technical advice. Just note that SEI is chineesium made copy with all that implies.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I considered this but with enough impact to bend both shafts I expect bearings are likely to be damaged also? I spoke to a stern drive repair shop and they were saying approx $700 per shaft, $200 for seals, 4 hours labour per unit. They can definitely rebuild but said depending on internal damage costs can escalate. I'd save money on labour doing it myself but would need to buy at least one special tool and it would take me a lot longer to sort out.

never pay retail. those shafts are available much much lower if you know where to look. prop shaft is about $130, drive shaft is between $2-300, whole seal kit is under $80

not to mention the A2G2 drive has been around in its current state of design/manufacture for almost 30 years. parts are easy to get.

 

[tank1949]

I ran a new SEI for a bit. They are fine.... with the caveat that the paint chips off easily. Support was superb with Justin doing all the technical advice. Just note that SEI is chineesium made copy with all that implies.

what aint?

 

[Rick Stephens]

what aint?

OEM Merc ain't.

 

[blued]

I have an SEI on my boat ...It was in there when I bought the boat 6 years ago .... I have no complaints and that would be my choice if i needed a new 1 they have a 3 year no fault warranty if I'm not mistaken... that means next time you run it aground within the warranty it's covered....

Thanks for the info, reassuring that you've had 6 years out of one.

I'll be impressed if the warranty covers hitting submerged objects!

 

[blued]

These are excellent questions. It seems to me that prop rubber bushing would have failed before all else, but I am not an engineer. SS props are great until you hit something. In my opinion, I'd check ebay or craigslist for used freshwater upper and lower. People are unloading MCs for 4 stroke OBs and reducing their maintenance headaches and weight, if they can afford them.

The prop was aluminium surprisingly. It lost a complete blade and dinged a couple of the others but I thought it would have protected the shafts. The splines on both are twisted and the bend on the prop shaft made for a severe wobble.

I should have said I'm in Australia, our market for spares is a lot smaller here, and they cost significantly more.

 

[blued]

never pay retail. those shafts are available much much lower if you know where to look. prop shaft is about $130, drive shaft is between $2-300, whole seal kit is under $80

not to mention the A2G2 drive has been around in its current state of design/manufacture for almost 30 years. parts are easy to get.

I should have said I'm in Australia in case you were thinking those were USD prices. I've seen a couple of cheaper shafts on eBay, about $350-400 each. There's also a cheap used set that have some corrosion -

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/223790509819

What's your thoughts on replacing gears/bearings if both shafts are bent/twisted? You can see twisting on the splines so quite a bit of force must have been applied there!

Alpha 1 Gen 2 upper gearcase parts drawing 1-22

Mercruiser Alpha 1 Generation 2 upper gearcase exploded view 1 thru 22 parts drawing.

www.sterndrive.info

Alpha 1 Gen 2 lower unit parts drawing *25-64

Alpha 1 Gen 2 lower unit exploded view parts drawing numbers 25 to 64.

www.sterndrive.info

Bearing costs might not be too bad but gears are very expensive...

 

[Bondo]

Assuming you have one can you share a bit more info please?

- How long have you had the drive fitted?
- Do you use it in fresh/salt water?
- Is your boat trailered or on a mooring/pen?
- Any problems even if minor?
- Is the finish/paint still in good condition?

Ayuh,...... I used to work for a family that were island living river rats on the St Lawrence, 1,000 Islands area,.....
For a family that spent their entire lives on the river, they all sucked when it came to dreggin' rocks on the bottom of the river,....
Of the dozen boats, I put 4, maybe 5 Sei's on, 'n had no problems that weren't caused by the operators, 'n all but once, past the warranty time frame,....
All the boats are dock boats, 'n as far as the paint, I treated 'em like all the Oem's,.....
Once a year, at spring fire-up, I'd have a rattlecan of Rustoleum black in one hand, 'n a sheet of cardboard in the other, 'n paint 'em up again,....
'ell, the only time we'd see the drives was in May, 'n November,....