Alpha Gimbal housing gasket?

[H20Rat]

So someone has to know! I was going to swap out my anodes, and quickly discovered the gimbal housing anode is apparently more than an anode. It has a gasket and seals part of the trim system? Anyone know exactly why the trim system is open and why the anode does this? Seems like a really questionable design, but I must be missing something...

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... I believe you'll find, the anode mounts to the hyd. manifold, but ya don't take the manifold down,......

 

[H20Rat]

Yeah, didn't touch the manifold (or the gasket on top), this one was firmly attached to the anode. (couldn't peel it off without damaging it) Looking at anode kits, they seem to come with that gasket.

https://www.iboats.com/shop/media/c...0ab036de70892d86c6d221abfe/2/2/IB00228635.jpg

https://www.iboats.com/shop/sierra-mercury-mercruiser-anode-kit-aluminum-alpha-1-gen-ii.html

 

[muc]

The gasket doesn’t seal the trim system. There is a hole in the manifold that the wires for the mercathode pass thru if you had one. The gasket provides the proper spacing between the anode and the plug that seals that hole.

 

[Bt Doctur]

the gasket blocks off the hole that the mercathode wires pass thru when the mercathode system is not installed