While on my buddy's boat powered with a diesel with a bravo 3x drive, we started taking on water. Pump was going off every 30second intervals. Not a fun experience 70miles from home. Quick inspection showed water coming in from the transom plate, but could not see where. Needless to say we pulled the gear and hauled@$$ in. Boat was not leaking when running cause the boat was up on plane and transom housing mostly out of the water. After what seemed like an eternity to get back in we finally made it to the dock safely and started inspecting, to find no water intrusion??? Then started to flow when my buddy got on other side and his son was in the platform.. 550-600lbs in the stern. So come to find an actual corrosion hole the size of a nickle where the mercruiser sticker goes covering the steering arm. Remove the weight hole is out of the water and no leak. We even sprayed the hose in and sure enough cones right into the bilge.
So now to my question. I know merc makes a lot to fix this without having to remove the motor which would call for drilling into the housing and cutting out a template where his hole is. But is this all necessary? Can we just plate and seal the hole and call it a day? The steering arm looks fine without any corrosion and operates very smoothly. I was thinking of plating and seal it with 5200 and a couple screws. Also drill in a zerk fitting to grease it regularly, like the older alphas had. What are your thoughts?
How do all these bravos with the steering lever arm leaks look? Where is the water coming in on most of them to warrant replacement, which requires a lot of work to take everything apart.
Also I should mention, there is a brand new bellows, shift cable and exhaust. The water pick up is plated as he has a thru hull pick up for more water flow.
So now to my question. I know merc makes a lot to fix this without having to remove the motor which would call for drilling into the housing and cutting out a template where his hole is. But is this all necessary? Can we just plate and seal the hole and call it a day? The steering arm looks fine without any corrosion and operates very smoothly. I was thinking of plating and seal it with 5200 and a couple screws. Also drill in a zerk fitting to grease it regularly, like the older alphas had. What are your thoughts?
How do all these bravos with the steering lever arm leaks look? Where is the water coming in on most of them to warrant replacement, which requires a lot of work to take everything apart.
Also I should mention, there is a brand new bellows, shift cable and exhaust. The water pick up is plated as he has a thru hull pick up for more water flow.
