Crap - finished off the season

[oldjeep]

Took the boat out for one last time on Minnetonka today before putting it in storage saturday. Cruised around for an hour and stopped for some food, got done having dinner and when I restarted the boat the alarm would not quit. Guages were all good so I checked the only other thing I know is attached to the alarm and sure enough the lower unit lube reservoir was dry. Saw a slight sheen when I brought the unit up to look at it. Didn't have too many options since we were a mile or 2 from the launch and the truck so I decided to just pull the wire to the lube sensor and run it to the launch.

Everything worked fine but it'll be tommorrow before I can pull the lower off to see what has happened. Guess I've got the winter to fix whatever the problem was. I figure I'll pull the lower completely apart since I was running it dry or close to dry.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Drained the oil out and there was still some there, but not much. What was there is burnt pretty bad. Very little metal on the drain plug magnet - about what I would consider normal.

 

[etracer68]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

I ran a Cobra low once about 20+ years ago, and lower unit was fine, but upper bearings were fried. Hope yours is good.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

I'll check that as well.

 

[ohioriverat]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Sorry for the luck, i'm going out this weekend for a last year cruise too. I have a new floor to put in this winter and a couple u-joints! gotta love old boats.

 

[Lakes84]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Heading up to Lake of the Woods today....One last hurrah walleye fishing tomorrow. Spend Sunday winterizing my trailer and driving back to Hudson (7 hours uggh!) Having boat winterized and put safely into my pole barn next week. It's going to be a Looong winter me thinks.

Hope your lower unit is okay.

Joe

 

[JoLin]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Doing a little better weather-wise than you guys, but haul-out is staring me right in the face. Weather's gonna be great this weekend and we'll do (probably) our last overnight on the hook. After that we'll see, but I'll be out by month-end.

Sorry to hear of your outdrive woes, oldjeep. I'll hold a good thought for you.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Doing a little better weather-wise than you guys, but haul-out is staring me right in the face. Weather's gonna be great this weekend and we'll do (probably) our last overnight on the hook. After that we'll see, but I'll be out by month-end.

Sorry to hear of your outdrive woes, oldjeep. I'll hold a good thought for you.

Weather is actually pretty nice around here, been in the 80's for the last week. But its the week before the parents head south for the winter, so starting today we deal with their boats and docks.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

I normally get till Thanksgiving with the camper top but the last 2 trip can be pretty cold and I am really not looking forward to putting mine away either.

Got a new water pump and lower seal kit to do this winter and have a small leak in the boat but don't know if I want to jerk the floor to fix it, I have an aluminum boat with no foam so it isn't a big deal, it just bugs me but I'm not sure if it is enough to pull the floor.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

I'd normally let it sit for a while, but a hub on my trailer came unglued on the way home from the lake. I decided to call it quits for the season and start the winter layup projects.

Feelin' the pain.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Crap - finished off the season

Popped the cover off the upper unit and the top bearing and race look just fine. I'll need to do a full seal kit but it doesn't appear that any damage was done. I'll take the opportunity to replace the bellows before it all goes back together, even though they all appear to be fine - nice and flexible and no cracking (original 2005 stuff with over 500 hours on it)