Exhasut Bellows came off from Bell houseing side Aplha 1

[dbhickey]

Just took my boat out of the water and raised the engine. The exhaust bellows detached from the out drive side. I can manage to get the bellows back on but cannot tighten the clamp.(No access) Would it be easier to remove the bellows from the transom side and place on the out drive side first or do I need to remove the stern drive? Seems like allot of work to re-attach.

The boat is fairly new and all the boots are in very good shape.

Thanks

 

[gerard143]

Re: Exhasut Bellows came off from Bell houseing side Aplha 1

there are an absolute pain in the ***. i gave up on mine after it popped off twice. so all last summer and now apparently again this summer i'll be running without it attached to the outdrive side. F it. its not worth the ***** ache. you have to remove the drive, install the transom side first with glue and clamp. then attached outdrive side with glue and clamp. you need an exhaust bellows tool becuz without it its impossible and with it its next to impossible. you have to work it on and slide it back a good amount to the first rib in the boot then clamp it. problem is even if you manage to get it on you have to raise the housing up some as if you were trimming it up and it wants to pull the boot back some. i just pulled back tight on the bellows tool and vise grip'd it so it'd hold that pulling back force while i raise it and got the clamp as tight as i could without snapping the clamp.
i let it sit for awhile. i put the outdrive on. trim'd it up. and the f'ing boot came right off. same thing last summer.

merc really shoulda put a little lip on the casting so if the clamp was tight and slide a little it'd catch on the lip and not let the bellows slide off.

i work hard to make sure everything's 100% on my boat but with those bellows i just give up.