Impeller housing one of four bolts broke

[Hugh H]

alpha one gen two.
would using only three of the four impeller housing bolts get me through the last three days of vacation?
Or would this be detrimental to the drive?
would it be well worth using patients and bring it to some one to drill out tomorrow
i'm in Lake George N.Y. Any shop recommendations?
thanks in advance, this forum and the contributors ROCK

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Impeller housing one of four bolts broke

Isn't there even enough bolt sticking out to get a vise grip onto?
If it's broken off flush you need to find or grind a flat surface. Take a hammer and a center punch to make a perfectly centered start point in the broken bolt. Drill down the middle of the bolt. And then carefully remove the bolt with a screw extractor, which some folks call an easy out.
If you aren't comfortable, call around to boat yards or machine shops. Lake George has plenty of boat folks.

 

[Hugh H]

Re: Impeller housing one of four bolts broke

NHGuy thanks for the response. Bolt snapped just below flush, boo, guess i'll pick up a screw extractor tomorrow and give it a whirl. On a previous post Don S. mentioned, using heat would have help prevented this bolt from snapping. I love the idea of adding heat to it but concerned about messing up seals and paint. Wish I used some perfect seal on the bolts the last time I did this job.