It's FINALLY aligned!

[Matthew_B]

I bought a 1968 Glaspar from a co-worker that inherited it from his dad. It has the 160 HP (250 ci Chevy) Mercruiser outdrive in it.

The floor was rotted out and I replaced the 1/2" plywood floor with a 3/4" plywood one. I didn't think it would be a big deal, BUT, when I went to align the drive, I noticed that it was already screwed all the way down. I talked to they guy I bought it from, and he said he vaguely remembers something about his dad burning out couplings and having a hard time aligning the drive.

I started moving the front of the engine up and down with a bottle jack, and determined that the ideal position was about 3/4" down from where it was before. Unless the hull moved that much, Glaspar manufactured the boat such that the mount is 1/2" out of alignment when screwed all the way down.

I fabricated a new front mount foot, 1" lower than the old one. I can dial it in, and the alignment tool slides in freely and stops with a nice THUNK. Hmmm, maybe I be in the water before the end of the month.

 

[Don S]

Re: It's FINALLY aligned!

It's a 68, almost 40 years old. I doubt Glaspar manufactured it wrong. Bet the rear mounts are bad or pieces missing when you put it back together.
The coupler wouldn't have made it that many years if they made the boat wrong.

 

[Matthew_B]

Re: It's FINALLY aligned!

I went over and over again, looking at the rear mounts, the front mount and so on. Everything matches the manual. I talked to a mechanic and showed him some pictures, and he agrees everything looks in order.

Based on the history of "eating couplers" and "hard to align" plus the mount being wound all the way down when I got it I suspect it was very borderline as manufactured - that or the hull changed shape.