Scary Scary Scary!

[jimdd810]

Just the other day I was enjoying my first time off from working on my customers boats by napping when the phone rang. I jumped up wiped the drool off my face and checked the caller id. It was my good friend Jerry and he happens to be my best customer. I just got done installing a new starter on his mercruiser and delivered it a week before. He told me that his boat was filling up with water and almost sunk. He then told me that he got the boat out of the water (thank god). I didnt hesitate and said Ill be right there. Now folks Im insured for alot and I mean alot of money and never had to use it. Luckily I didnt have to this time. The plug was in and every thing under the engine cover was tight and right. This was the first time he had the boat in the water since last year when i winterized it. So I thought it was some dumb mitake on my part. Well luckily for me it turned out to be a possible drive shaft bellows or shift cable boot leak. I am so relieved.
And yes I will gladly give my good friend Jerry a great deal on the repairs.
Has any one eles had this problem?

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Scary Scary Scary!

bellows dry rot and crack with age.
its called a maint item.
even if they look good its wise to change them abot every 3 years.
yes a hole in a shift cable or drive bellows can sink a mercruiser.
well aintained rigs usually dont have that issue.
its getting the customer to fork up the cash for maint thats the issue.
kinda like a customer recently, I installed a 96 mag HO in front of his BravoII drive 3 years ago.
dewinterized this spring, noted the seawater pump had never been replaced and reccomended replacement on the work order.
customer said its always worked fine.
few weeks later I replaced the impeller,dug all the broken parts out of the raw water system and changed the riser rubber hoses.
tow cost almost 800,rubbers about 45 a pop,labor about 4 hours and the pump kit stil cost about 40 bucks.
I am NOT the maytag man.
pay me to maintain it or pay me to repair it. the only difference is in the amount of parts and labor.

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: Scary Scary Scary!

Bellows sink boats fairly often, and no real excuse for it. See my signature below

 

[actionljackson]

Re: Scary Scary Scary!

I can't believe you do the the work on this customers boat and never check the condition of the bellows? Are you a marine tech or just a good friend?I do understand that these can crack at anytime just curious if you ever checked the condition of these when you where winterizing the boat.

 

[jimdd810]

Re: Scary Scary Scary!

I do not do the work on the stern drives. I have a very small shop and dont have the tools to do the job. I sent it to a different shop 2 years ago (no longer in business) that supposedly changed the belows and shift boot when changing the u joints. We dont have salt water and our boating season is a very short time. so there was no real reason to check them. I dont usually check the bellows when replacing a starter.