G-Daddy
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- May 3, 2002
- Messages
- 197
My son and I bought a 1998 model year Sportcraft 252 that was in really good shape for the price we paid. The stringers and transom are solid, the Mercruiser 350 Mag engine was replaced approximately 500 hours earlier and the Velvet Drive transmission only had 50 hours on it since replacement. We used the boat a little last fall ? it runs and handles great. We knew there were some maintenance issues as it had been little-used for the last couple of years. I figured it would be a long winter and I could work on it in the barn in my spare time.
Our last trip out the boat was taking on some water, so I wanted to determine the source. I discovered that one of the exhaust hoses had a leak where it burned through. The leak had been patched and the patch was now leaking. Also there was some leakage at the connection between the raw water intake seacock and the intake hose. I decided to change all the leaking hoses and the rebuild the raw water pump. I got those tasks completed and saw that the prop shaft log hose appeared to be delaminated and soft. It looked to me as if it had never been changed and I was sure this was a major source of water intrusion. While I had the floor out of the boat I decided to change that as well.
One other project that I did was to firm up the floor where it felt a little spongy. The floor itself was good ? no wood rot or anything. There was a gap between the underside of the floor and a bulkhead below that could provide support. I cut a couple of pieces of aluminum tube and replaced a couple of broken screws and it firmed up really well.
The shaft has a Norscot Seal, so I also wanted to change the lip seals as they were also probably the originals. I estimated the project as a three hour job ? I just didn?t think it would take a month to do the three hours. First I researched the web and found this link: http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects There is a wealth of information located there and my research helped avoid some mistakes I probably would have made without knowing any better.
Anyway, since the bilge had seen some saltwater, there was a lot of rust on the propshaft/transmission coupler. An application of PB Blaster and I had a couple of the bolts removed a week later. Then I turned the shaft and applied more Blaster to what I thought was the last bolt. Unfortunately there was a fourth bolt and I had to wait another week to get this one off. Then I got the last bolt off and the shaft slid back so I could start removing the coupler. My gear puller did not have enough length to span the bolt circle, so a friend loaned me a harmonic balance puller that I thought might work. It didn?t have enough reach either, so I had another week to wait to use a longer gear puller I borrowed from the maintenance department at work. I thought the flanged coupler would pop off once I got it started ? like pulling a flywheel. That surely did not happen. It did, however, slide easier the more I moved it. Altogether I spent about five hours applying PB Blaster, turning the shaft, removing bolts and pulling the flanged coupler.
After pulling the coupler I removed the Norscot Seal and replaced the lip seals, replaced the shaft log hose and reinstalled the Norscot unit. This part of the project took less than 45 minutes. Unfortunately it was during the third weekend.
Then I polished the inside of the flanged coupler to get it ready for reinstallation. I checked it with a bore gauge and it was within 0.0005? of the nominal 1 ?? shaft diameter. The next step was to install the coupler.
It was a little difficult trying to determine how deep to seat the shaft in the coupler due to the fact that my only reference for the transmission output shaft was by feel. I locked down the set screw and the bolts on the split back part of the coupling. Then I pushed the shaft forward until I felt contact with the transmission. I had about a 1/8? gap between coupling halves and had to undo the bolts and set screw so I could get the coupling halves together. Once that was done it was fairly easy to bolt the two couplings together. The most difficulty was in retightening the set screw and the two bolts that draw the coupling down to the shaft. This is because the couplers are under part of the transmission case and there is very little room to work. Then I had to reinsert the Norscot seal into the log hose and tighten down the hose clamps holding the hose and shaft seal in place. The Norscot uses ATF as a lubricant, so I also had to refill the reservoir and bleed the air out of the seal body. The last item was to reattach the water intake hose and then vacuum the bilge. Another 15 minutes to reinstall the floor section and caulk and it was mission accomplished.
What a long winter ? can?t wait to splash the boat and catch some fish. Yay stripers and salmonids!
Our last trip out the boat was taking on some water, so I wanted to determine the source. I discovered that one of the exhaust hoses had a leak where it burned through. The leak had been patched and the patch was now leaking. Also there was some leakage at the connection between the raw water intake seacock and the intake hose. I decided to change all the leaking hoses and the rebuild the raw water pump. I got those tasks completed and saw that the prop shaft log hose appeared to be delaminated and soft. It looked to me as if it had never been changed and I was sure this was a major source of water intrusion. While I had the floor out of the boat I decided to change that as well.
One other project that I did was to firm up the floor where it felt a little spongy. The floor itself was good ? no wood rot or anything. There was a gap between the underside of the floor and a bulkhead below that could provide support. I cut a couple of pieces of aluminum tube and replaced a couple of broken screws and it firmed up really well.
The shaft has a Norscot Seal, so I also wanted to change the lip seals as they were also probably the originals. I estimated the project as a three hour job ? I just didn?t think it would take a month to do the three hours. First I researched the web and found this link: http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects There is a wealth of information located there and my research helped avoid some mistakes I probably would have made without knowing any better.
Anyway, since the bilge had seen some saltwater, there was a lot of rust on the propshaft/transmission coupler. An application of PB Blaster and I had a couple of the bolts removed a week later. Then I turned the shaft and applied more Blaster to what I thought was the last bolt. Unfortunately there was a fourth bolt and I had to wait another week to get this one off. Then I got the last bolt off and the shaft slid back so I could start removing the coupler. My gear puller did not have enough length to span the bolt circle, so a friend loaned me a harmonic balance puller that I thought might work. It didn?t have enough reach either, so I had another week to wait to use a longer gear puller I borrowed from the maintenance department at work. I thought the flanged coupler would pop off once I got it started ? like pulling a flywheel. That surely did not happen. It did, however, slide easier the more I moved it. Altogether I spent about five hours applying PB Blaster, turning the shaft, removing bolts and pulling the flanged coupler.
After pulling the coupler I removed the Norscot Seal and replaced the lip seals, replaced the shaft log hose and reinstalled the Norscot unit. This part of the project took less than 45 minutes. Unfortunately it was during the third weekend.
Then I polished the inside of the flanged coupler to get it ready for reinstallation. I checked it with a bore gauge and it was within 0.0005? of the nominal 1 ?? shaft diameter. The next step was to install the coupler.
It was a little difficult trying to determine how deep to seat the shaft in the coupler due to the fact that my only reference for the transmission output shaft was by feel. I locked down the set screw and the bolts on the split back part of the coupling. Then I pushed the shaft forward until I felt contact with the transmission. I had about a 1/8? gap between coupling halves and had to undo the bolts and set screw so I could get the coupling halves together. Once that was done it was fairly easy to bolt the two couplings together. The most difficulty was in retightening the set screw and the two bolts that draw the coupling down to the shaft. This is because the couplers are under part of the transmission case and there is very little room to work. Then I had to reinsert the Norscot seal into the log hose and tighten down the hose clamps holding the hose and shaft seal in place. The Norscot uses ATF as a lubricant, so I also had to refill the reservoir and bleed the air out of the seal body. The last item was to reattach the water intake hose and then vacuum the bilge. Another 15 minutes to reinstall the floor section and caulk and it was mission accomplished.
What a long winter ? can?t wait to splash the boat and catch some fish. Yay stripers and salmonids!