A friend of mine who bought a mid-late 80's Cigarette has a water leak. He says it's getting past the gimble housing/transom seal.
When he tightened the bolts up, some black sticky stuff oozed out around the gimble housing.
Do these seals start melting after a certain amount of time?

You sure its not black water squirting out of the transom when you compress it by tightening??

That's what I'm afraid it is. I haven't seen it personally.
Owner is hoping for the best. I'm trying to stay optimistic for him.
He did a tap test on the transom, but with some boats it really takes a trained ear.

It's a bad time of the year to be finding out the transom needs replacement.
Boating season is getting close around here.

What drives does it have, TRS? If so they have a cork seal between there. Never seen them melt before.

It's got bravo 1's..
My B1's have felt seals. I'm assuming he does too.