Was going to ask the same questions...how do you know the u joint bellows is your issue. Granted you are seeing water in the bellows, but as mentioned could be leaking from somewhere else. It is possible that the steering pin leaks down into the u joint area.

Yes bellows adhesive. I was just wondering cause I didn’t think it could. With the inner seal in behind the gimbal bearing how could water get in from the steering shaft. I checked all
the inter transom plate bolts
or nuts to make
sure they r tight and they r. I thought about doing the steering shaft from the outside but I don’t really like the whole ya omg to cut a hole and put a cover plate on. Does this affect the gimbal housing strength at all. Im
ki da shocked
its bad this boat was never left in the water and kept
in heated garage after use. Transom
is dry as a bone and stringers r great doesn’t seam like it had a lot of use. Just shocked it’s corroded enough to leak cause everything is spotless outdrrive is beautiful

That swivel pin is plain steel, not treated and rusts verybeasy just like a brake rotor that sits. Then when the rush is enough that seal is taken out.

That seal around the gimbal bearing is seal to keep grease from coming into boat.... as that swivel seal leaks water could come down and go in that seal the other direction.... especially once it is warmed up.

as mentioned...the steel pin is crap untreated steel. Not a 300 series. We just did our pin using the jr marine kit.

Cutting out the area for the plate is very small and not a structural issue. Thousands of boats and users have used them without issue.

here is a picture of our transom assembly. It looks brand new yet our steering pins were leaking.