Merc and their plastic inserts......
 

In all the years of boating I've rarely seen as many plastic hose inserts collapse as I have lately. This would be the plastic expansion insert in the hose from the bellhousing to the transom plate. And odd enough - it's been on the port motor 1st that starts to overheat due to the restriction. first the 45 did it, then a buddys 31 Sonic, then another friend who recently bought a 45 Excalibur now has the same issue. WTF?? Is it the crappy water on the San Jac kill'n them or is this much more common? Other than hull pick ups - is there a better solution for this?? I remember the good ole days when youo had a fitting on the old Alphas that you could simply clamp the hose onto - both inside and outside. Never had one of the collapse...... Plastic $hit in a $250K boat - go Merc.

I just made the repair and i think it is just the fact that the Bravos are coming to a point in their age that this is a repair that is showing itself.

I also wondered why they pulled that s#it.. Although those lines are easier to replace than the alphas.. I clamping on the hose at the gimble on the alphas is a bitc#.. They should have a better design overall.

Volvo's old drives had it done pretty well for the most part, but then F ed it up with having the gimble bearings in the way that they do.

It seems like these companies thing lets improve one thing or two and then do something really stupid somewhere else.. :angry-smiley-055: :circle:

Jamie / Lakeside

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TRR, are they collapsing because of corrosion? Mine in my old Formula were bad when I pulled the engines but it had spent a good portion of it's life in salt water and the corrosion on the water neck was forcing the hose/ferrule shut.

Look on the bright side...its the cheapest priced part you'll ever replace.

Now that's funny -

You would think with the millions of dollars spent on development they could come up with a better mouse trap. Kinda like the engineer that has the brother who sells bilge cleaner - he's the guy who designed the oil filter mount upside down. What the hell was wrong with the other one?

Has anyone changed one with efi motors, I tried on mine but could'nt because of the plenium being so much higher than the fitting. any suggestions ??