rdoactive

Sounds like a pretty unanimous opinion here. Fault lies in 13 yrs of salt water use.
Pull the engine, drill it, and replace it. BTW, if you do go with a thru hull, water still needs to flow through the bravo for cooling.

Panther

Having worked as a boat mechanic I've run into this problem and I can tell you how the marina handled it....

1. All service quotes I would write, accounted for extra labor time to remove stuck/rusted bolts etc....

2. We made the customer aware how there may be unforseen problems due to age and corrosion and if there was a larger problem we would call the customer and let them know... Possibly even invite them down to have a look for themselves.

3. In the case there was a problem like this, I would charge the customer the labor to R&R the engine but not charge the customer the time it takes to drill out and remove the bolt, that's built into the original estimate.

3. Then there's allways the screw-up factor... If I or someone else screwed something up, the customer didn't get charged for that. For instance, one time I was soldering some wires for a GPS installation and I dropped my soldering Iron and it burned a whole in the seat... We ate the cost of having to fix the seat for my mistake... Unfortunately not all mechanics are honest in this regard.....

It's kind of a give and take but it's to be expected...

So the moral of it all for me is be honest with your customers up-front so that if/when there's an issue they're not shocked by the outcome.

nards444

yeah sorry i mean hard to blame him. Ive had cars worked on and they troubleshoot a part and in the process something is so old that breaks. Ive heard it go both ways where they will fix it or you fix it. Either way doubt you could hold them liable. now a good mechanic should maybe cut you a better deal on what he had to fix or something or if he wen above and beyond then he would pay. But unless it was something totally unrelated to what they were fixing then pretty hard to get it ouf them

Mkeller

Thanks again. No blame from me for this mechanic. He's been forthcoming. I have the luxury of time with frozen bolts, he has to clear projects.

Panther-I would use your shop anyday. That is the kind of service I expect and have no problems paying for. Unfortunately with one exception I have found marina mechanics to be inept or outright shysters. This is why I donate a few saturdays of time to wrenching instead of boating.

I am going to have the hose in the transom assembly removed, the transom opening blocked and go with a thru hull for engine cooling. As I understand it this will still allow adequate water flow through the drive for cooling the upper bearing in the drive.

Griff

The water needs to go through the drive. What you are describing will give the water an outlet. The wate rwill go in, but has no place to exit. I have had separate hull pick ups on 2 boats and they both run a hose from the inner transom water inlet to a through hull water dump.

tcuda499

mkeller,
If your a tech,why would you have someone do all that work to your boats?why not save yourself $ and at least do the easier stuff yourself like cables?
just wondering
like everbody said, wouldn't blame the mech. Unless he's a known hacker.

Mkeller

Simple it was all covered by the "warranty" on my "remanufactured" engines. But then it only cost me about $40,000 in my time to hound the guy to take care of it.

I generally do it all myself, time permitting. Last year I restored and rigged an old whaler. I'm a 70 hour a week professional and sometimes my pesky clients get in the way of good wrench time.

Now with luck I have found my shop. 5 minutes by water and I have yet to receive a bull**** answer. In contrast, another shop in the area told me I needed to replace my drive bellows annually as part of the drive service. I said you mean inspect? He said no Mercruiser says replace them annually. This wasn't quite as bad as the car mechanic who told me my rotary engine was due for a valve job. Needless to say neither got my business.

tcuda499

Gottcha! sounds like your warr. turned out to be more of a hassle with the hacker working on it! If only there was more than 24 hours in a day..... things we could get accomplished.....

mike tkach

iTrader: (3)

here in the midwest,we deal with rusty bolts on cars&trucks all the time,this is due to the salt used on the roads in winter months.also,the salt corrodes all sorts of things on the underside of the car,that damb salt causes a lot of problems in cars and boats,just the way it is,certianlly not the mechanic,s fault.

guilfoy1

That sucks, I know last year snapped 2 motor mount bolts in the block at loto. needless to say motor had to come out.