Adding oil reservoir kit...worth it?

[DanD34]

Bought a 17' bowrider last summer. 1988 Alpha One Gen One with 3.0. Have been going through this winter doing maintenance. One thing was had gear lube in the u joint bellows and found a groove worn in the yoke on the input shaft where the seal rides. Repaired that and did pressure test last night. Held 12 psi for an hour with no change. Turned shaft and shift shaft several times. Let it down to 10 psi and it has stayed steady from 10 PM last night to noon today so I think I'm good to go in this area. I've read to do vacuum test but that Mercury recommends not to do vacuum test so I will probably skip that part. Anyway, I was wondering what people's opinions are about adding the oil reservoir kit to this outdrive. I know the kit isn't available from Merc anymore but NOS are available. Is it worth the money and time? I will just use this boat a few weekends in the summer and for a week on a yearly vacation. Not getting a lot of hours. And part of me says it's been fine for 32 years and I'm looking for a solution to an imaginary problem so don't worry about it. The other part says it wouldn't be that hard to add the kit and pretty much eliminates pressure and vacuum being developed in the outdrive and makes it easy to watch for leaks Thoughts?

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you do the annual drive maintenance (pull the drive and inspect the bellows, gimbal, yokes and alignment)....... why would you need to add a reservoir?

 

[DanD34]

if you do the annual drive maintenance (pull the drive and inspect the bellows, gimbal, yokes and alignment)....... why would you need to add a reservoir?

Why did Mercury add it and offer a retrofit kit?

 

[Bondo]

Is it worth the money and time?
Why did Mercury add it and offer a retrofit kit?

Ayuh,..... It's a nice up-date feature to sell drives, but necessary,..?? 'ell no,.....

Not worth my time, nor any money,......

 

[Scott Danforth]

Why did Mercury add it and offer a retrofit kit?

to make money.....pure and simple...... to make money

Every Gen 2 drive with a reservoir that I have ever wrenched on had a layer of sludge at the bottom of the reservoir that prevents it from actually working. the Mercruiser gunk additives that they add falls out of suspension and makes a layer of gunk plugging the reservoir. many of those drives did not have full oil in the drive and one had water in it...... however the reservoir was full on each of them.

YMMV, however my experience is the reservoir is not needed if you perform the annual maintenance.

 

[DanD34]

Thank you gentlemen. That's the kind of first hand knowledge I was looking for. Confirmed my suspicion to probably just leave it alone. Oil reservoir seems like a good idea in theory but doesn't work so well in practice. Thanks again.

 

[Scott06]

Nice to have but wouldn’t add. If you’re on a trailer or keep it in a lift easy enough to check for water at the bottom plug and level at the top. Like yours mine lasted 25 years this way... and was still in good shape when I sold it.

 

[tank1949]

Gravity is always consistent! And, nothing beats proper maintenance, which will include draining possible crud collecting in reservoir/line. Maintenance also includes YOU keeping idiots from dragging their fishing lines across your props and possibly destroying outdrive seals. The reservoir does offer some degree of OD protection, as it is supposed to drain its OD lube into its OD, if OD leaks lube. However, are boaters going to monitor and clean reservoirs? Some reservoirs have audio alarm connectors (wires) that connect to the boats audio alarm system to warn boaters of low levels. My current boat's former owner had disconnected water temp, motor oil pressure and lube reservoir from audio system. I am reconnecting everything with a LOUDER buzzer! Of course, when you first crank your motor the alarm is annoying.

 

[achris]

.... Maintenance also includes YOU keeping idiots from dragging their fishing lines across your props and possibly destroying outdrive seals...

Here's a tip to help keep fishing line out of your propshaft seals. When you're fishing, anchored or drifting, drop it into reverse gear. That effectively locks the propeller and stops it 'free spinning'. If a line does happen to go into the prop it won't get wound in, it'll just come straight back out...

My current boat's former owner had disconnected water temp, motor oil pressure and lube reservoir from audio system.....

What can I say? I just hope he doesn't breed!

Chris.........

 

[tank1949]

Here's a tip to help keep fishing line out of your propshaft seals. When you're fishing, anchored or drifting, drop it into reverse gear. That effectively locks the propeller and stops it 'free spinning'. If a line does happen to go into the prop it won't get wound in, it'll just come straight back out...



What can I say? I just hope he doesn't breed!

Chris.........

When we bottom fish in Gulf, we are in reverse a bunch! thanks! I WARN EVERY ONE THAT SEAL REPLACEMENTS ARE ABOUT 200 BUCKS AND I DON'T TAKE AMX!

 

[achris]

Are you in reverse with the engine running or stopped. (I was referring to stopped). If you're 'live boating', that's a whole different story!

Chris.......

 

[tank1949]

Are you in reverse with the engine running or stopped. (I was referring to stopped). If you're 'live boating', that's a whole different story!

Chris.......

Chris, We seldom anchor! Too much work!!!!! We use a marker buoy to identify wreck and then try our best to hover over the specific spot. Most of the time, we have found that it is best to keep boat in reverse and back down into the seas. If it is too rough, then in forward. The Gulf of Mexico is not near as rough as the Oceans. THX!

 

[achris]

Chris, We seldom anchor! Too much work!!!!! We use a marker buoy to identify wreck and then try our best to hover over the specific spot. Most of the time, we have found that it is best to keep boat in reverse and back down into the seas. If it is too rough, then in forward. The Gulf of Mexico is not near as rough as the Oceans. THX!

I've used a similar technique when fishing DEEP! (over 150m/500ft) And yeah, have to keep yelling at the crew to keep the lines away from the spinny bit.

In the offshore industry, it's called 'Dynamic Positioning (DP)', but done on a MUCH bigger scale. They use, mostly, GPS positioning and redundant computers to control the vessel thrusters. Accuracy is usually within a couple of metres (6ft). Not bad for 31,000 tons of boat! A 'DP3' boat has 3 redundant computers and the system is also split with regard to power for the thruster so that should one generator go out, the other half of the system will continue to hold vessel position. They have full control over position, speed, heading... Not only been on the bridge many times observing the system working, but have been called upon to fix it too.

Positioning systems also include 'taut wire' (a wire lowered to the seabed and held tight, usually with a weight around 100kg on the end of it, then a head that reads the angle of the wire, and how much has been paid out to calculate the required thrust to return the vessel to the preset position), Artemis (which uses time delays from known ground stations), 'Fanbeam' (this is the coolest. Fires a light beam at a reflector on another fixed offshore installation, then uses the detected reflections to align it's own head and read the angles. uses the speed of light to determine distance!)

Makes using our sounders and manually reading the GPS feel positively caveman!

Oh, I've worked in the GoM, out from Louisiana, I know just how rough it can get! And that was on a 60,000T vessel!

Chris.....

 

[tank1949]

That's way out of my league. We use GPS plotters to establish a wind/drift line trail from coordinates and then position boat back ahead of coordinates. So far it has worked very well. It beats the hell out of anchoring back in the LORAN days.