Broken Cowling

[jaws2tets]

I have a cracked cowling on my boat's outboard motor. 50 Hp evinrude etec, year 2006. It is on the lower part that is in the water. I've strapped and caulked it for the time being until I can get someone to look at it. Wondering if I can drive it back from the island (5 min ride) or is it best to keep the motor out of the water and tow it back?

 

[Scott Danforth]

the cowling isnt in the water, the lower unit is.

are you talking the lower unit?

 

[jaws2tets]

Sorry, the plastic cover on the lower unit. I found a pic. This isn't my outboard but is looks identical and the crack is very similar. My crack follows the blue line I drew.

 

[jaws2tets]

[No message]

 

[jaws2tets]

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[jaws2tets]

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[jaws2tets]

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[F_R]

Duct tape and drive it.

 

[Crosbyman]

major crack there bud ... here is what I did to the mountng bolt mating surfaces…on my 75 ETEC

maybe you can go further and fix up the crack internally by removing the padding. Cowlings on a 75 ETEC go for about $1600 set so I glued mine…

steps:
- clean and sand edges a bit at an angle…. like welders do on steel welds
- clean edges again after sanding and bring surfaces together to close the crack as much as you can
- on the inside joint, apply " spot welds" every few inches using BONDIC UV plastic mender .. use the UV light provided for 3 seconds to harden the special glue
- with edges glued and holding fill the long gap edges with BONDIC UV and apply UV light
- apply a second coating of Bondic to widen the weld area for more solidity
- surface sand the Bondic to make it dull as well as the blue ETEC plastic each side of the Bondic joint
- Mix and apply some Permatex plastic welder over the Bondic and blue plastic in 3-6 inch section and cover with a stip of fiberglass cloth . work fast and soak the cloth in the Permatex. Continue welding the crack on the cowl inside surface. The external cowl surface joint can be Bondic welded only as it is a clear weld when hardened . you can paint it over with ETEC blue paint and a small artist brush . Spray some pint in a can but apply with a brush. NO need to paint inside surface

attached are pictures of my" bolt " joints I fixed up. using Bondic and Permatex products as explained .

 

[jaws2tets]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I got it back to the mainland and pulled the cowlings off. Going to get some supplies and do something like you crosbyman. Replacement cowlings are way too expensive to consider. Thanks again!!