My boat bellows!

[MCNPathfinder]

Hey everyone, so I just got my boat out of storage last Thursday night! My excitement was short lived as I brought it to the mechanic on Saturday. There's nothing better than looking out your window and seeing your boat in all of it's glory! LOL! Don't laugh too hard, I was having some SERIOUS boat withdrawl over the winter. Like cabin fever almost. I feel a little empty now knowing that it's gone getting fixed, but it'll be back soon.
I'm having the bellows replaced. It's a 1990 Cobia Spirit 2250. It has a built 305 Chevy V8 in it. My question is with this new bellows, I obviously want to make it last as long as possible. I've heard that when storing the boat I should leave the outdrive down so that the bellows form to the boats natural position. Is this true? How does one do this? There's no way I'll be able to get my skeg all the way down on the trailer I have, and even if I could I'd have to tip the trailer forward meaning that any water that did get in it while stored would flow into the front of the boat and sit there, rather than the back where it could drain. Is it enough to put it down and rest it on something, like a block of wood or something like that? My boat seems to take on a decent amount of water while underway, do you suppose replacing the bellows will solve the problem?
Also I'm having my mechanic look over everything that's involved in there as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need new u-joints or what nots. My brother and I are noob boat owners and have started the boat, put it in gear, pretty much all that stuff that you're NOT supposed to EVER do with the outdrive all the way up, every time we launched the boat last season. That being said, how does one pull off of a beach without causing damage to the boat then? In order to get on the beach you pretty much have to trim all the way up so you don't hang the skeg on anything. Do you just put the drive in neutral, cut the engine, trim up, and coast in? How about leaving the beach? Push out, lower the drive (when safe), start the engine and put it in gear?
Thanks for all the help!

 

[90stingray]

Re: My boat bellows!

Wow! Lots if questions in there... here we go. I just leave my boat bow up and trim down close to the ground... if it wont go all the way, some trim down is better than none. Bellows might solve some water issues... just gotta take a peek while in the water to see where its coming from. How about don't beach your boat? But if I had to, I would give it the gas and cut it and trim up. Yes, push boat by hand into water and start when ok to do so.

 

[MCNPathfinder]

Re: My boat bellows!

Yeah sorry, that was kind of a lot of questions. Thanks for the advice. I guess I could just not ever beach the boat, but what fun is that?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: My boat bellows!

first off, which drive?

Find where the water is coming from.

no, most drives dont like being run in the up position

since you did beach often, inspect the keel for wear and holes

if you continue beach often, make sure you have a keel guard (only after you inspect the keel and repair if required). I beached all the time in Florida on beercan. the stern was in 11' of water, and the bow on the beach. I would not have done it without a keel guard you just had to watch the tides.

 

[MCNPathfinder]

Re: My boat bellows!

I'm at work so I don't quite remember, and it's been a long winter. I think I have the Mercruiser Bravo 2? I boat on local lakes, so the tide doesn't change that much between the 3-5 hours I might spend out there. I will explore the idea of a keel guard, but usually the back end stays afloat and the front goes in the sand. It's a 22' boat so by the time you get 22' from anywhere the depth is different.

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: My boat bellows!

I'll add my 2 cents, for what its worth... I am fairly new at boat ownership and in addition to that in common, I too own a 1990 with a 305 and an Alpha-1. Here's what I have picked up through the forums. Hopefully its ok, or you will (should) hear the "right" answers soon enough from the grey-beards. As far as I have been led to believe, its not that bad to start/operate the drive anywhere w/in the "normal" trim range (although zero trim is best...bellows/u-joints directly in line with the coupling...that's how I typically operate in the driveway on muffs). Bad to operate outside of the normal trim range (i.e. all the way up in "trailered" position.... will make lots of noise and bad things start to happen). I bring my O/D up to upper trim limit stop when getting on/off trailer. Engine/drive runs fine.
Next...water in bilge. When I got my boat out on the lake for my first sea-trials, it too took on more water than I thought normal...having to run my bilge pump often, and draining for several minutes after pulling the drain plug on the ramp. Did not take long to find out my clamps were all loose on my exhaust joints at my shudders. Tightened them up and viola...no more water in the bilge after a day of boating. (our boats are over 20 years old...if these areas have gone overlooked, then its a good place to start looking). When parked on trailer, I have the boat slightly bow up (to ensure anything will drain out the bilge drain) and trim down as far as I can without putting the skeg on the driveway. It's not perfectly in line, but better than leaving it in the "trailered" position, which is what the PO did. To run on muffs, I jack up the trailer axle and trim the O/D level. This give me a good point to check the drive oil after the run. Hope this helps, and happy boating!

 

[MCNPathfinder]

Re: My boat bellows!

Awesome! Thanks so much that is fantastic advice. Everything worked last time I had it out, so nothing is broken (that I know of), but after perusing these forums, I'm just cringing at the thought of how much excessive damage I caused to my boat by being an idiot. It's in the hands of the pros right now, they said they'd give it a once over and de-winterize everything for me. Are the shudders the big like cast-iron looking pieces that are attached to the engine? I was starting the thing in full trailered up position, putting it in gear. It hated it, it would take some throttle and it would click and hesitate before sliding into gear. I hope nothing is wrecked too bad. I just want them to call and tell me it's ok. LOL! They said they were going to have it for like 2 weeks though. That's a long time to wait to see if she's okay.

 

[jmarty10]

Re: My boat bellows!

The boat will be just fine but your checkbook might take a little beatin