outdrive angle to drain

[forgedin78]

I have a boat with an alpha one outdrive that I bought this fall and am putting it away for the winter. I have drained the block and manifold, but the trailer sets so low that I cant lower the drive very far, and I'm worried that there may be water trapped in the front of the bottom of the drive. Will all the water drain out? or will I have to pull the drive off to get all the water out?

I have also had a thought of backing the trailer up onto some blocks, to get it high enough to put the drive straight down. I guess what I'm asking is, Is there a magic angle you have to get to, to make it all drain out?

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

Why not just remove the outdrive and store it in the basement?

You really need to grease the u-joints yearly anyway...............

 

[forgedin78]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

well that's a definite possibility if I'm not satisfied that it won't drain properly. It can go next to my outboard. Is storing the outdrive off the boat indoors what everyone else in the north does?

 

[Bondo]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

Is storing the outdrive off the boat indoors what everyone else in the north does?

Ayuh,... I do,... When still on the boat, I can lower it All the way...

There are drain holes to drain the exhaust cavity,.....
But they plug, or freeze,...
Then it fills with Water,+ Freezes,.. Bursting the lower housing....

 

[cr2k]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

If it is kept outside with possibility of freezing, drive down is preferred so rain wont collect in the bullet behind the prop and freeze and split it.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

I would either put it on blocks as you stated or remove it. They don't really reccomend leaving it up for that long either. Here in Utah we have pretty harsh winters so I would never dream of chancing it. Can you not use the trailer jack and put the tongue right on the ground to gain enough clearance to go full down. Not that you want to leave it with the tongue down but if you have to remove the drive anyway it would make it easier if it were trimmed down all the way.

 

[forgedin78]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

I havent tried jacking the tongue down yet, since it seems to rain every other day, and I dont want water in the front of the boat. But I had planned on going through the boat this winter anyway, to fix things that need fixing. So I'll probably pull the drive and leave it off for the winter. I think I might have an exhaust shutter problem, and I've been reading about how to fix that, and I think I'll find it fallen down in there if I pull the drive.

Then for next year maybe Ill make a spot to park it where the trailer tires are high and where the drive goes is low.

It just seems like a bad design for the boat to sit so low to the ground. Is that normal? IS this like this on most boat/trailer combination's?

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

It kind of depends on how the trailer is designed and where the boat sits in conjunction to the axles. My last boat 20' Wellcraft sat quite low on the trailer, it was an outboard but I still couldn't go full down unless the tounge was low. My current boat 20' Crownline sits way high on the trailer(above the fenders) and I can go full down(alpha one gen 2 drive) and still have 3-4 under the skeg. My brothers larson with a bravo 3 can only go about 2/3 down and it hits. He actually put a keyway at the end of his storage pad just for this reason has a drain etc so no rain/snow collects in there. I like the fact I can go full down because thats where I always store it, plus when I pull out at the top of ramp I will lower to drain all the water out. 1 for piece of mind that water isn't sitting in there 2 for the fact of the quagga muscle if there is a chance the lake is infected best to leave all that water there.

 

[ziggy]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

He actually put a keyway at the end of his storage pad just for this reason

along those lines. if your on dirt. ya could dig a hole for the drive to go all the way down too.

that said. i remove my drive for over the winter too...

 

[forgedin78]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

this year the drives coming off, tomorrow In fact.

Next year, I may engineer something. I'm leaning towards making some blocks to park the trailer on, or just jacking up the trailer and putting some jack stands under the frame, which would take the weight off the tires as well.

I could easily take the backhoe and scoop out a bucketfull to lower the drive into, but it would take some more thought and work to make sure that hole wouldn't fill up with water or snow and freeze me in.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: outdrive angle to drain

take it off gasket set is 8.00, and check alignment, check bellows wipe out old grease etc.