PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

[willtodd]

If anybody can help just bought a 1976 21ft boat with the OMC 235 horse I/O. First day out and already BIG Trouble. It has electric shift and we were going along at about 2500rpm and BANG the boat stops dead in the water with the motor still running. I gave it gas and it went no where. I also noticed shifting from foward to reverse there was no differece. Towed back to shore and out of the water I reved it up to 3000rpm in neutral and prop spins barely. It also spins in foward and reverse around 3000rpm but seems like prop should go faster. Its not the sheer pin that broke earlyer in the day the first time we got towed back to shore. Oh and the prop does not spin at an idle in foward or reverse like it did earlyer that day. ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT THANKS!!!!

 

[echozulu]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

one or more of the shafts in your drive or intermediate housing let go they have fine splines and the age on them. i cant believe so many of these horrible units are out there they must have sold a million of them it is probably going to be heavy duty bad news always water test a boat before you buy it and ride the hell out it

 

[willtodd]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

That was fast, if that turns out to be what it is what is the ball park cost of the shafts and would I be able to do it I have been in every part of a car but never a boat. Another question would there be some way for me to verify this without out pulling the motor the trans and the outboard.

 

[golfer]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

If it is not your prop hub, it is almost certainly your coupler. Pull prop to verify not the hub. If it isn't, you probably will need to pull the outdrive to see if it is the coupler. If it is the coupler, you are looking at pulling the engine. If you let a marina do the work, should cost around $750 to fix. Try to buy the coupler on ebay, it will save you a couple hundred...Let us know what you find out..

 

[echozulu]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

your unit doesent have a rubber bonded coupler like every other sterndrive...it has a steel flange which bolts over the flywheel... about 4 inches in dia, its not sold seperatly you have to buy it and the intermediate shaft together...you said the shear pin was ok..you can remove the drive to isolate the problem...is there any water in the drive ? any metal ? can you get your MONEY back ? if not park it in your yard and sell it to the next victim..

 

[golfer]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

NOOOOOOO!!! No victims, lol...

 

[Boatist]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

Willtodd<br />Is your outdrive a series 800 stringer with the big rubber boot around the outdrive??<br />If so I would supect the short drive shaft that drives the water pump and then the drive shaft. Cost $800 to $1000 to have fixed. This motor has ball gears to drive the outdrive instead of u joints. If it is the part I think it is water pump impeller will not turn either and will get no water spraying on the ball gears.<br /><br />I hope that when you are running this motor out of the water your are running on muffs or have a hose hooked to the optional water input connection. If you dont have water going to it you will burn up the water pump impeller real fast.

 

[echozulu]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

this is never going to be over until the boat is ...hook it up to the truck and back it into a pool of lava..then its over

 

[sea wolf]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

sorry about yer troubles will. did u purchase the boat from a dealer? if u did, get on his case. if not, then i'm sorry to say you'll have to eat the cost of repairs. but with the age of the boat, is it worth it? only u can decide. i hopu u didn't do more damage when u revved it up to 3000. that's not a good idea. did u change props to see if the hub is spun on the 1st one? start there. u may get lucky, who knows. if u know a mechanic that u trust have him look it over. i not trying to be a wise guy but, let this be a lesson to any 1st time buyers out there. never buy a boat without having a mechanic of you're choosing looking it over first. and do a test run before any $$$$ changes hands.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: PLEASE HELP HAD BOAT FOR ONE DAY

Before pulling the whole outdrive, figure out if your water pump is working. If you are getting water up from the lower leg, then it may be something in the very botton.<br /><br />Here's the thing. The electric shift has magnets in the bottom of the leg. There is a switch in you throttle that provides current to the leg. If the switch is toast, no current and no forward or backwards. But your water pump will be fine.<br /><br />So, test for water flow in the leg. Test the two wires that go through the transom on the Port side to be sure they are getting current when you try to shift. If both seem fine, drain the gear oil out of the lower leg and replace it with the specified OMC stuff for elecric shift. It is different than you put in the top of the leg and regular oil will create problems with the electric shift. Beyond that, it's ripping into it and only you can decide if it's worth it.