Transom water leak, not bellows?

[idleRelaxation]

i have a small leak in my transom, boat sitting in water for maybe 5 hours and pours in maybe a little less than a gallon? not much, but im in salt water mostly and want to take care of this before it becomes bigger.

inspected all bellows from exterior without removing drive and all seem fine.

leak seems to be coming from around trim cables, lower region of the transom plate, attached is a video of the location of leak (not in water) and general condition of outer trim cover

could this be a gasket for the trim assembly on the exterior?

 

[idleRelaxation]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

 

[Black as]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

i have a small leak in my transom, boat sitting in water for maybe 5 hours and pours in maybe a little less than a gallon? not much, but im in salt water mostly and want to take care of this before it becomes bigger.

inspected all bellows from exterior without removing drive and all seem fine.

leak seems to be coming from around trim cables, lower region of the transom plate, attached is a video of the location of leak (not in water) and general condition of outer trim cover

could this be a gasket for the trim assembly on the exterior?

Are you running a "Y" pipe for your exhaust as that is a common place for leakage

Also your video doesn?t show much at all, my suggestion is do what I did, tilt your boat up as high as you can in the front and fill the hull with water and you will find the leak. I ended up removing the drive and re-sealing the unit and replaced the "Y" pipe with a twin 4" exhaust system. Dont just rely on the transom seal to solve your leak I used marine silicon as well and have had no problems since.

 

[idleRelaxation]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

i have thru hull exhaust, so no on the y pipe

all bellows look fine, and wouldnt leak be higher up around shaft? not in the drive trim line area on lower part of transom plate?

ive thought of doing your suggestion, just maybe someone has seen this before?

 

[Black as]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

Water will find its easiest path and no matter if anyone has seen this before you have a water leak, pull the drive off and fix it properly, I noticed on your video you have silicone around your drive, that wont stop it, it needs to be fixed properly.

 

[idleRelaxation]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

Water will find its easiest path and no matter if anyone has seen this before you have a water leak, pull the drive off and fix it properly, I noticed on your video you have silicone around your drive, that wont stop it, it needs to be fixed properly.

from what ive read there is a gasket between the tilt manifold and transom assembly and this could cause a leak under where the ypipe leak would occur if it was that, which is where it currently seeming to come from, if this is the case, removing the drive would be useless as i could do the fix without?

 

[thumpar]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

What engine and drive do you have? Serial number might help the gurus also.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

You need to pull the drive to make sure its not the bellows. If its not the bellows, water leakage could also be caused by a rotten transom.

The fact that you have sealer around your drive is indication that this isn't the first time this has happened which further points to rotten transom.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

there is a gasket under the hyd plate ,might be leaking there. BUT given the fact I see sillicone around the housing
I`d suspect a rotted transom.

 

[idleRelaxation]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

there is a gasket under the hyd plate ,might be leaking there. BUT given the fact I see sillicone around the housing
I`d suspect a rotted transom.

you guys got me worried, soon as i came home i went a knockin on the transom and drilling 1 1/2" deep holes into transom from inside to inspect wood, seems fine, did not come out as dust and wasnt moist, also no differentiation in sound when knocking around entire drive assembly, even between top and botton which ive heard top of transom normally stays rot free/dryer

as for silicone, wasnt of my doing, mustve been previous owner, precautionary i imagine after my drilling/knocking findings

did take a closer look at bellows, is this normal for the shift cable to not have a clamp on smaller side?

i am unable to take drive off until weekend

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

Yes there should be a clamp on the shift cable bellows.

Slap a zip tie on it...or better yet get a small S/S worm gear clamp.

Good Luck!

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

the gasket on the trim manifold is around $8 as I recall, so might as well try that... easy to do too

no Y pipe, but there still has to be a block off plate and o-ring that can leak.

 

[500dollar744ti]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

yuck! what's all that sealant crap around the outdrive? that's a super red flag, it also doesn't help that the FRP looks like it's blistered through under the outdrive.

i still vote rotted transom.

 

[idleRelaxation]

Re: Transom water leak, not bellows?

yuck! what's all that sealant crap around the outdrive? that's a super red flag, it also doesn't help that the FRP looks like it's blistered through under the outdrive.

i still vote rotted transom.

will be taking drive off this weekend to replace bellows/seals, any other tests for rotted transom i can do while changing bellows to rule that out hopefully? removing lower bolts off inner transom plate? removing any outer screws? basically anything short of tearing it all up ? maybe a 1" wide hole to have an actual sample? what could i fill that in with, marine tex? resin/fiber putty?

i was lucky enough to speak to the owner who had the boat prior to the person i bought it from and he said stringers, floor and transom were done 3 years ago, and he has absolutely no reason to lie to me, but obviously will check anyways

also sorry for video, hadnt realized block off plate was covering entire opening, for some reason i thought that area was enclosed :facepalm: chances i can get the block off plate removed with engine still in?