[cleah]

1993 2350Z with Mercruiser 454 and alpha 1. I bought the boat a few months ago and am working through the problems. I now have it running well and we have had five excellent trips with it before I winterized. I have two questions.

1. The prop is well dinged. I trimmmed off some of the damage carefully with an anglegrinder and checked it still ran balanced. I do need a new prop. I am new to this game and this is my first boat. From what I have read and heard so far, I think I am looking for a 15" diameter, 19" pitch, four or five bladed stainless steel mercruiser prop. Is this correct?

2. I need to change the drive oil. The bushes in the hydraulic rams that steer and trim the outdrive are well worn and a bit crumbly at the surface, so I am thinking this is a good time to take the drive off, lubricate all the necessary joints, replace all the bushes, and fit new drive oil. I have done car engines and suspension, but never worked on boats (except recent water pump, etc). How big and complicated is this job? Do you have any good suggestions as to how to go about it please?

Many thanks

Clive

[lomitabob]

I also have a stainless prop and find it is more reasonable to send it out to a good prop shop for repair and polish. The shop can computer analyze the shape of the blades to optimize performance and it usually costs about half of a new one. If you don't have a spare I would suggest buying another one and keeping the old one onboard along with a hub and nut just in case you break a blade.

[Z 202]

1. If you know the specs on your boat you might want to look at Mercury's prop selector It'll give you a bunch of size and # of blade options to suit the performance type you are looking for.


2. Just replace the trim bushings when you pull the drive. Removing the drive is not that difficult, but it is heavy. You'll want someone to help you lift it free. Lube all the joints and have a look at the gimbal bearing in the transom. If you don't know the history on the water pump, you might also consider doing it as well.

If you become a contributing member to the forum you have access to all the merc service manuals. There are also plenty of how-to's out there on the net.