Our Shakedown Cruise
 

Well, it was an eventful day.

Finally, our Mariah was ready to launch. It was cleaned and waxed and a number of repairs were done.

The first stop was the gas station to fuel it up (it had about two gallons in the tank). While I listened at the vent, the attendant fueled it up. Without as much as a gurgle from the vent it was full and there was gasoline all over my wax job.

Next, we headed for the marina for the launch. Yes, the plug was in and I remembered to remove the rear tie downs.

I backed the unit down the ramp (my back-up skills are coming back), but I went in a bit too far and I couldn't reach the winch. At that point, I pulled it out a bit. Next, I released the winch cable while Wifey held onto the two ropes that were attached to two of the cleats.

I almost got to my truck's door and I heard a rattling sound. When I looked back, I saw that the boat was launching its self and Wifey was hanging onto one of the ropes for dear life. I thought that she was going in, but she held on. I hope that the keel didn't hit the trailers cross member.

Once we got it tied to the dock, I started the ventilation fan and it started to scream. This thing was ghostly quiet during the test run. I pumped the throttle twice and the engine started right up, but ran a bit rich for a few minutes. Once it cleared up it idled smoothly.

I then let it idle while I dropped my trailer so that Wifey could meet me at our dock with my truck.

Next, I backed the boat around a series of docks and gave the boat a couple of runs around the bay. When I saw Wifey at the dock, I headed in. We operate on a weedy lake and I knew that I would have to back the weeds off of the prop a few times while heading in. The first time, it reversed properly, but on all my other attempts, all I had was forward gear (no matter which direction I moved the shifter). Out came the paddles.

Now I will offer some background. My Shabah is a 1997 model that is said have been in storage for the last five years. It is supposed to have about 100 hours on it. Its appearance would support this. The boat performed great during the test drive. The deal was made.

Due to its long period of storage, I had the outlet where it was stored change all of the bellows and the water pump (the upgraded water pump - Alpha 1, Generation II). This is when it was discovered that during the test run, the lower unit had lost about half of its gear lube. The drive was resealed and two bearings were changed. In addition, the alignment was to be checked, the u-joints were checked and all internal bearings were checked and greased as necessary.
Now it was time to sort out my shifting problem. I lifted the sun deck (that thing is heavy) and tipped the rear seat forward. It will only tip forward all the way if I turn the bucket seats sideways (they are all the way back). Once I figured out a way to get over the back seat and into the engine compartment, I lifted out that thing that goes up the side of the engine and also covers the engine. With Wifey's help, we set this think on the dock. While on the dock, this thing laid down like a dead duck and snapped most of its screws.

Finally I had access to the engine. With that other thing in place, I can't even get my arm in to pull the dipstick.

After checking a few things, I undid the lock nut at the front of the rear shifter cable. The plastic slide slid right off and there was no sign of its cable clamping mechanism. I hope that the other work done was better.

On a trip to the local marina (whose owners I have known for years) they GAVE me the missing parts and I was able to correct the shifting problem. The exception is that I have the idle set higher than normal because the engine often stalls when returning to neutral from both forward and/or reverse. This too, worked fine during its test run. Does anyone else have trouble with the shift lever hitting the bucket seat when shifting into reverse? I will try putting some carburetor cleaner through it to see what happens (I'm thinking it is the long period of storage that is causing the problem.). I may change the filters again as well. It runs fine at speed and will idle fine as well. It only has a problem when coming back to neutral. When coming back into neutral, the RPM drops to 300 or 400 and often stalls. I do get to hear the lovely alarm at that point though.

Also, for u-joints that have been checked, they are the noisiest that I have ever had on a Mercruiser.

Tomorrow, I will fix that that thing behind the rear seat.

I'm too old for this!

I'm pooped.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

Hi Shabah 198SE, I feel for ya, my 7.4L BIII shifts worse that an old truck.I've had a shop replace all the shift cables and still have to put all my weight on the lever to get reverse. I'm going to have the dealer where i store it to have a go at it this fall. As for your problem, check out this idea I found on the web:
Mercruiser shift switch. Shift Interuptor switch
Just might be your solution. Good luck

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

jgreen,

Thank you for your reply. That is good information.

In regard to your problem, if your hard shifting is only in one direction, I would try to slowly adjust the length of your rear shift cable to see if you can equalize the shifting effort in both directions. Sometimes, a slight adjustment is all that is needed to cure this problem. Some mechanics just set the length to the specified setting without doing any fine tuning.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

In regard to your problem, if your hard shifting is only in one direction, I would try to slowly adjust the length of your rear shift cable to see if you can equalize the shifting effort in both directions. Sometimes, a slight adjustment is all that is needed to cure this problem. Some mechanics just set the length to the specified setting without doing any fine tuning.

Good idea, thanks. I'm going up next weekend and being labor day the river will be packed. may be a good time to try this.
Let me know if your's gets any better.

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

jgreen,

Hopefully, we can solve both problems.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

jgreen,

I spoke with the guy who did the work on my drive. His instructions for adjusting the rear shift cable on my Alpha 1 Generation II are as follows:

Start the engine and place the shifter in forward gear.

Shut the engine off with the shifter still in forward gear.

Move the shifter to full forward.

At the engine, remove the front pivot nut and washer.

Remove the rear cotter pin.

Measure the distance between the two cable attachment points. The centre to centre distance should be 6 inches. Some MINOR FINE TUNING may be necessary.

He thinks that this will cure my stalling problem. We'll see.

If not, my next step will be to adjust the shift cable that runs between the control box and the engine. He doesn't think that I will need to do this because it all worked before. This is supposed to be just an adjustment to achieve an non-restricted slip fit.

This may or may not work for your shift problem.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

jgreen,

Just for the record, the six inch deal did not work for me. I did not take the final measurement yet, but it is someware around 6 5/16 inches.

If you try this, go slow. I made it far worse before getting it better. Touch wood, it was no longer stalling when going into neutral when I left it. It may still need a slight tweeking because it is just a smidge better going from reverse than it is from forward.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

Thanks for the heads up.

Re: Our Shakedown Cruise
 

jgreen,

I came accross this Mercruiser installation manual that can be downloaded. It contains setup information for Alpha and Bravo drives. It may offer some insight into your shifting trouble.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Install/gas/86017211.pdf

I hope that it helps.

Shabah 198 SE