taking on water
 

Hey out there I own a 1998 shabah 210 with 5.7 L m/c after spending 4 hours on the water anywhere from cruising mostly floating today in the 84 degree weather here in az,,,,,after trailering boat and pulling the plug approx 2 gallons of water came out from the boat...I have a few scrapes on boat but nothing deep...Is this a normal amount of water to take in?

Re: taking on water
 

Wow, I'd say that's more than normal. Do you always pull your plug after each run, or do you keep it in most of the time? I know if you keep the plug in, rain and water runoff can accumulate, but if you pull you plug every time, this would pretty much eliminate that possibility. There's also the possibility your bellows seal on the outdrive could be cracked, or have a small hole. It is made of rubber, and they do go bad over time.

At any rate, I'd start inspecting your hull and possibly make some epoxy repairs if needed. I did a writeup in our "How-To's" section. I used a product called Marine-Tex, and it worked great!

I'd also have the outdrive bellows checked out by a Mercruiser mechanic as soon as possible. If you got 2 gallons for only four hours, it can only get worse.

Re: taking on water
 

Yes, definately have the main bellows checked out. On the alpha drive, there is a smaller bellows that the shift cable goes through, have it checked as well.

Re: taking on water
 

I had the same problem on my 93 shabah 212. In my case I found that one of the shutter flaps came loose and fell to the bottom of the bullhorn tube. Which eventually, due to engine vibrations, wore a small hole at the bottom of the bullhorn tube! I had to replace bullhorn tube and shutter flaps.

Re: taking on water
 

Thanks to all of you, going in on Monday to have it checked out.
Again thanks.

Re: taking on water
 

Same issue on my 94 Talari. It was the shift bellows. Instead of replacing I cleaned off the bellows thoroughly and let it dry. It was difficult to see the crack, but I found it. I took 3M 5200 caulk which is the duct tape of caulk. I wiped it around the bellows where the crack was and let it dry thoroughly, which doesn't take long. It never leaked the rest of the season, which was over three months. I am taking off the outdrive and will replace all bellows and anything else that needs doing-this stuff I'll pay for!!

Re: taking on water
 

Hey Tom, Thanks for the info, boat is in shop being looked at this week, going through withdraws not having it at home, i know im sick. Im Having the water pump changed and while the outdrive is off I'm having the u-joints and gimble bearing looked at also and every thing in between . I can only hope they find a cracked bellow that can easly be replaced. Ill post what they find, again thanks for taking time to post your thoughts...Dan

Re: taking on water
 

Yeah the same problem happened on my 93 Shabah. The shift cable bellow had a tear in it and for a temporary fix my machanic suggested to put a zip tie on it and so far it has had no more problems. Have to get it fixed but for now it'll do.

Re: taking on water
 

Just wanted to update what they found on my, "taking on water" post earlier this week. Had water in belows and gimbal bearing shot. Having all new belows installed, gimbal bearing, along with new u-joints ( u-joints were fine but still having done). I would like to thank everyone on there post regarding this matter. I was able to talk to the marine shop like I knew what I was talking about due to all your posts, you all were on the mark.
Thanks for a great CLUB.

Re: taking on water
 

I am glad you found your problem, but sorry to hear about the gimbal. My 1997 Z210 was taking on about 1/2 gal of water per trip for a while, and I found that the automotive water pump on the 5.7LX engine was leaking. I replaced it with a car part from the Autozone on the advice of my boat mechanic. This might be the only automotive part that I would consider installing in my engine bay.

Happy sailing,