Phase 1 of the winter project is complete

[lime4x4]

Today i got both engines removed. My grady drive has some corrossion issues. So i'm gonna remove it and media blast it and c how bad it is. If i can salvage it i will. I boat about 95% in freshwater. I figured it would be easier to work on the engine bracket if it wasn't on the boat..

 

[DennisG01]

Having big boy toys certainly makes that job easier!

I like the mobile outboard stand!

 

[lime4x4]

Yeah bog boy toys always help..lol Well i got the bracket off today. I was worried about the corrosion on the outside i should've been wooried about the corrosion on the inside.. Both foam peices are water logged. Found alot of sand inside the bracket under the foam and a couple of big divets in the alumn. I'm still hopefull to be able to salvage it yet. Any ideas what to use to fill in the pitted areas?

 

[ROBERTH]

I used marine tex epoxy to fill in the low spots.

How heavy were those foam blocks? You mention water logged. I broke off a couple of pieces on mine last year when I had the access ports opened for reseal and they were damp, but not water logged. The chuck I broke off was still very light in weight, just moist. When I squeezed it, I barely got anything out of it so at that point, figured I would just leave it in there.

 

[lime4x4]

I'm gonna say around 5 to 8 lbs each

 

[Shutterbug]

Looking at your transom, it appears the previous owner changed from a single to double bracket at some point.

 

[lime4x4]

That's what i was thinking but there is no matching holes on the inside of the transom

 

[Shutterbug]

Don't know about inside the transom, but to me the bolt holes of a single bracket are evident as well as different water lines. Once you clean the transom look closely for gel coat blisters and repair. When I finally had enough with the springfield bracket and removed it, I had many blisters that I removed, filled and covered the area with Interlux 2000e or whatever it's called. Hope you don't but it's a good bet that with all the moisture you may have them too.

 

[gw204]

If you don't have matching bolt holes for the single bracket on the inside, it's possible your transom was rebuilt from the inside. Do you see any evidence of new glass?

I refinished a portion of the bracket on my old Sailfish. I wanted to pop it off and get it blasted, but that sucker wouldn't budge. So, I stripped what I wanted to strip with a grinder. Cleaned and etched the few corrosion spots prior to filling w/gray MarineTex. Sanded those flush and had the area above the waterline professionally painted with Awlgrip. Below the water line got cleaned, etched, painted with several coats of Interprotect 200E and topped with antifouling.

Stripped.

Painted.

You can see some of the MarineTex on the side in this shot.

Taped off for cleaning, etching and Interprotect.

Interprotected.

Motors mounted.

Antifouning paint touched up.

 

[lime4x4]

The boat is a 1986 offshore 24. The guy i bought the boat from says he owned it from 1987 and it had the twin yamaha's on it when he bought it. Which seems right cause the serial numbers for the engines match up for 1987 motors. I notice my scruppers are also below the water about 2 inches. The drain hoses from the deck drains go to the transom at a downward angle. I was thinking of raising them but then i would lose the downward angle of the hose. When i was the deck down when on the water the drains do drain thou not real fast. As u can c in the pic below the boat doesn't sit bad in the water. I was surprised how easy the bracket popped off the transom. I knocked a chisel in from the bottom and it broke the seal right away. I'm thinking when i have it all back together and verify i have no leaks inside the bracket. I'm just gonna seal the 2 drain plugs and fill it with 2 part closed cell foam.

 

[lime4x4]

Starting cleaning the bracket up. I started with the heavily corroded ares first. There deep but none of them are actually thru the alum. The mounting surfaces are corrosion free. The heaviest corrosion area's are the bottom and inside bottom. All the welds look good with no corrosion in those area's. I think either the wrong bottom paint was used and the fact someone installed the zinc onto the painted area along with coating the whole mounting surface of the zinc with 5200. I found where the hole were also drilled for the trim tabs when the boat only had a single engine.

 

[lime4x4]

Also how do i handle the top peice of alum where the inspection plates are. The peice is welded from the bottom but the top seems to have some type of epoxy/putty that was under the 5200. Do i re-epoxy then prime or prime then re-epoxy paint then run a bead of 5200. Or could i just prime,paint then run a bead of 5200?

 

[ROBERTH]

Read a lot of posts on this bracket situation on how to stop leaks, seal, etc. Everyone recommended to NOT fill it with foam since foam will still soak up water over time and get heavy, then removing it would be a chore.
I think that condensation alone occurs,even if sealed somehow....dunno, not an expert there but what everyone was saying.
I thought of maybe filling with ping pong balls since they are water proof and have floation and fill properties to remove most of the air void, so that if it does leak, it is limited weight of water vs the air space in the ping pong balls. That is probably a lame idea also for some reason I am not sure yet.
Interestingly, when I got my boat a couple years ago, I noticed that someone had sealed the drain plugs with the epoxy paint that they used to paint the bracket. I felt the transom was somewhat heavy, so I chipped/scraped/cut the epoxy away and pulled the drain plugs. Lots of water ran out of both holes for quite a while. Man, that was a lot of weight. So someone thought they got it sealed.
So, I pulled the access plates off, dried out over winter best I could with a small fan, sealed up and put an air test to it. Found some small leaks with soap test around the motor bolts. Resealed from inside, leak tested, fixed. Then sealed the access ports and screws with silicone.
Now, when I go out for about a 12 hour day offshore, remove the drain plugs, still get about 1-2 gallons of water. So no idea where this leak is.
It has a solid seal around the transom to bracket. Each bolt on the bracket shows signs of sealing due to some caulk flow out where it compressed with the bolts were tightened up. I know the access plates are very well sealed, yet, still a leak. Will do an other air pressure test this winter and see if I can find where the new leak is.
Bottom line, is I think unless you store the boat in the water, don't seal the drain plugs and remove them when you pull from water. If my boat was stored in the water, I would have to look into the ping pong balls or some other item that would fill the space but not soak up water.

 

[lime4x4]

I dropped the engine bracket and both engine cowlings off today at a local body shop. there gonna media blast everything and apply the proper primer to the bracket. Then every thing is gonna coated with line-x. I've decided that when i get the bracket back i'm gonna fill it with 2 part expandable closed cell foam. I'll create pockets for bolt access

 

[DennisG01]

I'm wondering about this foam thing, too. Foam doesn't add anymore buoyancy than air. The air is already about as buoyant as you can get, although the buoyancy primarily comes simply from the shape of the bracket. The only time you would lose some buoyancy is if it filled with water - but then if there was foam in there, it would get soaked and would be much harder to get back out. Condensation is interesting thought, too.

 

[lime4x4]

I think the foam also helps with making it more ridged. The top peice is just 1/8 think alum that is stiched welded underneath. So i think it might provide some support to a small degree. I beleive closed cell foam doesn't absorb water. With expandable foam should fill i all the little viods.

 

[ROBERTH]

From all I have read about, even closed cell foam will still accept water, whether through condensation,or other seepage. If I were you, I would check more into this as once you do it, it will be tough to remove it. Also, it will not add any structure in a bracket situation.
Think about it, the Boston Whalers are closed cell and get heavier with time so old boats, they remove it to restore the weight. Also, if it were a great thing to do, then the manufacturers would also fill it with foam. There is a reason they used starfoam blocks and not just poured in expandable foam.
For me, I just remove the drain plugs each time out. Even aftert thorough efforts to seal all areas, still somehow water manages to get inside.
I wish I had a better answer, but just give it more thought so you dont cause more issue for yourself down the road.

 

[DennisG01]

Still thinking about this...

The foam would certainly add rigidiness to the bracket, but if I can play devil's advocate for a minute.... Is the rigidiness a good thing? With some flex, however small, stresses may be spread out through the entire bracket. With extra stiffness, the stresses may be concentrated in a more singular point, and possibly lead to failure.

Think of it this way: take a slat of wood, say 18" long, and hold it at either end. Now bend the wood - you can get quite a lot of flex out of it before it breaks . Instead, now move your hands towards each other so they're only an inch apart. Again bend the wood and it will be less flexible and break sooner. Maybe that analogy doesn't hold water, but it's the best I could come up with.

I also think their is merit to what Robert said about the manufacturers would have done it that way. And, another point I agree with, and this is possibly the most important one, do some more research and don't just blindly trust either yourself or us. Maybe give Grady a call.

 

[suzukidave]

that corrosion reminds me of a corroded outboard zinc. wasyour bracket operating as a giant anode?

 

[lime4x4]

I think it was combination of stuff. The wrong paint was used and the zinc that was on the bracket was installed over the bottom paint and the zinc was also painted with bottom paint.