You couldn't pay me enough to be a marine mechanic.

NOHOME wrote: My first day on the job I managed to drill a hole through the bottom of someones new boat

This is funny.
1. What happened?
2. How did you fix it?

Woody wrote: We used to store customers' outdrives for the winter because they are also targets for theft.

that explains why all the I/Os I see stored do not have their outdrives attached.

While working for my father, who ran a general repair garage, he sent me up to look at a friends yacht. and se if I could figure out why the generator on one engine wouldn't charge. This thing had twin Packard marine engines. After checking everything and finding nothing wrong, I finally realized that one engine ran backwards. I took the generator to my father, he reworked it. Yes these were the old style generators with armatures, field coils, brushes etc. as to what my father did, I have no idea.

Datsun310Guy wrote:

NOHOME wrote: My first day on the job I managed to drill a hole through the bottom of someones new boat

This is funny. 1. What happened? 2. How did you fix it?

My buddy bought a brand new Bass Boat. He was a proud papa with his new $60k+ dream! The first day he decided to mount a "Hot Foot" gas pedal and drilled/mounted it down with screws. We went to the lake to try it out. At the ramp it would not float off the trailer and launch. He was clueless.

I knew right away and asked him how long were the "Hot Foot" screws? He replied 3 to 4 inches Why? Then it hit him. Yep, drilled thru the floor of his boat and screwed down into the trailer bunks. He was not happy.

Got the little holes in the hull fixed, but he ran into a channel marker at 85mph shortly after that and totaled that one.

mad_machine wrote:

Woody wrote: We used to store customers' outdrives for the winter because they are also targets for theft.

that explains why all the I/Os I see stored do not have their outdrives attached.

Yep, and it only takes about 4 minutes to pull a MerCruiser drive. Pop it in forward, pull 6 nuts and the outer pin for the tilt cylinders. Drop it once and slide it out. At about $1500+ for a used one, they will disappear.

iceracer wrote: While working for my father, who ran a general repair garage, he sent me up to look at a friends yacht. and se if I could figure out why the generator on one engine wouldn't charge. This thing had twin Packard marine engines. After checking everything and finding nothing wrong, I finally realized that one engine ran backwards. I took the generator to my father, he reworked it. Yes these were the old style generators with armatures, field coils, brushes etc. as to what my father did, I have no idea.

I think the outdrives on my dad's boats were opposite rotation, I do remember both engines turned the same direction.

Toyman01 wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

Woody wrote: We used to store customers' outdrives for the winter because they are also targets for theft.

that explains why all the I/Os I see stored do not have their outdrives attached.

Yep, and it only takes about 4 minutes to pull a MerCruiser drive. Pop it in forward, pull 6 nuts and the outer pin for the tilt cylinders. Drop it once and slide it out. At about $1500+ for a used one, they will disappear.

Funny I've had an old junked starcraft sitting in the front yard for years hoping somebody will take the whole thing and nobody took the outdrive.

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

Toyman01 wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

Woody wrote: We used to store customers' outdrives for the winter because they are also targets for theft.

that explains why all the I/Os I see stored do not have their outdrives attached.

Yep, and it only takes about 4 minutes to pull a MerCruiser drive. Pop it in forward, pull 6 nuts and the outer pin for the tilt cylinders. Drop it once and slide it out. At about $1500+ for a used one, they will disappear.

Funny I've had an old junked starcraft sitting in the front yard for years hoping somebody will take the whole thing and nobody took the outdrive.

I would hazard a guess that it isn't a MerCruiser or it's a pre-Alpha drive. OMC and Volvo drives have mostly returned to dust along with the pre-Alpha drives.

If it's a OMC or Volvo, post it for sale on a boating board. Parts for them are mostly gone and people used to pay pretty good money for them.

Its a 1968 MerCruiser 140hp 4 cylinder IIRC, that would explain it.