Spring Preparations - How To

[Ranman]

Now that spring is here, many of us Northerners are going to be pulling out our boats and waking them up from the long winter hibernation.

I thought now would be a good time to discuss the finer and more technical points of spring preperations. I'm really looking for info on the things many folks may neglect.

What does everyone do to make sure their vessels will be ready for a trouble free season?

Here are a few topiccs I'd love to see some technical info on.

This year, I would like to check and/or align my drive (Merc/Bravo). Is this something I can do, or should I have it serviced by a pro. Anyone in MI have an alignment tool (Jamie)? What is the procedure?

I would also like to check my power steering system and it's integrity, what should I be looking for?

Where are the common grease fitting locations?

How about the gimball, gimball bearing and transom ass'y? What do we do here?

Manifolds and risers, what to look for?

Thanks everyone for making this the great site that it is.

<small>[ April 14, 2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Harbormaster ]</small>

[Fish boy]

I dug up my Fla Spring preparations checklist shortly after our 3 wks of winter.

1) suntan lotion/sunblock- check
2) Cooler for various beverages- check
3) burn new CD's for stereo- check
4) trip with Laura to the teeny-bikini store (for her, not me)- check
5) digital camera- check
6) post pics of boating in Fl for those who are still snowed in- check

fish

[Surfer]

Clean out party debris from the last run.

[Rootsy]

i donno ranman.. i am still picking bugs out of my teeth and i really need to get the parachute repacked...

actually.. i generally do a tune-up (plugs, cap and rotor, change oil and filter, check PS fluid level and for leaks, and check belt tension), clean up the carb a bit, pull the drive and check u-joints (grease if it is a GEN I alpha), transom assy (loose pivot pins leaking rams and hoses, lose bolts and nuts?), bellows (cracks and tears), and gimble bearing (spin it.. if it is rough replace it). Replace my drive oil (checking for water and abnormal metal). i grease teh propshaft and input shaft splines with the nifty blue spline grease from merc. i then grease the gimble bearing and pivot pins on the transom assy with merc 2-4-C as well as give the shifter roller (inside the bellhousing) a little squirt.

after all that crap is finished it's cleanup time and run her on the hose to make sure there are no leaks and everything is ready for the water...

dump her in and fire her to warm her up while checking for water leaks.. and then we give her hell for about 6 months before breaking out anti-freeze...

yes i have an alignment tool... i have the blueprint for it if you would like to have one turned out of some 7075. engine alignment should be checked whenever you have the drive off... easy enough to do.. smear a thin coat of grease on the end.. gently slide it through gimble bearing and into coupler.. push but DO NOT rotate until it seats.. it should go easy. pull straight out and look at the mark on the alignment tool. you should have even spline engagement all of the way around.. if not move the motor slightly in the direction where you have no engagement and try again.. (if there are no marks on top then move the front of the motor upward) all of your movement is gonna be at the front motor mounts...

now i'm exhausted...

[Ranman]

Great info Jamie. Exactly what I am looking for. I can't wait to get out there. :)

[Fish boy]

Good point surfer, definate "must do".

[Formula Jr]

1. Clean muddy cat foot prints from the interior.
2. Use duct tape to pickup cat hair.
3. Find all of the old hair balls they coughed.
4. Search for Dead Mice. :D

[2biguns]

5. Buy dog. :D

[MOP]

Well I can see you are so glad you asked this motley crew! I have few things to do in the spring I really do a pretty anal winterizing job. One thing I do each spring is to pull the plugs check or change and re-gap while I have them out and before starting I squirt a couple shots of Marvel in each cylinder and tap it over it sits maybe an hour before start up. I figure it puts a little coating on the walls and may soak down into the ring grooves, besides it makes such great blue smoke for my bitchy neighbor, I also have charged the battery and checked everything in sight and have retention the belts which I loosen in the fall so they don't take a set. This year being the third year on my power steering fluid I take the return line off after I have run it awhile. I stuff a piece of soft rubber hose into the tank with a funnel on top, I put the return line into a gallon jug in the bilge, you have to extend it a little. I have a few quarts of fluid open, I restart it and slowly pour the new fluid into the top the old is pumped into the jug after I get two through I shut down and re connect everything top off and recheck. I do this with may autos every three years also. My friends think I am anal, but guess what being a boat broker I rack a ton of miles maybe 70-80,000 a year I have had several that I put over 200k and never had any steering troubles. It has always been part of my regimen with my boat clients. Gimble bearing get one shot from the grease gun as does every fitting on the drive every flush so that is covered. I have quite a clean up job each spring, I coat my pulleys with CRC rust preventative during lay up and use at least one can of CRC on every last inch of metal when done winterizing. I live in salt and hate rust also like to be able to get things apart a few years down the road. My distributer cap comes off in the fall checked, cleaned or replaced in the spring along with fresh water proof grease on all the tower inserts, this stops the spark from jumping under the rubber boots causing mis fires some will argue the point but it is straight out of the OMC manual and does work. The distributer is sprayed with CRC and bagged over the winter as is my carb. As you know I have a 16 it takes me a full day to put it to bed, I know from many years that there is not one screw or bolt that I can not get out ten years from now and more than likely reuse.