Had the day off of work and got quite a bit done on the Donzi. Cleaned up all of the gasket surfaces on the heads, checked compression, installed new Delco plugs, pulled off the old outdrive, and pulled the lube resevoir for a good cleaning (NASTY!!). Also yanked out the fuel filter/pump assembly and resealed all of the fittings with Permatex aviation sealant. There was a drip from one of the brass fittings at the fuel filter housing that I spotted on the sea trial and the dealer supposedly fixed it. Unfortunately he used some sort of green goop that didn't work well with gas because two fittings were blowing air when I cranked for the compression test. Scary to even contemplate if those started misting raw fuel into the bilge with a bunch of kids in the boat.
I was a little nervous about the compression test. Seems like a lot of other "routine" maintenance tasks have turned into huge, ugly, expensive projects. I was tickled to find that the compression was perfect. 180 high, 165 low, and the rest were dead nuts at 175.
So this weekend I will install the new drive and hopefully some new plug wires while the exhaust is in the mail. Bought a set of Accel wires to try but they were a little short. Does anyone have a recommendation or better yet part number for decent plug wires? Preferably something I can pick up at the auto parts store. The stock Mercruiser ones weren't that impressive, but apparently they are made of gold based on what they cost.
Still have a big list of stuff to do, but hopefully the big ticket items are taken care of. Just playing catch up on all of the ankle biters that come with a 15 year old boat.
Tidbart - good call on the anodes, I should have ordered some extras. Will have to do that when I order winterization supplies.
Thanks to all for your advice.
duckhunter
"Speed's fine, but accuracy is final."
- Bill Jordan
1998 Donzi 21LXR
1971 Boston Whaler 13