Sure is quiet in here....do I need to start a fight?

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Sunday I spent the day cleaning the entire engine compartment. Kinda reminded me of cleaning up a well used saw.....but bigger! Was real nasty but cleaned up pretty good. Was worried about how solid the actual transom was but found it in very good order.
As I was scrubbing along endlessly the words I used to hear from my father kept echoing in muh head........"C'mon Bye.....yah gotta keep 'er neat and decent...Act alive there!"...........probably the first time ever that those words made me smile a little...dint used to...running in from offshore, cleaning up the boat after a day of lobstering....IMG_1525.jpgIMG_1526.jpgIMG_1527.jpgIMG_1528.jpg
 
Down under the engine/ bilge always a mess. Dang old saltwater sure is nasty to metal, bout only metal that has a chance around salt is stainless and brass, forget mild steel and cast aluminum. These days I stay out of saltwater. Will look good when its all back together, then the cycle begins again.
 
Down under the engine/ bilge always a mess. Dang old saltwater sure is nasty to metal, bout only metal that has a chance around salt is stainless and brass, forget mild steel and cast aluminum. These days I stay out of saltwater. Will look good when its all back together, then the cycle begins again.
Yep....."rust never sleeps"......in this case "white death never sleeps". That transom assembly was installed in 1992.....so darn near 30 years of saltwater use....'bout all you can ask from something you can't see, clean or service.
 
Well now......it appears there was a very specific reason for this pitiful situation. Hadn't noticed it taking things apart but it jumped right out at me looking at it first thing this morning. The first pic shows the transom cut out as it is on the Seaway.........the second is the shape it is supposed to be from the outside according to the Mercruiser cut out template.. The third show the relief angles to be cut at both sides at the top of the cutout with a 2" holes saw to allow for the tiller arm to have unrestricted travel. But neither hole should infringe on the outside cutout shape.........they obviously failed...big tyme!!

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So the right side is workable as it requires at least 5/8" wide space for the transom gasket to seal against and it measures just 5/8". The left side is like a shy 1/4" and that allowed the gasket on that side to cave into the hole and not seal....allowing seawater to intrude every time a wave hit the stern or following sea or even reversing under power. As it's located above the waterline it never showed as a leak. Almost 30 years of weeping and drizzeling certainly took it's toll though!! Last two pics show the old gasket violated and not able to do it's job........

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Yeah....nothing happening here........just another crappy day on the Coast of Maine....sun is trying to come out and pretty humid.
HEY ROBIN....WAS IN TAKING A DIP WATCHING THE OSPREYS FIGHTING OVER A TROUT AND LOOKED OUT TOWARDS THE NORTH EAST AND SAID I GOTTA CALL ROBIN. NO **** !
BEEN SWIMMING AND CUTTING FIREWOOD ALL SUMMER IN BETWEEN THE RAIN. LOT HAS GONE DOWN !
BUT TRYING TO STAY BUSY OVER IN CARVER..CRANBERRY BOGS AND TALL WHITE PINES. ANCESTOR JOHN SHAW AND SHURTLEFF AND A FEW OTHER HARDY BOYS FOUNDED THE TOWN ALONG WITH MARSHFIELD...TO GRAZE THE CATTLE.
COUNTRYS IN A CLUSTER **** BUT US OLD YANKEES KEE STROKIN.
USING A STIHL 500 AND MY DOLKITA 79 AND RATTLERS 68.
MORE ORDERS THAN WE CAN KEEP TRACK OF. TAKING TODAY AND TOORROW OFF DOWN HERE AT STEVENS FIELD. ..COUSINS.. WHERE I GREW UP AS A KID.
STAY LOOSE BROTHER. WE SHALL OVERCOME !
SAY HI TO THE BOYS ! LOVE YAH ALL. ALOHA...
 
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