280 outdrive corrosion

F

floatnfund$

New Member
Dec 30, 2008
15
Lancaster Pa
Boat Info
280 sundancer
Engines
twin 4.3 alpha ones
outdrive2.jpg

outdrive1.jpg

outdrive3.jpgI will start by saying, this is the second Sea Ray I have owned and I am very happy with my first 240 DA. I bought this 2007 280 DA new as a left over. I got a deal because my neighbor and I bought the two left overs. The boat was delivered the first week of June to Havre De Grace Maryland which is fresh water. The boat was pulled first weekend in October and I could not believe the corrosion on the outdrives. My neighbor did not have any on his bIII but my Alpha One's look bad and we are side by side at the marina. I contacted Sea Ray and they informed me there is no warranty for corrosion. The marina where the boat is said they believe the galvanic isolator is bad. Sea Ray says if it is they will warrant that but not the drives. This boat only has 40 hours on it and I was wondering if anyone has run in to this or knows who I could contact?
 
Did the dealership give you that information or was that direct from Sea Ray? Your post is going to bring out more questions than answers.
 
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The Alpha has problems & not the B3???

Im sure more experienced guys will chime in, but the first thing that came to my mind was ... are you sure the drive has the right zincs on it for the water you are in?
 
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That info was from Johnathon DeWitt at Sea Ray Boats. The mercury marine master tech where the boat is being winter stored told me the zincs were correct and I paid him to test the water where the boat was in the slip
 
floatnfund$ said:
That info was from Johnathon DeWitt at Sea Ray Boats. The mercury marine master tech where the boat is being winter stored told me the zincs were correct and I paid him to test the water where the boat was in the slip
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If zincs were correct and a silver/silver chloride probe was correctly used for testing the corrosion rate, then there should be no problem. That is THE definite test. Someone in that chain must have messed up. My 290AJ has a perfect -.950 (brackish water). No corrosion and proper zincs, and using the right probe.

What type of zincs are you using and in what kind of water???
 
I don't do sterndrives anymore, since it has been nearly ten blessed years since I traded my Alpha One equipped boat. It looks like you have corrosion on the gimbal ring, gimbal housing, and sterndrive itself. I don't see anything on the transom plate or the trim cylinders. Now the transom plate is grounded to the engine block and the trim cylinders are grounded to the transom plate via the stainless steel trim hoses. The gimbal ring is grounded to the transom plate via a stainless steel wire. The gimbal housing to the gimbal ring, and so forth. I'm guessing you have a bad ground connection between the gimbal ring and the transom plate.

One of the first sections of the Mercruiser Sterndrive Service Manual, in the General Information section is Maintaining Continuity Circuit. It shows all of the connections. Have a tech ensure that all of the connections are in place, tight, and have good electrical continuity. My older manual shows four wires and two grounding plates.

Best regards,
Frank
 
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I"m sorry to see this. Had a similar looking BIII one year ago, but I lucked out and had the PO replace the drive as part of my negotiations.

Good luck. I won't keep my boat in the water for this reason.
 
You have an issue that should be covered under warranty - I suspect the wrong anodes:

http://www.mercurymarine.com/serviceandwarranty/mercruiserfaqs/corrosion.php

Good Luck - Sounds like you need to have a good conversation with your Service Manager and Dealer GM. Be tactful and direct - but not beligerent. Sometimes it takes awhile for all of the approvals. But I believe you would be taken care of.
 
My father kept his boat on the trailer when not in use. This is what it looked like when he sold it.
View attachment 4493
This was a few years before he sold it but it NEVER corroded. The boat was used 1-2 days per week every week spring summer and fall.
This is why mine will stay on the trailer as well.
FYI thats my kid sister on the swim ladder with her 17 1/2 inch small mouth bass from Lake Waullenpaupack in PA. We had that fish mounted. She is 28 now and still has the fish!
 
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Everyone's made good points and generally speaking alphas are less susceptible to corrosion than Bravo IIIs simply because there is less stainless hanging off of the prop shaft. In addition Alphas will aslo have a bearing carrier anode. My co-worker has bought a 290 DA new in '99 with the 5.0 EFI/Alpha combo. The boat is slipped in fresh water year round. After about a year, he noticed some corrsion around the trailing edge of both bullets near the stainless propellers and some corrsion near the top of the gear case. The local dealer tested for stray current and the results were negative. So Merc. installed two new drives under warranty and supplied the dealer with a mercathode system. He paid for the labor to install the mercathode system. At the time, SR did not install mercathodes on Alpha equipped cruisers as standard equipment. They may or may not do so now. Now nearly ten years later he still has the same drives and yes there is visible corrosion along the upper gearcase and lower unit. However, the but is now ten years old.

You may also want to read your Merc. manual/warranty packet regarding the mfg's. warranty. In the past it was a 3 year limited warranty with the usual exclusions. Here's a link.

http://northamerica.mercurymarine.com/engines/inboards/sterndrives/alphaone_specs.php
 
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Well i want to start by thanking everyone for the responses. I am a newbie here and the members of this forum were great. Frank and skolbe hit the nail on the head. It was a wiring problem from the factory that connected my ac unit to engine not the galvanic isolator. After many many calls to sea ray and mercury, the rep at sea ray i was dealing with was layed off. I was given a new rep that was great to deal with. They sent a new isolator to the mechanic where the boat is being stored for the winter and had him fix the wiring and payed full labor even though he is a merc tech not a sae ray dealer. He then had two merc reps come look at the drives and they told him to fax an estimate to sea ray. When the sea ray rep got the estimate they called me. I told them i was very upset over the situation because i have been dealing with since nov. They have agreed to send complete transom assemblies and complete outdrives to replace the damage. Being persistent and direct with sea ray was the best advice.
Thanks again for the help
 
You chose a SeaRay so they can give you the run around and after many many calls (his comments not mine) and working on this from Nov they finally decided that it was their fault and they would replace the units.

Maybe instead of blindly telling people, 'not our problem' they should investigate a little and determine where the problem may have existed and then determine whom is at fault.

Don't get me wrong, I love my boat but I think SeaRay ( and I would assume many other manufacturers right now) are trying to escape paying out warranty labor and parts even if the fault lies in the manufacturing process.

I call that bad customer service.
 
trit21 said:
You chose a SeaRay so they can give you the run around and after many many calls (his comments not mine) and working on this from Nov they finally decided that it was their fault and they would replace the units.

Maybe instead of blindly telling people, 'not our problem' they should investigate a little and determine where the problem may have existed and then determine whom is at fault.

Don't get me wrong, I love my boat but I think SeaRay ( and I would assume many other manufacturers right now) are trying to escape paying out warranty labor and parts even if the fault lies in the manufacturing process.

I call that bad customer service.
Click to expand...

AMEN, AMEN, and AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Just for the record, when you get your new drives, make certain you install magnesium annodes if you plan to operate in fresh water. I believe they arrive from the factory with ZINC which is almost useless in fresh water.
 
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They made it right. It only took them 3 months to do it and it did not require giving up any part of the boating season. Thank God they use reasonable discretion, as I imagine there are many Sea Ray owners trying to get free parts and repairs. I'm impressed. This should be good PR for Sea Ray. I suppose there will always be people who are impossible to please.
 
I would say... problem solved, happy customer. At least I would be.
 
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