57hrs, Corrosion Issues, Transom Plate Replaced

Wild Morph, glad you're being taken care of.
When I bought my boat Dec '07, it had 94 hours on it. It's an '00 and the owner simply did not use it. It was also moored in Freshwater. When I bought it I negotiated that the O/D be replaced because it was completely corroded. 1 Month after we owned the boat I found a receipt on board where the PO had replaced the O/D in '03. So my boat with only 94 hours was on it's 3rd O/D.

I'm surprised with you trailering that you have a corrosion issue, but agree that with very little routine use it exacerbates things.

Good luck.
 
No. . .you are the first person I have heard of having a transom replacement. (I am sure it has been done. . just saying not many people talk about it)

Yeah. . you can end up with a drive replacement like Nehalennia had done, but even in that extreme case of neglect. . . the water tubes were fine.

So this corrossion built up in under a year? Huh. And they removed the drive last year and inspected? And you store this boat on a trailer? I am so ready to throw the BS flag on this one.

BTW: on my boat, my mechanic also routinely removes the drives every year. They stay off the boat for five months while the boat is on the hard. At a minimum, they get leak tested and get new oil during that time. My boat lives in salt water for 6 monthes at a shot. As do many boats in my area.

How is this dealer's service on other matters? How well do they treat you? What are your other options?
 
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I've not gone over there to pick it up or see anything. This is actually my first major dealing with this dealer, they did fix a blower (under warranty) that's in another thread. All previous service was Clearwater MM and I always had trouble with them that's why I'm at this new dealer so far I would say they are great. They won't admint that Clearwater MM might of screwed up but that is what I'm wondering what happen.
 
Well here is my very first post here and this is a thread I have found relative to my plight with transom plate corrosion for a 2004 Sea Ray SD 200 - Mercruiser Bravo III MPI - 277 hours - on a lift - long and short of it is that the SR dealer is trying to get "coverage" from Mercruiser for the repair - and by the looks of this thread I'll need it - but my question here is - isn't the transom plate that is replaced as opposed to the "transom"? - costing $3000 - $4000? If I don't get the 'coverage" and it does cost $3000 - $4000 - my boating year is already done - plus as I told my SR sales rep - my interest in a new 2009 Sea Ray SD 230 is rapidly vanishing.
 
johnjb7 said:
Well here is my very first post here and this is a thread I have found relative to my plight with transom plate corrosion for a 2004 Sea Ray SD 200 - Mercruiser Bravo III MPI - 277 hours - on a lift - long and short of it is that the SR dealer is trying to get "coverage" from Mercruiser for the repair - and by the looks of this thread I'll need it - but my question here is - isn't the transom plate that is replaced as opposed to the "transom"? - costing $3000 - $4000? If I don't get the 'coverage" and it does cost $3000 - $4000 - my boating year is already done - plus as I told my SR sales rep - my interest in a new 2009 Sea Ray SD 230 is rapidly vanishing.
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Yes it is the outer Transom Plate. What I was told there is an inner and outer plate that sandwich the transome and it's the outer plate that has to be replaced. The corrosion starts out around the raw water feed tube where it enters the plate. Salt builds up around the tube crushes the tube and causes crossion at that point. The drive and engine have to be removed for this repair.

I was lucky as I'm still within Mercury's 3 year Corrosion gurantee but you won't be. The Cape Haze Marine Max where I had mine does said they are seeing A LOT of this problem and are trying to get Mercury to acknowedge that it is a problem that affects all BIII's but so far Mercury is telling them the they don't think it is.

I asked the Service Manager (Pete Rose) what it would of cost me and he said between $3000 and $4000 and even said Mercury pays pennies to what it actually costs them to replace it.

I would have your Service Manager working on yours call around to the other Marine Max's maybe they can all work together and get Mercury to do a permanent fix/recall for it so others don't have to come out of pocket for this repair.

Curious how often do you use your boat? My service manager thinks that if I use it more often that even though it's salt water it would flush out that area keeping the salt from buidling up on it and said there is no way to flush that area with a garden hose.
 
Morpheus - thanks (I think) for the response - my SR service manager was able to secure coverage for a SR similar to mine (with two engines!) - but the delay here is that Mercrusier has layed off a lot of staff and the rep my service manager has to work with is out for the week - so it looks like I am on the lift for a while with my fingers crossed - I use the boat quite a bit in the months June to October in the Chesapeake
 
johnjb7 said:
Morpheus - thanks (I think) for the response - my SR service manager was able to secure coverage for a SR similar to mine (with two engines!) - but the delay here is that Mercrusier has layed off a lot of staff and the rep my service manager has to work with is out for the week - so it looks like I am on the lift for a while with my fingers crossed - I use the boat quite a bit in the months June to October in the Chesapeake
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Sounds to be doesn't matter how much you use your boat it's gonna happen. Are you able to or do you flush your drive/engine keeping it on the lift? I trailer mine and flush/wash every time I take it out.
 
No, I can not get behind the boat on the lift to put the muffs on for the flush - it gets flushed out at the end of the season when it is winterized - I need to get a flush kit mounted on the manifold to get the hose to it - it costs about $350 - installed - but as you say this may make no difference with flushing after every outing?
 
Wow! Throw the BS Flag! This problem has Plagued B-III's for a long time and has NOTHING to do with the way your boat is used! The solution is to use a Block Off Plate where the Goose Neck mounts to the Transom Plate, (Available as a Mercruiser Part), and install a Water Scoop Thru Hull Raw Water Pick Up System.

I've just finished doing this on our 1997, 7.4/330HP, with a B-III Drive. If you do not find the Corrosion issue in a Timely fashion your Raw Water Pump will be Starved of Water and have premature Failure, or even worse.

I have Photos and am attempting to upload with this Post. Al W.
 

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flushing it doesn't help this problem. the salt gets between the hose and where it sits against the transom assy. New from the factory they had me pull appart a few of them and used lifecalk before assembling them. so far no issues with those yet.
 
Here are a few more Photos. I'll go into better detail if requested.

The Pick Up shown is not mine. It is shown just as an example.
 

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as I said you can see in 67 vetteal's pic that the salt is between the aluminum and the hose. I have done DOZENS of transom assy. replacements and also the block off plate and the scoop thru the bottom. If it were my boat and I was keeping it for a few years I would go with the scoop. You will never have that problem again
 
So if I understand correctly what you did was close off where the raw water goes through the plate and stopped using the water pickups on the drive and installed a thru hull water pickup. I also see in the one picture a filter, and what looks like a flush valve which makes flushing easier and would be necessary on a trailered boat or inwater boat as I wouldn't use muffs anymore to flush the engine.

What about salt water in the drive never being flushed wouldn't that be an issue?
 
flflatrate said:
as I said you can see in 67 vetteal's pic that the salt is between the aluminum and the hose. I have done DOZENS of transom assy. replacements and also the block off plate and the scoop thru the bottom. If it were my boat and I was keeping it for a few years I would go with the scoop. You will never have that problem again
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Wonder what Marine Max would say/charge for something like this.

What about water in the drive that would never get flushed out wouldn't that pose an issue?
 
The Drive will not retain Water anymore than it normally does. It is a Self Draining situation. The Issue for you, if your boat is under Warranty is that Mercruiser Stands Tall and does the right thing! Here's some more Info. from another Forum by another Pro Mech..

Hey guys, just wanted to pass this along to everyone. I'm sure some of you have seen this but it is noteworthy enough to mention again.

I recently services a 2001 Bravo Three outdrive. The boat had overheated enough to fry the engine. After talking to several people that know these engines really well, I made a decision to install a thru hull water pick-up and cap off the outdrive pick-up.

Upon disassembly of the transom fitting in oprder to install the Mercruiser cap for the passage I noticed that the passage was almost 80% blocked due to corrosion in the passage causing the rubber gromet to be crushed inward.

This is something that should be investigated anytime a salt water overheat is suspected and the normal culprits are rulled out.

Good Luck and I'll be watching for updates! Al W.
 
This is good info, My fear is this will happen again and then I'll be stuck footing the bill I would imagin it's cheaper to go ahead and cover it now and put the thru hull in. Maybe even see if Merc will cover the cost of doing this so I don't have the issue again.
 
Asked my service manager about this and here is what he said:

Service Manager said:
that is an option when the engine is out of warranty - also the block off plate uses a gasket to seal against the transom plate - I have seen where this gasket surface is corroded and will not seal - I guess you could use some type of adhesive sealer, but there would be no guarantees.

the thru hull with a sea cock valve can be added with no problem - I would suggest the factory Mercury flush kit over the Perko unit.
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Have you see any of these rubber gaskets fail that would seem to allow alot of water into the boat.
 
The issue of Blocking the unused Water Intake Hose that goes thru the Transom Plates can easily be Plugged with Silicon Sealer applied from the Drive side while the Drive is off. Just put the Tube Nozzle deep into the Hose and Fill it as best you can.This way there is no need to spend the $25 for the Mercruiser Block Off Plate.
Al W.
 
I guess the other option is Fresh Water Cooling. When this is installed is that same plate installed?
 
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