skibum
Well-Known Member
I tried searching for the answer to this, but I didn't have any luck.
I am planning on removing my drive to bring it home for the winter so that I can clean, prime, and paint it. Apparently, I drug the skeg a couple of times over the last few weeks of the season.
With the drive removed, the gimbal bearing and the other parts of the bell housing will be exposed. Is there anything special that needs to be done to protect the exposed pieces over the winter? I was thinking about stuffing some new shop rags (maybe some oily ones would be better) in the opening to cover the gimbal bearing and bellows area. Am I over thinking this? Is there any reason that I shouldn't store the boat over the winter without the drive attached? I haven't spoken with my shrink wrap guy yet, but I was thinking about asking him to tape a section of shrink wrap over the bell housing and shrink it. They typically do not go that low on the colored hull boats to prevent chaffing.
I was also curious about if it is OK to run the engine with the drive still attached but no props installed? I know that parts of the drive will turn even if the drive is not in gear and I do not want to damage anything if I ever want to try this.
Thanks,
Michael
I am planning on removing my drive to bring it home for the winter so that I can clean, prime, and paint it. Apparently, I drug the skeg a couple of times over the last few weeks of the season.
With the drive removed, the gimbal bearing and the other parts of the bell housing will be exposed. Is there anything special that needs to be done to protect the exposed pieces over the winter? I was thinking about stuffing some new shop rags (maybe some oily ones would be better) in the opening to cover the gimbal bearing and bellows area. Am I over thinking this? Is there any reason that I shouldn't store the boat over the winter without the drive attached? I haven't spoken with my shrink wrap guy yet, but I was thinking about asking him to tape a section of shrink wrap over the bell housing and shrink it. They typically do not go that low on the colored hull boats to prevent chaffing.
I was also curious about if it is OK to run the engine with the drive still attached but no props installed? I know that parts of the drive will turn even if the drive is not in gear and I do not want to damage anything if I ever want to try this.
Thanks,
Michael