Pink and Props

[Dave 205]

We have a warm enough day that I should be on the boat with a wetsuit. But, with a serious cold snap predicted, winterizing has been my lot today.

This is my fourth winterization, and my second draining the engine and pouring pink in from the top. I'm a serious convert to this practice, and I've become quite efficient at it. The best part is that I can do it in my closed garage on short notice.

One thing I can't recall: I know I should see pink coming out of the exhaust, and I do. But, I'm not getting anything out of the intake on my Alpha One drive. Should I be seeing pink here?

This summer I had a dust up with my SS 3 blade prop. In a shallow spot in a marina with mainly a mud bottom, the prop hit the lake bottom and I heard a small bit of noise that made me cringe. We went on about our day with no incident.

The edges of all three blades have just a minor bit of roughness from hitting rocks or something hard and rough. You can't see it unless you are up close and examining the prop. You can feel it if you run your finger over it.

Since this would be the time to send in the prop for reconditioning, my question is, at what point do you ignore minor damage and wait for the big one? Should I just assume that the blades might be a bit out of true and play it safe and send it in?

Thanks!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Yes, you should see some pink coming out of the drive's intake. This will be the odd-ball hose (obviously not the biggest one) that goes down and the aft along the engine to the back of the boat, before coming back up again near the transom and connects to your power steering hose. If this doesn't make sense, post a picture of your engine. There's also been different cooling set-ups used, so I could be confusing which setup you have with another.

As far as the prop... it's hard to say without touching and feeling it myself. You'll have to be the judge on that and whether or not you can just give the edges a little filing to smooth it out. But I can say that sending the prop in for reconditioning is not always a "given" just because there was damage. It all depends on the severity. On the other hand, if there's any doubt, send it in. The last you want to end up with is some vibration - which can't always be felt by us, but can be felt by the engine and drivetrain.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Dave, is there by chance a back-flow preventer valve inline with that inlet water hose? It would be after the steering cooler. That would obviously stop AF from showing up at the drive's inlet.

 

[Dave 205]

Thanks guys.

Scott, my boat is in an attached garage. I don't think I've ever seen temps get below the twenties or teens, and that would be under rare and extreme conditions.

Dennis, I'm not sure about the backflow preventer. I would have to look when I get home. The picture shows my handy work with tape marks. Green is where pink went in, blue where it came back out after filling. I filled the main hose to the block until it ran out, and filled the two hoses going to the risers until I heard pink dripping out the exhaust into a plastic trash can lid. I poured 4 gallons total into the system and it seems full, I suppose I could pour more into the hoses leading to the risers.........

 

[Lazy Daze]

The hose next to the blue tape (on the port side) is the one you missed. That's the one that leads through your power steering cooler and out to the water intake on the drive. Just pull that one - the rest is fine, no need to do anything with those again.

 

[Dave 205]

The hose next to the blue tape (on the port side) is the one you missed. That's the one that leads through your power steering cooler and out to the water intake on the drive. Just pull that one - the rest is fine, no need to do anything with those again.

Thanks Dennis. I made the now obviously silly assumption that the hose I missed was the source from where the pink came back up when I filled the big block hose! Just popped off the port side hose, filled it, and pink through the outdrive.

Five plugs pulled and replaced, four hoses filled, piece of cake! When I pulled the hoses last year, it was pretty obvious that they had been stuck in place for 7 years. Since they were off last year, they came off with little effort this year.