Seacore not doing well

Jack F

Active Member
Oct 3, 2008
2,407
Cape Cod
Boat Info
2008 240DA,
Garmin 545s,
North Star NS100ss.
MMSI#338093894
Engines
350 Mag Seacore BR3
After 4 months my outdrive is not doing well, the dealer is sending pic's to Merc on Monday...

View attachment 6850
 
That's not corrosion. Why are your bolts painted? Mine are unpainted stainless. The casings are supposed to be painted before assembly. I haven't been able to check the condition of the paint on my drive, but it almost looks like your paint has not been properly bonded to the metal. It looks almost like the anodized aluminum coating on the drive is rejecting the paint. I always wondered why paint the anodized aluminum on Sea Cores, except for aesthetics, but when do you ever see them except in the showroom?
 
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Sorry to see that. Haven't you seen not to buy into any new Mercury technology until it's at least five years old? Merc does their QC on the customer's dime.
 
That's not corrosion. Why are your bolts painted? Mine are unpainted stainless. The casings are supposed to be painted before assembly. I haven't been able to check the condition of the paint on my drive, but it almost looks like your paint has not been properly bonded to the metal. It looks almost like the anodized aluminum coating on the drive is rejecting the paint. I always wondered why paint the anodized aluminum on Sea Cores, except for aesthetics, but when to you ever see them except in the showroom?

That's what the service manager said, he thinks it has something to do with the drive heating up when on plan and not a good bond.
It looks like the hard anodized coating is also not bonding to the aluminum.
 
Sorry to see that. Haven't you seen not to buy into any new Mercury technology until it's at least five years old? Merc does their QC on the customer's dime.

Ya I know, 1st boat and thought it would be better that a non seacore.

The reason I bought new was for the Seacore.

I want the drive replaced not repainted, I'll wait and see what they think.
 
I also noticed that your nuts and bolts are painted and that is not normal. I believe you are looking at paint that is not from the factory. Maybe somebody from the dealer did their own touch up job to fix a scratch or something before they sold it to you.
 
Could the paint on the nuts and bolts be anti fouling paint?
 
All of the paint coming off the entire drive could be anti fouling paint. Strange that there is not a barnicle on there at this point in late August. The anodized coating not bonding to the aluminum would be like rust not bonding to iron.
 
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That doesn't look good at all.
 
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You know, I've been thinking about this. Last year I had my shiny new black BIIIs come out in October after 6 months in the salt coated with barnicles like a donut is coated with butternut. So, this year I had them cleaned and coated with clear antifoul outdrive paint. After a month in the water the paint had a whiteish antique crackle coat finish to it. It looked horrifying in the water. I did not see it out of the water, but I imagine after it dried it would look just like yours.
 
You know, I've been thinking about this. Last year I had my shiny new black BIIIs come out in October after 6 months in the salt coated with barnicles like a donut is coated with butternut. So, this year I had them cleaned and coated with clear antifoul outdrive paint. After a month in the water the paint had a whiteish antique crackle coat finish to it. It looked horrifying in the water. I did not see it out of the water, but I imagine after it dried it would look just like yours.

I didn't see it out of the water, the dealer emailed this picture to me. I looked at it while swimming and this looks worse than I thought.
It doesn't look like just the paint is coming off, you can see bare aluminum. It looks like the hard anodized coating and the paint is coming off which makes me wonder what the inside looks like.
 
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZb_tZ7kN0Q[/YOUTUBE]

Check out this video. It shows the bolts are not painted. It is unclear whether the inside of the drive is painted, but I would think not. It also shows the anodized coating looks similar to what I see under your flaking paint. The paint flaking off your drive seems very thin. The paint on the half painted drive in the video appears very thick. Something is not right with your outdrive. I'm going to stay tuned to this one. I will post a picture of my drive when it comes out in October.
 
The fact that there is paint on the bolts seems to suggest something was altered after the factory...attached is a pic of my SeaCore upon delivery.
 

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Judging from what I see in your picture I am almost 100 percent sure your drive was painted with bottom paint. Normally when bottom paint work is done there is an area around the drive where the gelcoat is not painted. On yours, I don't see that area. Look at the picture that nwboater posted to see the difference. That's the way Sea Ray does it in their factory. Was yours bottom painted by the factory or the dealer?

Dave
 
Judging from what I see in your picture I am almost 100 percent sure your drive was painted with bottom paint. Normally when bottom paint work is done there is an area around the drive where the gelcoat is not painted. On yours, I don't see that area. Look at the picture that nwboater posted to see the difference. That's the way Sea Ray does it in their factory. Was yours bottom painted by the factory or the dealer?

Dave

The dealer did the botom paint.
 
Normally when bottom paint work is done there is an area around the drive where the gelcoat is not painted. On yours, I don't see that area. Look at the picture that nwboater posted to see the difference. That's the way Sea Ray does it in their factory. Was yours bottom painted by the factory or the dealer?

Dave

It's a bit hard to tell from the angle we're looking at, but Dave is 100% correct that there should ALWAYS be a gap between bottom paint and drive. Otherwise, the metals used in the bottom paint will react with the aluminum. Anti-fouling paint for drives is chemically different than hull anti-fouling paint.

It does appear that the drive itself is in good shape - all of the corners/edges appear to be intact. That's typically where corrosion will start since the paint is thinner there.

What exactly is wrong? Not sure. But as mentioned, you're covered in any case.

Stay in touch - let us know the outcome, but try not to worry too much.:smt001
 
As soon as I hear back from Hyannis I'll post what they say the problem is.
 
After 4 months my outdrive is not doing well, the dealer is sending pic's to Merc on Monday...

View attachment 6850
:wow: THAT is not pretty. painted then heat peel? mercrusier will not cover dealer mishap.:smt100
Keep us informed I have the same new package seacore BIII:smt013
 

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