Seacore not doing well

My 2008 Amberjack is doing the same after 4 months - stored on a rack only in water on weekends - waiting to hear from warranty dept
 
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Just wanted you guys to know what anodizing actually is, in case you didn't already know. Anodized aluminum can not peel, the color ( in this case black) is actually imbedded in the surface of the aluminum. Anodizing can wear off though but will not show as peeling, only as a worn surface.

Just wanted to give some information to those who wanted to know. The picture by the OP looks like bottom paint as well that the dealer screwed up and will have to eat. Mercury will probably not cover this especially with them looking to deny claims due to the economy.


Aluminum anodizing is the electrochemical process by which aluminum is converted into aluminum oxide on the surface of a part. This coating is desirable in specific applications due to the following properties:

Increased corrosion resistance
Increased durability / wear resistance
Ability to be colored through dying
Electrical insulation
Excellent base or primer for secondary coatings
The process of anodizing is rather simple. It consists of an anodizing solution typically made up of sulfuric acid. A cathode is connected to the negative terminal of a voltage source and placed in the solution. An aluminum component is connected to the positive terminal of the voltage source and also place in the solution. When the circuit is turned on the oxygen in the anodizing solution will be liberated from the water molecules and combine with the aluminum on the part forming an aluminum oxide coating.
 
trit21 said:
Just wanted you guys to know what anodizing actually is, in case you didn't already know. Anodized aluminum can not peel, the color ( in this case black) is actually imbedded in the surface of the aluminum. Anodizing can wear off though but will not show as peeling, only as a worn surface.

Just wanted to give some information to those who wanted to know. The picture by the OP looks like bottom paint as well that the dealer screwed up and will have to eat. Mercury will probably not cover this especially with them looking to deny claims due to the economy.


Aluminum anodizing is the electrochemical process by which aluminum is converted into aluminum oxide on the surface of a part. This coating is desirable in specific applications due to the following properties:

Increased corrosion resistance
Increased durability / wear resistance
Ability to be colored through dying
Electrical insulation
Excellent base or primer for secondary coatings
The process of anodizing is rather simple. It consists of an anodizing solution typically made up of sulfuric acid. A cathode is connected to the negative terminal of a voltage source and placed in the solution. An aluminum component is connected to the positive terminal of the voltage source and also place in the solution. When the circuit is turned on the oxygen in the anodizing solution will be liberated from the water molecules and combine with the aluminum on the part forming an aluminum oxide coating.
Click to expand...

+1. Thanks.
Your explanation was more eloquent than mine, "The anodized coating not bonding to the aluminum would be like rust not bonding to iron."

Still anxiously awaiting the diagnosis and outcome.
 
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JuliaValentine said:
+1. Thanks.
Your explanation was more eloquent than mine, "The anodized coating not bonding to the aluminum would be like rust not bonding to iron."

Still anxiously awaitind the diagnosis and outcome.
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I haven't heard anything yet, I’ll check with them tomorrow. Thanks, Tom, Mike for the explanation I miss spoke when I said the hard anodizing is coming off with the paint, to me it looks like corrosion all the way down thru to the bare aluminum ( it’s not black under were the paint is coming off) past the anodized coating and the paint is coming off.

As soon as I hear anything I’ll post it.
 
I'd be seeing RED. Again best of luck. Are they giving you loaner boat or documenting what they see and getting you back in the water for the weekend?
 
In addition to the metal being anodized, they are also painted by Mercury. So if it turns out they need to be repainted, I would be very carefull how you strip the old paint off or deal with any corrosion. Mercury may have some specific recommendations on this process and I would make sure you get that information before you (or your dealer) do anything with the outdrive. If you damage the anodized finish, then your drive is no better at fighting corrosion than any other (non-seacore) drive. I would imagine chemical stripping of the paint is required rather than sanding it off but I could be wrong.

Dave
 
Nehalennia said:
I'd be seeing RED. Again best of luck. Are they giving you loaner boat or documenting what they see and getting you back in the water for the weekend?
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They took it out to take pictures and put it back into my slip. They’ve been good to deal with so far, I don’t think I’ll have a problem with them doing the right thing.
It’s a brand new boat bought and docked at their Marina, nothing I could have done to cause this, we’ll see what happens.
 
Dave S said:
In addition to the metal being anodized, they are also painted by Mercury. So if it turns out they need to be repainted, I would be very carefull how you strip the old paint off or deal with any corrosion. Mercury may have some specific recommendations on this process and I would make sure you get that information before you (or your dealer) do anything with the outdrive. If you damage the anodized finish, then your drive is no better at fighting corrosion than any other (non-seacore) drive. I would imagine chemical stripping of the paint is required rather than sanding it off but I could be wrong.

Dave
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Good point Dave about the anodized finish, I hope they replace it with a new drive.
 
Here is a couple of my observations. If I didn't know it was a stern drive, I would say the surface where the problem is, has been stinking hot. Also, they say in the movie, after the drive is anodized, it is painted. If someone painted the drive after the factory, they did a great job of painting around the blue logo, part you can see in the first picture. Seems all the paint has lifted down to the anodizing.

Couple of questions. Is only the top of the drive affected ? Does the engine get its cooling water thru the hull or up thru the drive ?

If the engine gets its cooling water thru the hull and the water fitting on the transom plate is blanked off, the installer must cut a section out of the water hose between the bell housing and the transom plate too allow cooling water to flow thru the top gear box. As the transom plate comes from the factory pre assembled with the hose intact, it is often forgotten to cut the hose for thru hull cooling.
Sterndrive installation manual, page 65

Check this out, the top box looks as though it's cooked.
 
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Chris Dauth said:
Here is a couple of my observations. If I didn't know it was a stern drive, I would say the surface where the problem is, has been stinking hot. Also, they say in the movie, after the drive is anodized, it is painted. If someone painted the drive after the factory, they did a great job of painting around the blue logo, part you can see in the first picture. Seems all the paint has lifted down to the anodizing.

Couple of questions. Is only the top of the drive affected ? Does the engine get its cooling water thru the hull or up thru the drive ?

If the engine gets its cooling water thru the hull and the water fitting on the transom plate is blanked off, the installer must cut a section out of the water hose between the bell housing and the transom plate too allow cooling water to flow thru the top gear box. As the transom plate comes from the factory pre assembled with the hose intact, it is often forgotten to cut the hose for thru hull cooling.
Sterndrive installation manual, page 65

Check this out, the top box looks as though it's cooked.
Click to expand...

Chris,
Those are keen observations and you presented some very good technical info. Nice detective work.

I have 2 BIII Sea Core drives. I have not looked at my drives out of the water. I can tell you that with my 496s, I do not have through hull water pick-ups. The engine and drives are cooled by water flowing through the outdrive.

I know that the through hull cooling is a manufacturer installation, since I had it on my 290 with BIIIs.

That being said, if the boat did have through hull cooling, would it also have the cooling through the drives as a secondary source, or would that be blocked off? It seems that having both would be the ideal set-up.
 
If the boat is fitted with thru hull cooling, the hose fitting on the transom plate inside the engine room is usually removed and replaced with a metal blanking plate and gasket. Part of the Mercruiser installation kit. When the external hose is cut, water is still forced up thru the gear box cooling passages and simply runs back to the sea. As I said above, if the hose is not cut and the blanking plate is in place, there can be no cooling water flow thru the gear box.
 
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Chris thanks for the info, I'm pretty sure the cooling is thru the drive; I wasn't at the marina when they took the picture so I don't know how the rest of the drive looks.

I 1st noticed what looked like a few small spots with corrosion when I was swimming, this picture looks a lot worse that what I saw under water.

I plan on calling them tomorrow to see what Merc told them and will hopefully use the boat all weekend.
 
I can take some pictures over the weekend. The dealer has stated the he was going to push for drive replacement. Should know more by next week. Until then, I will be on the water!
 
fc3 said:
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.
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Frank, Volvo's not fairing much better in their "new" stern drive market. Bottom line...while stern drives certainly have some advantages, maintenance is not one of them.:smt100
 
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They replaced all the zincs on Thursday and ran some tests for 24hrs with the boat in the slip for Merc, doesn’t look like any stray current from other boats or shore power.

They told me Merc was leaning towards replacing the drive.
 
I had a chance to get a good look at my outdrives today in the water. The upper cases looked fine with a nice thick, shiny coat of Mercury Black. The anticavitation plates showed that the paint was flaking off on the trailing edges. This paint was very thin, thinner than a sheet of paper. Underneith was the hard anodized surface. Other than that and a bunch of pesky barnicles, it looks fine. The anodes are all corroding as usual. I'm not worried about the flaking paint, since the anodized surface is better than paint. I'll talk to my Sea Ray service tech about the paint and see what he says.
 
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