Possible cursed boat?

pstew96

pstew96

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Dec 4, 2003
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12527
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I have a 2004 Maxum se that I got with only 60 hours on it, short of having to stomp on the outdrive to get it to go down as the previous owner left the darn thing up and it froze. I haven't had to do much other than the usual maintenance/cleanup. The first thing to happen at 100 hours a connecting rod punctures the oil pan, 12 grand for a new (better more powerful) motor. Then at 200 hours, my outdrive strips its gears, particulate all the way down to the lower unit, about 5 grand to fix that, then at about 260 hours the newish outdrive decides to do the same as the original outdrive, shreds... This boat is meticulously maintained and hardly ever even gotten close to WOT, normally below 4000 rpm. That's about 22K in 2 to 3 seasons! I wonder if this particular model just isn't a good design for boating, it does take a bit more time to get onto plane or am I just unlucky?
 
Motor and outdrive problems are rarely related to the brand they are in.
How is it that the boat had 60 hours total after about 14 years?
 
New more powerful motor is too much for the outdrive. Also engine is overpropped which increases the load on the outdrive.
 
Tell us about this 'NEWISH' outdrive. Was it inspected for water in oil? Did you look to see exactly what 'SHREDDED'? Exactly what went wrong with the first outdrive?
 
The boat wasn't very much used, it sat allot and I owned it for about 4 seasons so when I got it I gently got it going again. So, even if the motor was powerful 350 mag Alpha, would it make a difference how powerful it was if you didn't use that power and used it gently? It is specified as 350 Alpha...After the original outdrive shredded(mechanic showed me the shredded gears) a new Mercury was installed at a marina by a mechanic, they rarely fill the oil res and that had to be topped off, so it wasn't for lack of oil.
 
"After the original outdrive shredded(mechanic showed me the shredded gears) a new Mercury was installed at a marina by a mechanic, they rarely fill the oil res and that had to be topped off, so it wasn't for lack of oil."

What did this paid mechanic say was the problem with the new installed outdrive? Did the mechanic test drive the new outdrive upon installation? What is this new outdrive warrantied for?
 
If you have a 'powerful' engine and you don't pull skiers all the time and don't do full throttle power starts, you aren't putting a lot of load on the drive ,you'll be OK. I have a 406ci small-block chevy that 'Can' put out over 350HP and over 425 ft/lb of torque and my alpha was fine..but not efficient. I switched drives to a BII which had bigger props and moves a lot more water.

They say an Alpha is rated to 300 HP so a Merc dealer selling a 350 Mag with an alpha drive is technically over powering the Alpha drive. See what your mechanic says about that!
 
I never felt good about how the boat got on plane, I would purposely take a while to get on it wanting to be easy on it. This Mercury outdrive only had a one year warranty and by the time I got the boat back it was already September, not much test time before season end, the after market SE116 has a 3 year warranty. Even if this engine is powerful for an Alpha, if you don't beat on it, it shouldn't stress it don't you think? I was doing 24 mph about 3500 rpm.
 
This is a 24' model, not larger, yes ?
You mentioned you hardly even got rpm close to WOT. Have you confirmed the prop is pitched so you can presently attain close to the top of the spec WOT RPM range for whichever 5.7L engine you have?
Is this an MPI ?
Do you use trim tabs to plane out?
 
Yes, a 2400 model LOA 26' since I got the newer more powerful engine I haven't gotten to the proper prop for it, it should be between 4800 and 5200 RPM but its closer to 5800 RPM, so, no big deal I just don't go close to 5000 RPM until I swap out the prop. Yes, I do use the trim tabs to assist in getting on plane as I don't want to stress the engine getting there, it is an MPI.
 
quote:
Originally posted by pstew96

Yes, a 2400 model LOA 26' since I got the newer more powerful engine I haven't gotten to the proper prop for it, it should be between 4800 and 5200 RPM but its closer to 5800 RPM, so, no big deal I just don't go close to 5000 RPM until I swap out the prop. Yes, I do use the trim tabs to assist in getting on plane as I don't want to stress the engine getting there, it is an MPI.

Click to expand...


That's much better than the other way around which could overload the engine and drive.

But a quick internet check FWIW seems to provide semi- general consensus 300 hp is considered the upper limit of what the Alpha should be able to handle. That would worry me and is why I switched my inboards' transmissions from VD 71C to stronger 72C when I upgraded from blue 270hp 5.7L carbed engines to blue 330 hp 5.7L MPIs.

Sorry to hear you have had so much trouble.

Have the drive failures occurred during shift changes or when cruising along , or...? Any noticeable prop strikes with less moveable objects?
 
Rebuilding a drive, I've learned from practical experience and questing merc mechanics, it's better to shim the gears a little loose rather than a little tight. Even so, I've blown two drives. One a stock upper and one an older typeI. I blew the Top end on an alpha/MR drive after building the 406ci engine and I was 'TESTING' it running up the back of gentle 10' swells. I was putting too much power thru the drive and it 'detonated' in calm water as I approached the marina. Alpha's are pretty tuff but they will strip them gears. The Gen II is a tuffer drive design. The BII and racing drives are designed to take heavy loads. I never drop the hammer when taking off. I ease it up on plane and run between 3200(22-23 mph) and 3250(25-26 mph).
 
Yea, I was so purposely gentle with this drive, this boat is in the L.I. Sound, so if you hit bottom you know it and I never did as I know its rocky. This is the problem, if I have been so gentle with this boat and still managed to strip two drives in two seasons I can't feel confident that there wont be a third, so I sell the boat and some other poor person gets the problem.
 
As for your first motor, corrosion. Corrosion euthanizes more engine than anything else.
 
yeah, that's a great philosophy--unload it on some unsuspecting buyer! Wow!
 
yep, buyer beware if you look at a used 2004 Maxum 240 with a new outdrive!
 
Now this boat is a real bargain, new higher power motor and a new outdrive, the people before me never even entered the cabin, refrigerator and micro wave with its packing materials inside.
 
Now this boat is a real bargain, new higher power motor and a new outdrive, the people before me never even entered the cabin, refrigerator and micro wave with its packing materials inside...…

"The boat wasn't very much used, it sat allot and I owned it for about 4 seasons so when I got it I gently got it going again. So, even if the motor was powerful 350 mag Alpha, would it make a difference how powerful it was if you didn't use that power and used it gently? It is specified as 350 Alpha...After the original outdrive shredded(mechanic showed me the shredded gears)"

"I never felt good about how the boat got on plane, I would purposely take a while to get on it wanting to be easy on it. This Mercury outdrive only had a one year warranty and by the time I got the boat back it was already September, not much test time before season end, the after market SE116 has a 3 year warranty. Even if this engine is powerful for an Alpha, if you don't beat on it, it shouldn't stress it don't you think? I was doing 24 mph about 3500 rpm."

"Yea, I was so purposely gentle with this drive, this boat is in the L.I. Sound, so if you hit bottom you know it and I never did as I know its rocky. This is the problem, if I have been so gentle with this boat and still managed to strip two drives in two seasons I can't feel confident that there wont be a third, so I sell the boat and some other poor person gets the problem."
 
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