1/2 Owner I Guess

[MrMarty51]

Or close. LOL
My son bought this 1992 Maxum 1700XR last summer. He did not try it out, looked it over, paid the guy and drove the 90 miles home with it.
He hooked the muffs to it, fired right up and sounded good, to him. Went to a lake and that is when the adventure started.
Engine did not want to start, guess it might not need choke when its a hundred degrees. LOL
Engine fired up, he went to reverse, backed away from the shore, forwards with a little trottle, straight ahead and hit the shore, no damage but the steering rod seized up.
He loaded it back on the trailer and hauled it around the lake to the cabin.
Mext morning i told him we would get the steering functional. I showed him where to strike with the hammer, I put some pretty good pressure on the steer wheel, He give the end of the rod a couple of licks, told him, hit it, one more real solid lick and it popped free. Lots of penetrant and wiping and grease and it is working good as new.
Back around the lake and got the boat back into the water.
We messed around hauling the childrens on the tube, I told the son, this is not performing as it should.
Got it home after the weekend, I run a compression test on the 70 horse Force, two cylinders at least 100 and center cylinder, 0, oooops.
Dismantled and that piston was bad, real bad. Got the oh kit, new pistons and a bore job and ready to go back together, except, I just had rotator cuff surgery so the project will be on hold for several more months as the son is in full time employment and doing a total remodel on his house so He aint going to be much help. LOL
Thats About it for now.

[mmwjr]

Welcome aboard!

Hardest lesson learned is not performing a test ride with someone who knows boats.

[MrMarty51]

Thank You MMwjr.
Neither one of us is that familiar with boats and their power plants. We are learning as we go.
I do know that the transom box ( a new word I just learned ) it has a like a cup affair that the steering rod extends into. There is a hole in one side of this cup affair. I did some patching on the cup and turned it so that the patch is up. Well we did take the boat for another drive thinking just in case carbon had the rings stuck, we did a decarbon process and was running the boat around and around in this tiny pond. I noticed that with the engine under load, the transom was flexed and allowing the steering shaft to rub on this cup thing.
So now, it seems some corrective action must be performed before the whole transom gets kicked off. LOL
So upon inspection I see that there is hairline cracks in the finish coat of the fiberglass.
My plan is to climb inside of the transom box and have my son unbolt the engines upper mount bolts, then, use as long a length of 3 inch stainless channel steel and mount that to the inside and run the mount bolts through that. On the outside, use a length of 3 inch by 3/8ths flat stainless and run the lower engine mount bolts through that. This will slightly tip the engine forward, allowing the steering rod to ne more centered in this cup affair and also severely stiffen the back end of the transom, we hope. LOL
Then we will need to deal with the hairline cracks in the finish coat, another marine word that I cant think of the name of it. LOL
Hey, when You are born and raised on the hills and plains of eastern Montana, there is not much chance in getting real familiar with the words of boating. LOL

[mmwjr]

You can call me Mike.

From what you have described the transom core (plywood) is rotten and requires replacement. Not a fun job. Your idea of using a metal stiffener may work for awhile but depending on how much of the core is rotten you may end up crushing the transom when tightening the bolts. The outer layer is called gelcoat. Hope you enjoy this project and get enough use out of it to make the work worth it to you with the short boating seasons you have in Montana.

[MrMarty51]

Hello Mike
Thank You for the reply.
I too am hoping that the transom wood core is not rotted out.
I doubt that if I had gone with the son when he looked at the boat that I would have known enough to steer clear of it. Valuable lessons being learned here.
The engine kit is here, the block is bored, the son is doing a home makeover and I just got through a rotator ciff surgery, I am going to do what I can to het the engine together and the power head attached back onto the lower unit. I have some work I need to get done on the truck and have no room to do that. Being spoiled I just dont want to start on the truck outside then have the weather go cold. Been there way too many times to want a repeat lesson. LOL
The son really likes this boat so I believe we will be in it for the long haul and will probably be asking a lot of questions when and if it comes time to carve off the transom and start over on that section.

[MrMarty51]

1992 Force 70 Horse power that goes onto the 1992 Maxum 1700 XR

Started on the gear box this afternoon. Got one O ring and seal installed, one bearing cup shim and a bearing cup.
Was going to replace the bearing in the bore of the one gear, forgot to look if its forward or reverse. The bearing bore has a machined smaller portion so that the bearing has to come out one way. The id of that smaller portion is the same size as the needle bearing id. Going to find two shaft that just fits the bores. Place one shaft in the vise and insert the gear bore over the shaft. That shaft will barely be into the bore. Pack the bearing with grease, use the other shaft for a piston, place it into the packed bearing and strike it with a hammer, pack in more grease and repeat, continue until the bearing is compressed out of the gear bore. LOL
I’ll report how that works out tomorrow.
It will be on the same principle as the old fashioned way of removing pilot bearing from the end of a crank shaft.

[MrMarty51]

Got the engine back together and fired it up. It sounds and runs real nice. Had it on the muffs.
After the son shut off the engine, I told him to fire it up again. He twisted the key, engine did not make one full revolution and it was running.
I was going to load a short video clip onto youtube but, I got there and could not find the button to tap to upload a video. It seems that now youtube has a pay button so, probably have to pay to play.
The son is very pleased with how it runs, now, the nearest body of water where we can run over wake speed is about 110 miles north. Might just make that trip tomorrow to give it a test run.
Thats about it for this build.
Oh, one more thing. With the engine tilted forwards, about 1/2 way, the son climbed on the lower portion of the drive shaft housing, just above the gear box, and, jumped on it, quite severely. Not a budge, not a bounce. Totally solid transom now.
Wont know if we got all the leaks stopped up until we can get it in the water.

[MrMarty51]

[mmwjr]

Nice, let us know how she does on the water.

[MrMarty51]

I finally found a youtube app that has a download button.
https://youtu.be/_smvEfdgqHI

https://youtu.be/6DV_uSzZJJ4

https://youtu.be/DEHv3-LEVUo

[MrMarty51]

Originally Posted by mmwjr

Nice, let us know how she does on the water.

Sure will.
I’ll get a video and post it up.
When I opened the youtube app it had a message about starting a trial period for free.
What the heck, is youtube going the way of photobucket ?

[MrMarty51]

Had to travel to a little town 83 miles to the east to find a pk d that we could operate the boat in.
The engine is sure a far cry than it was when it had a gouge out of a piston.
https://youtu.be/DSETMwPEPhw

[mmwjr]

Excellent! Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

[MrMarty51]

Thank You MM, we certainly will.
Now, the next project, get the garage cleaned up, tools and supplies stowed away and then, I guess a used JD tractor mower needs its snow blower mounted, so its ready to float over and through the snow drifts. LOL