1993 Nautique Excel Questions

Yes!!    but the wax rope goes into the gland which connects the prop shaft to the hull thru-way. It is a bit of a bear to get to as it is under the V-drive (where the prop shaft disappears into the hull).

You use a combination of wrenches to loosen it up. There are some good threads on wax vs synthetic packing. There is also a good discussion on cutting the pieces on an angle- which I found intriguing........too late for my project though...

You will be good to go!!!!

^^ Now that I think about it I don't think that could be causing my "whine". Mine was doing it while idling in neutral. There has to be something else because the prop shaft shouldn't be turning then.

Oh yeah, water was coming in where the rudder goes through the hull at a rate of about 1 drop per second. It was actually dripping from a couple of inches above the hull around the bushings. Is there a seal there that I can replace?

Too many projects, not enough time...
I started replacing the carpet this past weekend even though I really didn't want to. I originally planned to push the carpet replacement to next year, but I got a huge roll of really nice marine carpet, a bucket of glue, and a trowel for free so I had to go ahead and take advantage of it.

I got the hull stripped on Saturday and finished stripping all the removable panels on Sunday. All the old carpet came out really easily in whole pieces so I used the old carpet as a template and just left an extra inch on each side when I cut the replacement pieces.

How do you guys normally go about gluing in the replacement pieces for the hull and gunwales? There is a rubber strip that joins the gunwale carpet to the floor carpet. It has a channel that the floor carpet pushes into. I'm thinking I should glue in the gunwales first, trim them with a razor blade, glue in the rubber strip, glue in the floor carpet trim it, and then start stuffing it into the rubber trim piece. Does that sound right to you guys?

btw...The loud whine turned out to be the shifter linkage on the transmission vibrating. I can grab it and muffle the sound. I need to take a video. You guys aren't going to believe how loud this thing is. I guess it is resonating at just the right frequency to be a lot louder than you'd ever expect.

You guys will get a kick out of this; the boat didn't have a thermostat. Just two (or three) thermostat gaskets stacked up and an empty hole. All I can figure out is that it may have been the previous owner's solution to the blockage from the water pump impeller that came apart? I mean, it was probably only getting 20% of the water flow from the water pump, but then the thermostat was a gaping hole that was always open so I guess it worked out for him. So strange that it ran perfectly fine last year and then I start finding these things when I start taking it apart. The boat was in the right temp operating range last year when I bought it, but it was running at ~100 degrees after I fixed the blockage. I thought I had a bad temp gauge until I saw that there was no thermostat!

LKG_ wrote: You guys will get a kick out of this; the boat didn't have a thermostat. but then the thermostat was a gaping hole that was always open so I guess it worked out for him. So strange that it ran perfectly fine last year and then I start finding these things when I start taking it apart. The boat was in the right temp operating range last year when I bought it, but it was running at ~100 degrees after I fixed the blockage. I thought I had a bad temp gauge until I saw that there was no thermostat!

i had the exact same thing in the Mustang. I was out in water that was 35* or so the day the ice went off, and the gauge would not register. NO stat. Then, I inadvertantly installed the thing backwards....
All better now....

Before taking out the alternator, if you have a tester you can test it in place and compare the reading to the gauge..maybe you have bad ground on the gauge and get low reading...just my .02

The alternator was bad. Just got it back from a rebuild by a local shop. I think he said the rotor was bad. He rebuilt it with new brushes, bearings, etc; sandblasted it, and painted it for $125. Seemed like a good deal.

LKG_ wrote: 2. I'm leaking where my swim platform brackets bolt in on one side. Excess silicone around the bolts tells me someone has attempted to repair this in the past. Any tricks to it? I'm planning to pull the bolts, use good exterior silicone caulking, and use new washers on both sides since the current washers are somewhat deformed. Don't know if there is anything more to it?

I HATE SILICONE!!!! (I need to add the statement to my signature line!!)

It didn't stick and work once or even twice when it was the "shade tree" mechanic glopped on more so don't expect it to work a third time. Stick with the 5200 as mentioned. Do check the condition of the wood glassed into the transom. There's a reason the brackets loosened up and the wood may be the problem.

LKG_ wrote: Is there wood in the transom of a 1993? I'm pretty sure this boat is all glass.

A solid glass transom wouldn't have allowed the washers to cup like you mentioned. I'll bet there is ply in that transom!

With a fiberglass floor and stringers I'm pretty sure there is no wood in the transom. iirc the washers weren't cupped. I don't remember what was wrong...maybe flat washer bolted to angled surface or maybe the previous repair had damaged them, but I don't have the boat here to look at it. In any case, when I looked at it I thought it looked like something that should be replaced when I took them off.

I'll definitely pick up some 5200 and use that. Thanks for the suggestion.

LKG_ wrote: Anyone know off the top of your head what size bolt holds the air cleaner on top of the carb?

I believe the thread is 1/4-20. The length will depend on the height of your flame arrestor.

LKG_ wrote: Bringing back the old thread for a quick question... Anyone know the specs on the allen bolt that holds the exhaust manifold on? Need to know the length, size, and thread pitch if anyone knows. Does it take any particular grade bolt? I was changing the plugs this past weekend and noticed that I'm missing one. Never noticed a exhaust leak, but I do want to get one in there. It's the black bolts at the bottom right of this pic: The boat has been great. Still running really good. Waterdog was helping me put a new power valve in the carb a couple of weeks ago and noticed that it only had three bolts holding it down; none of which had washers. Apparently someone did some monkeying around with this boat before I owned it, but it seems to be holding up pretty well. ::knock on wood::

what too lazy to take a bolt out and use that as a reference? BTW you don't have to have washers on the carb studs.

I use it in my 93 Excel. All the other fluids should be correct, don't know about the impeller, I get mine from Discount Inboard Marine, but it is a Sherwood pump.