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Water leaking through strut bolts |
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TonyPresto 
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Joined: August-18-2020 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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 Topic: Water leaking through strut boltsPosted: August-19-2020 at 9:15pm |
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I purchased a 93 Ski Nautique that had a number of water leaks and a backwoods wired bilge pump that wouldn’t pump water down hill. Replaced bilge pump and tightened gland nuts which stopped all leaks save two. The two back strut nuts are loose and leaking through. Can I simply tighten them, should I add some RTV or epoxy and do I need to have shaft alignment done?
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Jonny Quest
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Joined: August-20-2013 Location: Utah--via Texas Status: Offline Points: 2974 |
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Posted: August-19-2020 at 9:41pm |
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I would bed them with 3M 4200 adhesive. That should take care of the leaking.
JQ
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Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-19-2020 at 9:45pm |
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So no alignment nessesary?
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Jonny Quest
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Posted: August-19-2020 at 9:50pm |
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Any time you mess around with the strut, you really should do an alignment. First the sealant, then the alignment.
JQ
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Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
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SNobsessed
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Joined: October-21-2007 Location: IA Status: Offline Points: 7102 |
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Posted: August-20-2020 at 7:42am |
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I would rough check alignment 1st, you may have to add shims, who knows. But do tighten the bolts before alignment so the strut is at the clamped angle. Then take bolts out, add sealant, tighten, then check alignment again.
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“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Ben Franklin |
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-20-2020 at 9:59pm |
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Sounds great I will be able to work on it tomorrow. Thanks for everyone’s insight.
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Jonny Quest
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Posted: August-20-2020 at 10:40pm |
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To quote Pete: "...alignment starts at the strut".
JQ
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Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 6:17am |
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Tony,
Are the aft strut bolts loose or just leaking? Is the strut loose? If the strut hasn't moved, there's a chance that you could get by with removing the two aft bolts, adding some 4200 and then installing the bolts again. As mentioned, do check the alignment first. Regarding the packing glands, be careful with the one on the prop shaft. You don't want it tight to the point where it runs hot. It needs some dripping since the water aids lubrication of the packing.
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MrMcD
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Joined: January-28-2014 Location: Folsom, CA Status: Offline Points: 3749 |
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 11:58am |
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What Pete it telling you is the Strut is glued to the hull. The bolts are there for support while the glue dries. The factory glue was 5200 which dries rock hard and can be fun to remove. Most on this forum reinstall with 4200 which is a little easier to work with if you need to remove the strut later.
Since you don’t know history on your boat I would pull all 4 bolts from the strut to see if it was glued at all. It may be loose. I used a 6” wire wheel on my bench grinder to clean the 5200 off my strut, used a very sharp gasket scraper to clean up the hull where the strut mounts. This forum gave great coaching and advice which allowed a perfect install 6 years ago now.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 2:49pm |
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Just pulled the boat from our lake and checked the strut. It seems pretty firmly in place but between the leak from the two aft screws and the rudder shaft she would fill the bilge in approximately 12 hours if not pumped
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MrMcD
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 4:27pm |
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I have not touched my adjustment since install 6 years ago. After a 4 day ski and camp trip I had about 2 gallons inside. The boat was in the water the whole time. I need to check the packing, it should not have had that much. You can dry yours up with some work.
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 4:36pm |
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Mark,
After 4 days in the water, I don't feel 2 gallons is bad.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 5:00pm |
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So speaking of tightening the shaft packing, when I tightened it by hand and the leak stopped I tightened the locknut and replaced the wire. Do I need to go back and loosen it? Is there some kind of rule of thumb I can use tor the prop shaft and rudder packing?
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 5:09pm |
You need some water for lubrication. What kind of packing is in it? Old flax type needs more that the newer Gortex. Go for anywhere from 3 to 6 drips per minute. There's no "rule of thumb". Run it and see if you get some water through and it doesn't run hot. Typically loosening the gland will not loosen the packing. Once it's set, it stays. If you can't get any water, you'll need to repack.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 5:16pm |
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Sounds like fun
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 5:18pm |
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I just purchased it yesterday and trying to stop all the leaks and change out serviceable parts.
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SNobsessed
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 6:30pm |
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If you have the boat out of the water, I recommend replacing the packing gland material. As Pete said, Gore-tex drips less. You can buy it for small money. One way t tell if you have it adjusted too tight is to check the temperature of the gland. If it is warm to the touch, it is too tight.
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“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Ben Franklin |
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 6:33pm |
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Where is the best place to get the packing from and what do I ask for?
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 6:41pm |
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Is there a correct craft part number?
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 7:13pm |
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There are different sizes of packing available. What size should be used for the drive line and what size for the rudder on a 93 ski Nautique sport with 351 ford motor?
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: August-21-2020 at 8:29pm |
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Tony,
There has been some confusion over packing sizes (1/4" or 3/16") used through the years so the best is to measure what's in there. For small quantities, Skidim is probably your best source: |
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MrMcD
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Posted: August-22-2020 at 3:11am |
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Pete, I know 2 gallons in 4 days is not bad at all but I also know it was better than that so I think a minor tweak on the shaft will dry it up.
Tony, trust those guys telling you not to tighten the packing till you are running and testing it on the water. I tightened mine hand tight to set it initially. Ended up pulling it all out and resetting to get my drips correct. Plan on spending an hour or so on the water adjusting the packing. Tighten it just a little while running and watch your drips. As the drips slow down the packing and the nut will get a little warmer. As we know heat makes things expand and quickly your adjustment can become too tight and shut off water lubrication so go slow and you will get it right quickly. If there is a professional way to do this I would love to know what that is. It is easy, you just have to go slow and be patient to get it correct. I think I got mine down to 10-12 drips per minute in gear idling and left it. I used the old style packing, not the newer low drip stuff. When I tried a little bit tighter it started getting warm, 1/8 turn of the nut can be too much so adjust slow. Parked I did not leak initially at all. 10-12 drops per minute running was just fine with me.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-22-2020 at 5:36pm |
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Found the reason for strut bolt leaking. About a 14 inch of threads are missing from where the nut tightens down
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: August-22-2020 at 7:27pm |
When you replace the bolts and nuts, make sure you use some "never-seize" on the threads. SS against SS has the bad habit of gailing and locking up. I'd say that's what happened.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-22-2020 at 9:16pm |
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That makes a lot of sense as the other rear bolt that was loose cane off easily and the one missing five threads not so must. I believe that I will replace all 4 and as you said, use never seize on them as they are locking nuts regardless. Ounce of prevention.
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MrMcD
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Posted: August-23-2020 at 3:05am |
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Dang, Pete, I wish I knew that about stainless. I did not know it can gaul. I guess in all my years of wrenching I have not worked with stainless enough to learn. Thanks for the tip. Did the factory use anti-seize on the stainless bolts?
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-23-2020 at 10:48am |
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One more quick question, what are the wire color codes for the automatic bilge pump positive and the manual positive?
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: August-23-2020 at 11:30am |
On the pump they do vary depending on the manufacturer but typically red for manual and brown for auto.
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-23-2020 at 11:36pm |
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Sorry, I meant the wires coming from the dashboard switch automatic and manual
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TonyPresto
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Posted: August-28-2020 at 2:02pm |
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Took her out today and thermostat stayed at 160 so hopefully I didn’t overtighten gland but on output shaft.
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8122pbrainard wrote: