I got the engine back in after an oil leak repair and some ignition/ carb upgrades. So last Thursday I test dove the boat out on the river to iron out any issues that arose prior to the holiday weekend. I always drive up river when I test a boat in the event you need to be towed in. Thursday it paid off. During the final turn back home one of the u joint caps wanted to do its own thing. For our five bangs and a pile of grinding and I had it stopped and beached. After I anchored up I checked the bilge for water infiltration. There was a light stream entering at the drive shaft which confirmed I had an issue in the u joint bellows. I ended up getting towed in by some great people that heard the whole thing happen from a solid half mile away. They had a 14' bench seat Lund about 40' up on shore unpowered. They loaded up a fuel tank, the 15hp Johnson and a beer for the road and set out on the rescue mission. They got me back to the launch without issue, though he did ask if I had I knife he could use in the event I started to go down. I laughed but totally understood. Well after the kids went to bed I went to find out how big the grenade was. The replacement parts consisted of one helmet, one u joint (I replaced both), one 4-5" hose clamp, an outdrive gasket, a driveshaft castle nut in the upper drive, and a gimbal bearing (only because it was soaked). Somehow the bellows escaped all damage. I will say that having improperly installed the hose clamp helped with that. It was a bit off the center of the groove. I ended up finding a cap retainer clip in perfect condition in the bellows, I pile off aluminum shavings, one or two of the needle bearings and the cap also in perfect condition. By the end of the night, actually morning at this point-1:30am, I had all the parts minus the gimbal bearing back together. The helmet and hose clamp where donated off a spare transom assembly I have, I had u joints, and the castle nut came from a spare drive. The gimbal bearing and drive gasket where picked up the next day to finish up repair. Thankfully Sunday went as planned. I'm a bit late here but Happy fourth America.
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