Outboard 15 HP Yamaha.
In 2019 my outboard (ob) had developed a water leak from the area where the engine housing and the upper casing joined. I was able to continue to use it all 2019 but only at slow speeds. A local mechanic checked it out and told me what was wrong but he was busy and said I could do it myself, which would save me a lot of money.
Okey then. I tried to separate the two parts by removing six bolts but couldn’t do it – they appeared to be stuck together. Forever! I checked with a local ob business hoping for some friendly hints only to be told nothing helpful except that I should purchase a new ob as, they said, if they tried to repair, it would involve a lot of work (echoing the previous assessment) and cost so much so just get another (new) one. Only around USD 3000+ (AUD 4500) so why not. Also the ob is 23 years old so, you know, you’ve had a good run.
I slept on it that night (mostly awake) and decided to give it another shot the next day and, if I broke things, what the heck anyway.
What I tried was to insert a metal rod into the bolt holes of the upper casing and gently tap them with a sledge hammer working my way around all the holes one by one. I did this over an hour or two without success until I inserted a small crow bar and levered the engine off the cowling. Voila.
I had to replace the gasket and did so with a new one. The challenge was to match my model number (British Virgin Islands) with US models and there are/were several models numbers for the same engine. The local ob shop kindly did this and the new one fitted perfectly.
The actual fault causing the water leakage was from a crack in a bend at the top of the copper tube joining the upper cowling with the water pump in the lower cowling. This was not available at the time in the US so I purchased some copper tubing at the local hardware store and made my own. It fitted very well and, when I put everything back together again, it worked well pumping water with no leaks. I might add that I practised bending copper tube on some scrap metal I found in the boatyard before bending the final piece and fitting it to the ob. Worthwhile, as you really only have one chance to make this right angle bend, so you need to get it right.
Outboard Propshaft Seals
I decided to change these, as I thought there was a small leak. But first, some education - by looking at a bunch of very helpful YouTube videos, then choosing the simplest way I thought possible. I removed the prop and spacer then drilled holes into the seals making every effort to avoid touching/scratching the prop shaft (as every video made a big deal of this!). I then used small hook tools to extract each of the seals. They came out quite easily. I then replaced them with new ones using a PVC pipe, and used a hammer to insert them. All seemed to work when I filled the gearbox and ran the motor in gear later on.
Isn't it marvellous what a bit of self-help and lots of really nice people posting useful guidance on YouTube can do for you! And our 23 year old motor has a new lease on life too!
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