cbreeze245
New member
Greetings,
This last spring I picked up a used 15' Sea Nymph with what turns out to be a 1986 25hp Mercury with electric start tiller outboard. The seller told me it was a 1995 but oh well. Took it on several trips over the summer and it ran well and I was very happy. It started easy and is a good match for the boat. Aprox one month ago I took it out fishing and hit a shallow spot in the middle of a lake. I turned the motor off to get out of the shallows and when I went to start it it was hard to start. Was finally able to get it going by working the choke and the throttle. Once going, it ran fine and I was motoring at high speed the rest of the day with no problems. Took it to a Marina to see why it was hard starting and after looking at it said that the carb was dirty and needed an adjustment.
Brought the boat back home and had the prop re worked. Last week I took the boat out for the first time, after the repairs, with the re worked prop. Motor started fine and had a good idle but when I tried full power, I got a lot of cavitation and the motor sped up and seemed like something was slipping. All the signs of a spun prop. I immediately reduced the throttle and went back to shore. I called the Marina and explained what happened and they also suggested checking to make sure that the prop wasn't spun.
I went out and bought a new prop because I wanted a spare and took the boat out with the new prop. The "spun" symptoms were gone and all seemed well at low power settings. When I tried full power, the boat sped up and got on plane but I heard a high pitched "squeal" and immediately throttled down and motored back to the dock. My wife, who was standing on the dock, also heard the "squeal." I only heard the noise at full throttle. I brought the boat home and started looking for a "good" Marina in the area. All the local ones have bad reputations. As of this posting I am still looking.
Went out to the garage this morning and noticed black oil/grease leaking on the garage floor below the prop. Checked further and found that the leakage was coming from the area of the prop shaft. I tried wiggling the prop and noticed a little play which seems not normal to a untrained mechanic like myself.
I thought I would post my tail of woe here to get some ideas of what could be wrong before I pick a Marina. Not knowing much about motors, I would say it sounds like a bearing gone bad. I would appreciate some thoughts from those of you with more knowledge than myself. If it is a bearing, are there more than one and are they expensive to replace?
Thanks in advance,
Cbreeze
This last spring I picked up a used 15' Sea Nymph with what turns out to be a 1986 25hp Mercury with electric start tiller outboard. The seller told me it was a 1995 but oh well. Took it on several trips over the summer and it ran well and I was very happy. It started easy and is a good match for the boat. Aprox one month ago I took it out fishing and hit a shallow spot in the middle of a lake. I turned the motor off to get out of the shallows and when I went to start it it was hard to start. Was finally able to get it going by working the choke and the throttle. Once going, it ran fine and I was motoring at high speed the rest of the day with no problems. Took it to a Marina to see why it was hard starting and after looking at it said that the carb was dirty and needed an adjustment.
Brought the boat back home and had the prop re worked. Last week I took the boat out for the first time, after the repairs, with the re worked prop. Motor started fine and had a good idle but when I tried full power, I got a lot of cavitation and the motor sped up and seemed like something was slipping. All the signs of a spun prop. I immediately reduced the throttle and went back to shore. I called the Marina and explained what happened and they also suggested checking to make sure that the prop wasn't spun.
I went out and bought a new prop because I wanted a spare and took the boat out with the new prop. The "spun" symptoms were gone and all seemed well at low power settings. When I tried full power, the boat sped up and got on plane but I heard a high pitched "squeal" and immediately throttled down and motored back to the dock. My wife, who was standing on the dock, also heard the "squeal." I only heard the noise at full throttle. I brought the boat home and started looking for a "good" Marina in the area. All the local ones have bad reputations. As of this posting I am still looking.
Went out to the garage this morning and noticed black oil/grease leaking on the garage floor below the prop. Checked further and found that the leakage was coming from the area of the prop shaft. I tried wiggling the prop and noticed a little play which seems not normal to a untrained mechanic like myself.
I thought I would post my tail of woe here to get some ideas of what could be wrong before I pick a Marina. Not knowing much about motors, I would say it sounds like a bearing gone bad. I would appreciate some thoughts from those of you with more knowledge than myself. If it is a bearing, are there more than one and are they expensive to replace?
Thanks in advance,
Cbreeze