Leak from transom shield

[Vincent3450]

Bought the boat cheap (on a recommedation?) and had it brought to NJ from Lake Erie (boat always in fresh water). Engines very low miles. Ran ok for couple months and then port side cable broke, then one repair after another after another (such is life). Most of drive parts replaced. Alpha Gen II. Replaced bellows. Put in water and after couple days started taking on water and pulled. No problem last year, no leaks. I am having mechanic pull transom shield and engine and check everything out. Hopefully can be fixed and transom not rotted. If rotted probably have to throw in the towel. I hope can replace gasket and will be ok. Will see.

[Vincent3450]

Alpha Gen II drives. Boat was in freshwater whole time until I bought last year. Lake Erie. Engines very low engines. Bought cheap. No survey (bought on a recommendation?). Brought to NJ ran ok then port cable snapped. Then one thing after another after another (such is life). Most parts both drive replaced including bellows. Put in water after couple days started taking on water. No leaks last year.
After pulled out of water saw water leaking from transom shield. Will have transom shield and engine pulled and inspected. If major problem - like transom rotted probably throw in the towel. I hope can replace gasket to transom shield and go on.

[Viper]

Were they not able to check and see where the water was coming in? If you know what to look for, you can tell exactly what's wrong based on where the water is leaking in. As long as there is reasonable access back there, there's no reason they couldn't tell what's causing the leak. All the items I mentioned have very specific areas in the transom assembly that would leak which identifies the problem component, including the transom itself.

The outer transom assembly seal rarely fails. What usually happens when it leaks there is the assembly gets loose from a bad transom. Before you go through the expense of removing the engine/s and transom assembly, try to tighten the nuts around the inner plate as I mentioned above. If you can tighten them more, you are compressing a bad transom. This will allow you to make a decision about the boat before spending big money for removing the engine. A good tech can also get a pretty good idea of the transom's condition by sounding it and taking moisture readings to help decide which way to proceed, or not. Until you get more information, I wouldn't be removing any engines yet.

[tomschauer]

If its mercs it should be gen 1 alphas for 88. Hopefully whomever did the bellows and cables just screwed up and the transom is ok.

[Viper]

I just caught what I originally wrote in my last post! I would NOT remove engines until you get more info.