Removing Sea Drive

Hey guys,

I'm seriously thinking about starting the removal of my sea drive next Monday, Lord willing.

I have a question about the steering components. Once the sea drive is removed, will I still be able to attach the existing hoses to a new hydraulic pump? Or will I need a whole new steering system?

Also, are there any tips or cautions I should know before removing the sea drive?
 
BG on my conversion there is a separate steering and controls run thru a thru transom hole that was made with a new rubber boot set up, I never saw what controls were on the original sea drive, sorry no help
 
I was wondering the same things about the length of hoses. Is the worst case scenario simply that I might have to buy longer hoses? Would it be crazy to splice another piece on to the existing hose if I had to? That's probably asking for trouble down the line, wouldn't you think?

Thanks for the input guys.
 
BG do new hoses if originals are not long enough and don't look back, one less thing you will have to worry about ;)
 
Indeed, you men are right. No splicing it is.

I think I should be able to remove the whole thing in a matter of an hour or two. Does that sound reasonable? There are only a couple of hoses to disconnect and basically four bolts holding the drive on the transom...

I'll be sure to take some before, during, and after shots on Monday and post them.

Thanks again for your help guys.
 
You should be able to get it off pretty quick, But they are a heavy heavy unit!!
Make sure you have it hooked up good before you break it free!!

Once removed, check the transom for soft spots? But the one good thing with Sea drives is that they sealed them real nice when they installed them!

As for things being long enough?? What are you putting on there?
My bracket was 27" set back and everything was like 3 feet short.
I had to get a longer steering cable, and had to lengthen the wiring harness for the motor.

Sea drives make a easy convert, as a lot of people just put the bracket right over the hole in the transome and seal well!!

I don't like that Idea, cause if the bracket ever gets a leak its coming right into the boat.
 
the Sea Drive hole will be above the bracket on your boat. Remember your 248 had 2 patch spots on the inside above the floor. those were the pump holes from the twin sea drives that girl had. You's will have the same hole up high in the center. those can be used for cables and put a cable seal on the transom around your wires and steering hoses. Here's the pic you had and you can see the 2 patches for the sea drive holes.

248_Wellcraft_013.sized.jpg
 
some of the old sea drives had a big hole in the middle also, I thought??

Thas even easier on that one!
 
MJ,

Yep, there's a hole in the middle for my Sea Drive.  The picture Skools posted is a picture of the 248 that I sold him that had been converted from I/O to twin bracket.    

I'm glad to learn that the hole will be above the bracket.  I'll do as Skools has suggested and run my cables through it.  That will keep things looking nice back there.  How well do those cable seals work?  Do you think it will keep the water from getting into the bilge area?  

MJ, how did you lengthen the wiring harness?  I plan on getting a bracket with a 30" setback.  If I'm able to get another Johnson/Evinrude I think my wiring should reach since it's already made the distance to the sea drive...  However, the steering hoses are another story and I think I'll probably have to replace them with longer ones...
 
yeah the wiring should work they are usually 15' or 18' some 20's and 24's.. That 248 was a Sea Drive originally so that's what you should see the exact same size hole as this one had patched.
 
Wow, I learn something new everyday. I didn't even know that the 248 had a sea drive before. I thought it had been an I/O... I guess it just goes to show another shade of this greenhorn ;)
 
RAP,

Indeed, I meant steering hoses. You're right, we are talking about hydraulic steering. In my mind, I was also thinking about the throttle and shifter cables... My bad, good catch ;)
 
If you install 150 hp or less use baystar, above 150 hp use sea star. Bought a Baystar system on ebay for $465.00. It's an easy install.
 
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