YAY!! My boat for sale. Heard alot about that coupler going from engine misalignment and makes sense because the motor was out before I bought the boat (to replace gimbal bearing). Yes the motor could have been dropped in exactly how it came out but what happens is that over time the motor will start to sink in the stringer enough to knock it out of alignment. And being that the coupler is rubber-isolated, it wouldn't take much misalignment of the motor to fail the coupler. And when it happened I was almost home from a 5+ hour trip. At first I thought it went because of age and the heat from the motor but misalignment could be the culprit. who knows, it could have only went because of age but also thinking about an all cast iron 350 with the exhaust manifolds and risers too all sitting on 1989 fiberglassed 2X6's, makes me think the mounts could have settled. Granted the fact that now the boat barely moves, this is only an inexspensive repair thats just R&R rather than rebuilding the motor or outdrive. And in ths boat the motor is fairly accesible compared to other boats where the motor is below floor level. All in all this is a great boat and to hear that 350 roaring as you're doing close to 45mph, it's a great ride! I think it is capable of going faster with a prop change as it has a 21 pitch prop and it the rpms are lower than they should be. I have the reserve on this boat a few thousands dollars than NADA value so somebody is gonna get a nice boat for a good price. <p> I heard of people using just the shaft from the outdrive to use that as an alignment tool. Some say alot about having a "special" tool to align the motor but you could use a spare shaft to align it or if want to go through the trouble of removing the shaft from the outdrive then you clould. I have also heard of using a wooden dowel that has been modified to fit in the splined couple snuggly and the gimbal bearing at the same time. I am a machinist so I would just make one out of an aluminum rod.