75 cuddy I/O taking water..HELP?

[spareparts]

trim teh drive up, turn it to port and look at the shift cable bellows(starboard side, small tapered bellows). push back and forth on the corrugations in the bellows, odds are, its rotted. Look hard at all your bellows, stick your finger in them and poke on it, keep looking, your find something. If that's not it, you may have an issue in the exhaust system

[macojoe]

the only place i could find anything was right at the bottom of where the gimbal housing goes through the hull just a small but constant drip

I had a 1/8 inch hole in my hull, when the boat is in the water the weight of the boat pushed water in like a fountain!! Could not believe the amount that came in in such a short time!
Also check around the rub rail, mine use to allow all kinds of water in there as the caulking was all gone!

you want to stop that water as you do not have a self baling deck, all water goes to the bilge, and needs to get pumped out, all that splashing salt water will kill the starter and rot out the oil pan fast!! ask me how I know.
also when changing the starter you will find it to be a *****! one thing that helped me was to put a mirror under the motor, now the bolts could be seen in the mirror on the floor!!

[Crifasinator]

so I still haven't got it in the water yet but have found some things... there are a few spots the caulking is failing under the rub rail, I applied more caulk around the gimbal housing, there are a few holes in the shift cable bellows someone had put silicone on, also i bought two new bilge pumps the tusanami 1200's.
I want to try and patch up the bellows if possible I'm thinking some flex seal- as seen on tv or some type of sealing tape or both?
I only have access to the bilge area where my motor is so I guess both pumps are going in there I have a float switch for one.

[smokeonthewater]

there isn't supposed to be any caulking around the gimbal housing... It has a rubber seal... if it's leaking then the transom is probably rotten (Lets hope not)... the bellows should be replaced every few years... they are not fixable, just put new ones on

in order to seal under the rubrail you will need to remove it... not NEAR as hard as it sounds

use 3m 4200 or 5200.. silicone won't last

[Crifasinator]

since the the other two are okay I was thinking a temporary fix on the shift bellows only cause it seems a big expensive job too do them all. the gimbal housing had some corrosion that ate the aluminum away down at the bottom ears by the zincs affecting the seal. guys at my local marine shop recommended the life caulk there. so im sure that will be if the future where all that gets addressed. how do i tell if my transom is rotten?? it looks like the rub rail was caulked top and bottom with maybe Life caulk? there is only a few places it looks failed.

[Crifasinator]

here are some pics

[spareparts]

go ahead and replace all three bellows(not that easy) and the shift cable. when you pull the drive, you'll probably find the gimbal bearing bad as well.