Muffler help

[mcbridek]

2006 Ski Nautique, SE 140 hours , perfect pass... I spent the afternoon trying to find a leak. It turns out there is a leak in the muffler. I propped the muffler up with a small piece of wood and I could see the water dripping. Ther is a small stainless steel nut laying under the muffler, my guess is this caused the leak. Has anyone removed the muffler ? It looks hard, the exhaust hoses are stiff - there must be a trick. Also, do you think I could fiberglass patch/plug the hole ?

[kirkgolf1]

Same thing happened with our 94 Sport. I went to Home Depot and picked up a fiberglass repair kit. Didn't need to take the muffler out, just mixed the compound together and reached under. Let it set overnight and started in the driveway. No leak, all good. Not pretty but it worked. Good luck.

[2004196]

mufflet leaks

I friend and I redid an older Ski Supreme, the fiberglass mufflers leaked like soaker hoses. We did remove them from the boat (not a big deal) and re-fiberglassed them with mat and resin. Let dry a couple days, lightly sanded and painted with a krylon high heat semi gloss black, reinstalled and worked great - no leaks. Much cheaper than new mufflers and looked great.

[mcbridek]

Looks like a replacement muffler is over $500, that is an expensive mistake, my guess is during manufacturing, it is the same nut that is used on some of the fittings. At that price I will definitely try to patch. But no tricks on removing - I does not seem like the rubber pipe attached to the front of the muffler will bend enough to remove to allow you to take is off where is attaches to the muffler, I am guessing you remove the long fiberglass tubes from the exhaust manifold first. Of may be heat up the rubber with a hair dryer to soften ?

[NigelC]

You should be able to remove the muffler without too much trouble. The hoses will initially be tight against the fibreglass. Loosen all the jubilee clips. Only a slight twist should be needed to break the seals. The hoses should then pull off straight. Use some washing up liquid on reassembly.
There should be thick foam pads between the muffler and the hull. They often come adrift and can be found in the back of the bilge.

[DanielC]

And now to translate from British to American English. Loosen all the hose clamps on the muffler. Twist the muffler, and the hoses will usually come unstuck from the fiberglass muffler tubes. You may have to carefully work a thin screwdriver in between the exhaust hose, and the muffler. Do not pry on the muffler tubes, the concentrated pressure from the screwdriver may crack the fiberglass muffler. "Washing up liquid" = Dawn dish washing detergent. You may have to loosen the rubber exhaust hoses at the engine manifold, also.

Once all the hoses are loose, you can gain some clearance by sliding hoses from the engine to the muffler forward, and then sliding the muffler back on the hose that goes to the transom, and then the muffler will come out fairly easily.

You will need to get the fiberglass parts absolutely clean. Pressure wash the parts. Powered laundry detergent, Dawn and water, simple green, Super clean, (ask for it at an auto parts store), and lots of scrubbing, and then pressure wash it again. When the part is clean and rinsed with lots of clean water, clean it again with acetone. The parts must be clean enough to pass the white glove test. Cleaner than your dinner plates, just out of the dishwasher.

Once the muffler is out, fiberglass repairs work good on it. I use Marine epoxy from Tap Plastics for the resin.
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=27&
I use 314 resin, and the 102 hardener.

If you need to do a repair on the inside of one of the fiberglass ports, or tubes, you can put the fiberglass cloth, soaked with resin inside the tube, and then blow up a latex balloon inside the tube, before the resin sets, and it will hold the fiberglass cloth to the inside of the tube.

Did I mention the parts have to be clean, really clean?

[NigelC]

Thanks for the translation Daniel.
Not too sure about recommending use of a thin screwdriver though. I seem to remember there were parts of my old hull hugger that were quite thin and brittle. Especially around the flanges where the in and out ports join the main muffler. However you go about removal, be careful.

I was lucky with my repair as I handed this over to a mate who is a fibreglass specialist. Quite scary thinking about a new replacement. I remember that here in the UK, I was quoted 900 dollar equivalent at the time.

[DanielC]

You do not pry with the thin screwdriver. You just work in in between the rubber hose, and the fiberglass tube, to help separate the two parts.

[swc5150]

Did you recently buy this boat? The only reason I ask is that my '06 SE went down to NC, so I was just curious if it's the same boat. White/vapor SE.

[mcbridek]

Danielc - good write-up - thank you ! I got it - has to be very clean !! Going to pull the muffler next Saturday

swc5150 - boat was from a PN member - gman I think - last March 2010 out of Dallas

[gmcraider]

Thanks for the advice - can't wait to try this!

Great! On my way to Tap Plastics now. My boat leak started late in the year, so here I am in Mid-November looking at a fiberglass repair. 2006 - 206 and my muffler looks like someone stepped on it since the crack is on the top of the muffler. Weird that I've had the boat 3 season and it just started leaking and I have not had that piece of floorboard out though. I figure I'll ask the Tap guys if I should do it now with such low temperatures or wait until March/April as I'm putting the boat away for the season anyway. Instead of the $600 for a new muffler and the extra work to get it out, I think this repair looks like a good option. When I first mentioned repair to my wife, she laughed, at least with the forum backing she's now more optimistic!

[DanielC]

Use the marine grade of epoxy from Tap plastics. If you use the 102 fast or the 143 slow hardener, I believe it can be used down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
This stuff.
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/f...poxy_system/27