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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Reseating the seal on our Tohatsu cowling

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/12/2013 : 20:49:09

For several months the cowling on our Tohatsu wasn't seating properly. The double-sided tape that held the rubber seal in place had failed at the back where you latch it down, and it just kept peeling more & more. It'd finally gotten to the point where I had to be careful levering the engine up or down because I might come away with just a cowling in my hand, and an engine free-falling (this never actually happened, but it was close a couple of times). I finally got tired of it and fixed it.

I brought the cowling home and peeled the rubber seal the rest of the way off. It left a lot of adhesive behind, so I sat & watched football while I worked at the goo on both the cowling & seal. After about half an hour, I'd gotten most of the residue off of the cowling, but the seal was more recalcitrant. I got as much off as my thumbnail would stand, then soaked both in Goo-Gone and left them for the night. The next day I went after the remnants with a green scrubby on the cowling and a bit more scratching away on the seal with my thumbnail. The scrubby got almost all of it off of the cowling, but was almost ineffective on the seal. I have some body & fender tools from Harbor Freight which have some nice, useful plastic edges and I went after the goo on the seal with those. They worked great, but there was still a bunch of scraping to get it clean.

Once I had them clean, I enlisted Rita's help to apply some 3M heavy duty double-sided tape to the seal (it has a nice sharp edge that made it relatively easy to keep a good line). She then took a pair of scissors to the 1/8" or so of excess that stuck out the bottom of the seal and trimmed that away. Then we started at one end, tucking the tape under the forward latch with it's red plastic no-stickum backing still in place so we could get it completely under the latch. Then we worked the seal all the way around the cowling keeping it taut so it'd meet up under the latch on the far end. This worked out OK, but getting the backing out from under the tape once it's in place was a bit of a trick. Rita was able to worry it out with a pair of tweezers, but it wasn't pretty. Fortunately you can't see it unless you really know where to look.

Then we used the plastic body tools to "iron" the seal down onto the tape and cowling.

Now the cowling seats nicely, and the latch on the back is very positive, and no fear of the engine dropping out of my hand.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2013 : 04:11:47

Sounds like a lot of work but I get all of that process David, except for the bit about possibly dropping the engine out of your hand?

My engine weighs about 70lb!

Paul

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2013 : 19:05:35

Mine is more like 93 lbs, don't you have essentially the same OB as mine just with the more expensive Nissan decals?

If the seal isn't tight, the latch won't latch properly, so if you try to tilt it up, it's quite possible that the latch will let go, and you end up with the cowling in your hand, and the outboard pivoting down into the water much more rapidly than you would want.

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britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2013 : 19:52:39

Ahh! Got it.

Yep same engine with different decals. (Nissan)

Paul

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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1778 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2013 : 06:56:51

David:

I have had nothing but problems with my 07 Tohatsu 9.8 cowling seal. As I am on a mooring (and more often than not do not even use the engine) I have resorted to using a bungee as my insurance policy as the cowling becomes so lose it can be easily "knocked" off. Raising and lowering the engine also has become a real chore, especially in any chop as the cowling is useless and I have to lean over to hold the base. Each year I have changed the seal and each year -- no later than a month into the season -- the cowling loosens. My observation has been that the "clamp" is really not the right thickness/type of metal, which aggravates the situation and I have wondered if my base might have been slightly bent in shipment also causing alignment issues.

Keep us posted as to how your method of cowl seal improvement holds up. If it continues to be a good secure solution long-term I will follow your lead next spring before commissioning!

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2013 : 08:21:08

Peter,
What are you using to tape the seal to the cowling? I didn't feel like I needed to replace the seal, just clean the goo off from the old one and the cowling (but I spent a fair amount of time doing so, I wanted to get a nice clean tape joint).

I am using [url="http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Adhesives/Tapes/Products/~/3M-VHB-Tape-5952-Black-1-in-x-36-yd-45-0-mil-9-per-case?N=4294954334+5000130&&Nr=AND%28hrcy_id%3A9VNK896D0Bgs_SKB4KL4WDQ_N2RL3FHWVK_GPD0K8BC31gv%29&rt=d"]3M VHB (Very High Bond) double sided tape[/url]. This is the same stuff I use when mounting a piece of wood to a faceplate for my lathe, and I've never had one come off (yet).

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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1778 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2013 : 09:24:09

I have ordered replacement seal from a Tohatsu dealer then used the appropriate "glue" I have not used the tape but will look into it!!!!

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2013 : 12:17:05

I thought I was the only one with this problem. I did the heavy duty double back tape process before launch this spring. It's worked great thus far.

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Tim M
1st Mate

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60 Posts

Response Posted - 09/16/2013 : 16:51:25

I saw the gasket was going to be a problem when I spilled some oil on it and it started coming off before I even had it in the water. I stuck it back down with UHB tape (ultra high-bond tape I used to install new windows) to hold it while I drilled and installed small SS machine screws with locking nuts and washers every 2" around the cowling through the gasket. (I noticed Mercury staples the gasket all the way around on the same cowling and uses no glue or tape). The screws have held just fine for over 2 years. I back-rolled a wad of duct tape and laid it in the groove where the clamp bites down and it tightened it up and I can tilt the motor just fine. Also bent the front bracket slightly to tighten it up more and further cut down on engine noise and vibration. As much as we motor, less noise is better.

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