Bought first used pontoon and have a question

[wylie125]

Found a decent pontoon which is a 2001 G3 20' that has a 2000 Yamaha 80hp 4-stroke which weighs 350lbs and has a few cracked welds on the transom. I found a local place that has a good aluminum welder but is it safe to weld with the motor still attached or should I find some way to take it off for the repair? I don't want to fry all the electronics on the motor.

[HandymanHerb]

Shouldn't affect the engine, the current is flowing from ground to arc, but you would think the welder would know what to do, I think I would remove to get the strain off the mount so it can be welded back to stock measurements, before the weight of the engine is put back on it.

[Ghost Rider]

I agree, I would pull the motor. You can rent a engine hoist for very reasonable rates from your local rental center. I weld on trucks all the time and have never fried an ECM. But I have heard horror stories about it happening. If you do decide to leave it on I woud disconnect the Battery.

[lounge lizard]

Im sorry if this is a redundant response, but I left my motor on and the shop I went to had the means to take the weight off the motor. They also used some reinforcing aluminum to beef the transom where it cracked. Didnt even have to unbolt the motor, is that a possibility in your case?

[wylie125]

Thanks guys for all the helpful responses, in regards to lounge lizard, the place I found locally to weld the cracked welds is a small custom machining outfit, but I was thinking about getting a floor jack and some wood and put some lift somewhere on the motor bracket to ease the pressure some.

Also this weekend we beefed up the motor pod attachment to a couple new thick 1/4 inch structural aluminum angle. A spot on the right side of the motor where the pod and the I-beam attach, the I-beam was just ripped because of the weight over the years and made the motor and pod drop down about an inch. After we tightened all the bolts to the new pieces I got, the motor pod lifted back to normal. Its kinda hard to explain, but I might get a pic to show yall what we did, lol .The weight of these 4-strokes is crazy, this 80hp is as big as my 150 on my other boat.