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Clean out plug - my turn, grrrr

yes, I even set it in and turn counter clockwise to let it naturally fall into the proper set position. I do feel like that skirt flare has a bit to do with it, but then again the starboard side plug doesn't have that same type of flare.

Yeah, thanks all. I'm stumped. Looks like I'll just have to give the tech at the marina (which is a yamaha place thankfully) a $20 to give me a live tutorial to show me what I"m doing wrong.

think that one plug needs to be replaced? or the replacement kit would = new rubber skirrt?
 
My boat is cover but mine looks like this, it almost tapers in a little at the bottom instead of flaring out
1618505984494.jpeg
 
Perhaps if you remove the seal, as in @Julian video, and then try and fit one it without the seal and it goes in than the seal is most likely your issue. If it doesn't than I would assume something else is wrong. Or try and fit the other one that works in that tube. I went out and checked mine just now and I don't have a flare.
 
thinking the skirt (thanks for that terminology by the way as I've been struggling for the word) is part of, if not the issue.
 
@AZMark and when you take out/put in it is just easy peazy to set and quarter turn and no struggle?
There is some resistance, it’s not the easiest to turn but once it starts to go it turns fully without much effort. You shouldn’t need anything stronger than your hand on a newer boat that isn’t all corroded.
 
@AZMark and when you take out/put in it is just easy peazy to set and quarter turn and no struggle?
And when you slide it down in the port it should set in there solidly with metal on metal.
 
If one is flared and the other isn't, sounds like it's an alignment issue. When you put the plugs in, your hand should be on a 45 degree turn to the left - if using your right hand, your pinky should be at about 2 o'clock and the word lock will be at 12 o'clock. Push down and turn 1/8th turn till the handle is horizontal like below image and you're set. Take a look at this video to watch how it's angled left when pulling out and inserting, and horizontal when set:

 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I tried again yesterday in the water in the slip. Pulled the other one out to see if I could have any better luck with that one and unfortunately I am not. I'm putting the plug down in in the proper set position and I'm pushing down with everything I have and it will just not turn clockwise. It is like I can't get the plug down just far enough for the metal notch to get into the groove. I sprayed with silicone, greased with vasilene, pulled boat out of the water to try and I cannot for the life of me get them to turn that quarter turn and lock back into place. My hand is damn near swollen from trying. Me and 2 others taking turns. I can feel the "cushion" of what I assume is that rubber part getting to the lip and its like I just can't get quite low enough down into the hole to get the notch lined up with the groove. I guess I'm going to have to take it in and have someone show me what I'm doing wrong. It's a simple process but man it is humbling my intelligence becuase I feel like it is something trivial i'm not doing right, but then again, there isn't much to lining it up and quarter turning. so frustrated.
Try turning it 180 degrees and then installing it. That works for me.
 
Forgot to mention that the silicone spray is great for any joints, hinges, and the transom plug O-rings too. I spray down the articulating keel rudder pin and tie-rods, etc. weekly. It's clean looking and lubes the plastic bushings nicely.
I use yamalube silicone spray on all my stuff too. Works awesome
 
Are you pushing down on the plug as you are turning it? I was having a fit with mine a couple of weeks ago and it did not want to turn. Once I actually pushed down on it prior to turning it locked in with no issues. I only assume that was my problem as I did not want to test my theory on the water.
I laugh reading this. I never have a problem with mine but when my wife does it she can never get it in. She said to me the other day “ OMG I FIGURED IT OUT !! you just have to push down a bit prior to turning”.
 
Take your plug apart. EITHER something isn't assembled correctly, or you need to replace that rubber seal. It's been a few months since I've touched mine, but I guarantee yours have some issue, because mine are darn near "2 fingers" easy. I'm always baffled when I see guys on here with those type of plugs that are having issues, because mine are seriously dead nuts simple to get them in. The ONLY issue I've ever had is when the metal ear shifts out of position (from unlock to lock) before I actually have a chance to turn them. Julian's videos that others have posted in this thread are AWESOME for showing just how easy these plugs should be.

They're super simple to disassemble, you might see what's up with them right off the bat. For whatever reason, I can't find where I posted about disassembling my plugs. Mebbe I never did, so here's the pics of what you'll need to do to disassemble those plugs and inspect those rings. At the very least, you'll have to remove the ring to replace it with a good one, MAYBE you'll see what the issue is with yours. It's entirely possible that they botched the assembly of your cleanout plugs. If they could get them in, there's no telling what someone at the dealership could have done (some jabroni who was having problems and once his pushing and shoving got it in place, it damaged the rubber as it sat pinched or whatever)...who knows.

Mebbe add your location to your profile. No idea where you're at, but if you were near me in Wisconsin, I'd come over and help you out.

First pic (well, all of them, to be precise) is my plug. See how the skirt tapers towards the plug? Yours doesn't, mine does, mine is easy to twist in, yours isn't. Conclusion: Yours is damaged, cockeyed, or backwards/upside down somehow (although highly improbable. It needs a-fixin'.

IMG_20191028_134944277_HDR.jpg


This is what a plug looks like disassembled, and this is the only tool you will need for this project. If you need more than a screwdriver...

IMG_20201016_154638686.jpg


Step one is to remove your plugs from the boat. Undo these 4 screws (one already removed to demonstrate) and remove the stretchy tether to allow removal. You don't have to completely remove them just yet, do that later at an area where you can lay the parts out so you don't EASILY lose a small screw:

IMG_20201016_153424235_HDR.jpg

After all the screws are removed at your safeR location, remove the handle. You'll be looking at this (next step is to remove that screw in the middle):

IMG_20201016_153524165.jpg

Pull the washer off, set it aside with the rest of your parts - notice that bolt isn't all that long. Remove that metal plate carefully. You should have two pieces underneath that plate that can come out and easily disappear into the ether, never to be seen again:

IMG_20201016_153653867.jpg


Here's what's underneath that metal piece. Those two white "nubs" have springs under/inside them, and those are the pieces that may fall out. MAYBE something is missing from your plug that you've noticed by this point, maybe something is cockeyed due to all of this, maybe the bottom of that black "plate" could have been molded for crap (and ANY rubber ring will NEVER sit correctly), only way to tell is to disassemble it. Remove those six screws:

IMG_20201016_153709983_HDR.jpg

The white nubs simply pulls out. Spring may or may not come with it. Mine didn't, as shown in the pic after this one. The rubber ring maintained its position for mine, yours may simply fall off. I'd say that would be one indicator it needs replacement. Pull the spring along with the white nubs too:

IMG_20201016_153940404_HDR.jpg

IMG_20201016_154001802_HDR(1).jpg

IMG_20201016_154008674_HDR.jpg

By this point, if your rubber ring hasn't fallen off your plug, pull it off. Here's what you should have. I haven't looked at these since last fall, but off the top of my head, it'll be noticeable if the ring is on upside down. I don't believe that to be your problem, but compare yours to how mine looks. If yours looks beat up or wonky in some way, look at the rest of the plug, how it's molded, etc to see if something OTHER than poor assembly could have caused this. If the rubber ring slid off the plug when they were screwing it down, they could have pinched it, making it fold or bow out somehow, and the first person who was able to screw that cleanout plug into place sealed the fate of that plug until parts get replaced and that plug is remade back to the way it should properly work with a minimum of effort.

IMG_20201016_154041145_HDR.jpg


Assembly with suitable undamaged parts is the reverse. Really, Julian's video shows just how easily these should be going in for you. The Yamaha rep seems to be able to do this from an odd angle, even. I'll even admit, and you can probably tell from the pics, I've N-E-V-E-R lubed that rubber ring with ANYTHING, and it still works perfectly.

I want to thank you all for forcing me to do this (of my own free will), and forever damaging my cleanout plug by not being able to leave well enough alone! ?
 
p.s. the pics of my plug should show just how much "stuff" is suspended in the water in my lake. All the silt/whatever made it inside my plug. I know I read about "swelling" of that rubber ring, and with pictures of mine, I'm going to stick with my opinion/belief that "stuff" in the water isn't the cause of problems with this type of plug.
 
I'm feeling a bit under the weather but it's still nice outside, so here you go.

The "ears and tabs", for lack of a better term, need to be in the proper position. Mine move quite easily, which is why I mention the proper position. I have to be careful putting the plugs in IF I hit the side of the holes, because something that slight can (and has) moved those things to the Lock position.

See the tab pointed at the "Set" marking? This position is Unlocked, and you should be able to easily install it.

IMG_20210417_143453879_HDR.jpg

If your plug looks like my plug on the RIGHT, (tab/ear pointing to the right 1-2" from SET marking), then it is in the Lock position, and you will never be able to get it into place.

IMG_20210417_151027941_HDR.jpg

My plugs work and turn easily even after not doing ANYTHING to them, like lubing them up. They still turn easily enough that sometimes if it catches in the hole, it will turn to the Lock position. It makes a sound when this happens, but it CAN be missed if you aren't paying close attention or your hearing is bad (I mention this because I can hear it, but my wife cannot without putting her ear closer to the hole)

Here's my old unlubed plug going in for the first time this year - notice the ring tapering towards the bottom part of the plug

IMG_20210417_143430946_HDR.jpg


Lastly, like @Julian and his video, here's mine, and for reference, my boat is ON the trailer, and I'm leaning over the back end when putting these in. I have ZERO leverage

 
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@drewkaree thank you so much for the description and pictures. This is and will be beyond helpful and I really appreciate the effort here to help me and my 10 thumbs get this frustration sorted out. So I ordered the replacement kits and they should be here Wednesday. I believe in myself enough to execute the replacement....i think haha. The rubber skirt as shown in my pic certainly does not angle in and I feel that is the culprit. I will spend equal time performing the replacement and scrolling through these pics/descriptions to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.

I will certainly update the hopeful successful replacement and ultimate proper resetting of these nice, pretty plugs into their home (thinking if I talk nice to them they will appreciate that).

Thanks again everyone!
 
I have the twist/lock style on my 2019 212 limited S. This has been the single most headache laden issue with this boat, really the only the issue as I truly love this boat and everything about it. So I had to pull it out and get a small piece of plastic out of the impeller and when I put it back in the water I had forgot that last time I wasn't able to get the port side clean out plug back in and so I throttled down and similar to what you must experience with the older plugs, water came rushing up through and flipped the cleanout door open up and engines cut-off immediately. Took me a minute to realize that engines won't start with that open so after thinking I was dead in the water at 6:00 pm yesterday, I settled back down. So back to the original issue. I've seen this discussed quite a bit, but I just want to be clear as I'm a new boat owner going into my 2nd season.

So the rubber on the plug has a bit of a ripple in it which I believe is preventing me from being able to quarter-turn to the right to lock it in. It will set down, but I just cannot turn it at all. I see the discussion about lubing it with various types - silicon spray, white lithium grease, etc. When I took it to the dealership last summer to get oil change, a technician came out and sprayed it with something and he was able to get it back in rather easily after spraying it. I don't believe much could have changed since then and he pointed out that ripple in the rubber part of the plug. I'm now afraid of taking them out as this is just painful.

So my question is, should I just do that same thing and do my damndest to get it back in there? Anyone with this same exact issue with them? Any tricks, helpful hints? I did order the Bully Tool mentioned in an older thread to help with the twisting.

Thanks!

I lube the clean out port generously with this after each outing. First I wash with salt-away, rinse then slather it on. No problem so far with inserting or removing the clean out port plug. I get it from Amazon.
AB454115-3379-40F6-8442-85A3C3B617D4.png
 
So I did the replacement kit on both of the cleanout plugs and if you could see the smile on my face right now after ever so gently turning each of them into the lock position! I bought boat at end of 2019 and never took them out unless I had to and I can remember from early on, they were a bitch to get back in so I will be sure to take them out after each use to prevent them from expanding/contracting. The left one had the full blown ripple in the rubber skirt and the right one was starting to flare out just slightly but that is all it needs. Only remaining question is, is it necessary to spray with silicone after each use? every so often?

Thanks everyone for your input and guidance, a helpful forum is invaluable for a boat owner much less a 2nd year owner who is all thumbs mechanically. Thank you all again! I videoed putting them back in. I mean whose happy? This guy.
 
I boat in fresh water and only spray them with silicone a couple times a year.
This forum sure is a good place to hang out, isn't it.
 
I lube the clean out port generously with this after each outing. First I wash with salt-away, rinse then slather it on. No problem so far with inserting or removing the clean out port plug. I get it from Amazon.

I use the same stuff. Once a month I put some around the rubber on the plug. They slide in and out like butter. Although I am in Fresh water as well and don't have the challenges of the salt.

Amazon.com: 4oz Lube Tube - Pool Gasket Lubricant: Garden & Outdoor

This forum sure is a good place to hang out, isn't it.

It sure seems to consume a lot of my time and attention. Fantastic info and some great members.
 
So I did the replacement kit on both of the cleanout plugs and if you could see the smile on my face right now after ever so gently turning each of them into the lock position! I bought boat at end of 2019 and never took them out unless I had to and I can remember from early on, they were a bitch to get back in so I will be sure to take them out after each use to prevent them from expanding/contracting. The left one had the full blown ripple in the rubber skirt and the right one was starting to flare out just slightly but that is all it needs. Only remaining question is, is it necessary to spray with silicone after each use? every so often?

Thanks everyone for your input and guidance, a helpful forum is invaluable for a boat owner much less a 2nd year owner who is all thumbs mechanically. Thank you all again! I videoed putting them back in. I mean whose happy? This guy.

Take some pics of those plugs and post 'em up.

Maybe a look at them can be used by the group to figure out how this is happening or what might be the culprit.

Feels good to two-finger those bad boys, aye?!
 
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