Finding oil in the bilge?? The Advance has a very close tolerance between the oil drain kit fitting and the hull bottom. My "rescue boat" an '88 Advance was leaking oil in the bilge, and the oil drain fitting (threads into the oil pan drain plug hole & has a 3' section of hose attached to facilitate easy oil changes) was resting on the bilge bottom, actually rubbed a dish into the hull! This was suspected when I did an alignment & needed to raise the engine a 1/2". I pulled the motor & found a dented pan & 3 pinholes near the drain fitting. The cause: NEGLECT I don't think an alignment was ever done on this boat & it settled down every season until the oil pan was resting on the bottom. All the paint was rubbed off in the drain area & rust began eating the steel until it began leaking.
PLEASE CHECK your clearance, you should be able to put your finger between the oil drain fitting & the bilge, if you don't you will be looking at a nasty little $$$ job. Oil pans run $200+, on this job I will be trying something new, rather than replacing the pan with another with close tolerance I will cut & weld an angled bottom section to improve this. Will post pics when figure out how, but my son wants to ski with the boat this weekend, so I gotta go back to work.
