Search results

20 hp will not plane your boat. So you are limited by hull speed, which is about 7 mph. The difference in performance would be negligible.

The one persistent problem with older Hondas is the oxygen sensor. They need to be replaced regularly. That's why Honda did away with them in the newer D models. Otherwise, they are reliable and fuel efficient (and heavy).

The standard dose of bleach for sanitizing boat and RV tanks is 1/4 cup per 10-15 gallons of water. Let stand for at least 3 hours before flushing. But if you have a lot of algae or mold in there, you will need to use more bleach, maybe 1 cup per 10 gallons. Higher bleach levels can damage...

You will like your boat a lot more with a 250. At cruise, they are quite efficient. If you want the best economy, but with slightly less hole shot performance, look into the Honda/Tohatsu 250 hp. This is what I get with my 226 at high cruise on a calm day:

Doc, how are things going with you guys? Getting old, Bob. I'm thinking about putting the 226 up for sale in a few months. They are giving us all of a 15 day gag grouper season this year. After that, I no longer see the point in keeping an offshore boat anymore. I hope things are going...

I was unable to find replacements years ago when mine started to crack. I ended up repairing the originals with Bondo and they are still holding up. I use mine for thawing frozen bait on the way offshore.

They all do that even if kept in a high and dry. I replaced mine with the vinyl cap 5 years ago when I re-powered. It was not too hard a job except for cleaning out what looked like 5200 used to seal the aluminum cap. My corrosion problem was related to the fact that the engine mount is in...

Check the fuel system as described above. There is no O2 sensor unless your engine is EFI. Also, test compression; if low, try de-carbonizing with SeaFoam or Ringfree.

Getting the right engine height is not rocket science. You just keep moving the engine up one hole at a time until you start to ventilate when turning sharply. Then you lower it one hole. Your engine looks far too low in the third picture. I would start by raising it 2 holes. Every hull...

When you are at anchor, the water runs forward from the bilge, and the bow gets pulled down by the rode. The float position in the aft bilge allows a fair amount of water to accumulate before the pump turns on. The forward bilge is quite low because of the shape of the hull. So the water...

These are from a 2008 Seafarer. They are in excellent condition. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss things.

What year is your Seafarer? I may have a set of armrests in good condition that might meet your needs.

That old hull can actually benefit from more weight on the transom. When I ran my old 204C, I had a padded 200 quart cooler that I mounted just in front of the spashwell. When I had passengers sitting back there on the cooler, the boat would ride a lot better in a chop than when they were...

My F250 would foul plugs because it made oil whenever I trolled. The oil level would eventually get high enough in the crankcase that it would go through the breather into the intake manifold. A bad fuel dilution problem like mine can't easily be fixed short of a rebuild. I got rid of my F250...

Any autopilot that interfaces with your NMEA2000 backbone will work, regardless of the manufacturer. I have a Furuno Navpilot 300 on my boat that is independent of my Simrad NSO EVO3. My neighbor has the same Simrad with a Simrad autopilot. Each has its pluses and minuses. The Simrad...

The old ones had a 3V lithium battery that was soldered in place behind the circuit board. It needs to go back to SIMRAD. They only make them to last 5 years or so. I don't know about the NSS, but there needs to be powered internal memory to store any configuration information.

Dielectric grease is silicon-based and contains no petroleum.

Yamaha actually specs 182 minutes of reserve capacity. That is probably overkill, but it will allow you to run the engine for about 3 hr after an alternator failure. It also provides plenty of power for a powerful amplifier system that uses a lot of juice to play music at anchor. If you just...

The best $20 you will ever spend if you maintain your own batteries: Load Tester Unless there is severe battery damage, a freshly charged battery will always show 12.6 or so volts. But what happens when you put it under a load like starting your engine? I've used this Harbor Freight piece of...

I have gone 7 years between replacements using Deka 27M6 flooded cell batteries in my last 3 boats. These are listed as starting batteries but are actually dual-purpose given the 182 minutes of reserve capacity. I leave my fish finder on full-time when I bottom fish and turn on the bait well...