- Joined
- Aug 11, 2020
- Messages
- 634
- Reaction score
- 214
- Points
- 43
- Age
- 39
- Location
- Mid Atlantic
- Model
- Chase
as many of you know, i replaced the fuel tank myself this off season. wednesday last week, i finally got her out for the first time. (just writing this now because i had an out of town wedding right after)
the high notes:
everything related to the fuel tank went perfect. i had pre-filled the tank with 50 gallons (1 jerry can at a time) of ethanol free so i could make the run to the fuel dock with the best price (over $1.00 cheaper) for ethanol free fuel. got there and added 156 gallons. it filled just fine, burped at the end. no fuel in the bilge, no fuel smell. relieved and satisfied.
the boat ran great. with about 170 gallons, my wife, two small kids and our bags the engines hit 6k and we topped out at just over 52 mph. earlier, the wind kicked up a bit and we were getting some 1.5-2.0' waves at prob 2-3 seconds. i played around with just trimming the engines. i feel like these boats can achieve a good bit of negative trim with the engines and you can actually put the bow down a good bit without tabs. doing so knocked a about 1.5 mph off speed and gph went up a bit, but the ride definitely improved a good bit. family was comfortable. note, this was all around 30 mph, i assume closer to 20 mph, the tabs would definitely be needed.
got a great lunch and ice cream for the girls
the low notes:
so this is dumb-dumb me. i left the sea cocks open during the off season. we get on the boat and i put all our bags (clothes, towels, snacks) in the live well. let me tell you, the high speed pick up works great. everything was soaked when we went to get the wallet at the fuel dock. i hope i wont be making that mistake again
after fueling, i couldnt get the starboard motor to start. the port started but not super well. the starboard, just a series of clicks. pulled the cowling and the starter gear was still engaged in the flywheel. i was worried that it never retracted from the first start of the day and went bad from getting driven by the engine. i grabbed a wrench and tapped it back down. tried to start again and nothing. also didnt have enough power to tilt the motor out of the water. i ended up getting a hold of a mobile marine service company that is based 8 min from the fuel dock. they were able to send someone down right away. load tested the batteries - good. checked for loose connections - none found. turned out to be very minor surface corrosion on the negative cable end on the battery. he pulled went over them with a scrap piece of sand paper and everything was good. easy fix. i felt so stupid. this is the FIRST year that i have not sanded the cable eyes as part of my season prep process. i ve had boats for about 11 years now. this was the first year i stored the batteries in the boat, so i never disconnected them, therefore, never reconnected them. oh well. i wont make that mistake again.
slight sheen on the water when idling and smells like i am running rich. im not thinking bad spark plug since its running so strong. im thinking maybe an overly-ambitious injector. ill keep an eye on it and see how it goes. i plan on doing all 12 injectors next off season.
also, cut my feet up pretty good on a rogue rock while walking to shore in waste deep water carrying my kid. got sliced up pretty good, but kept the kid from going down, so maybe thats half low, half high point
the high notes:
everything related to the fuel tank went perfect. i had pre-filled the tank with 50 gallons (1 jerry can at a time) of ethanol free so i could make the run to the fuel dock with the best price (over $1.00 cheaper) for ethanol free fuel. got there and added 156 gallons. it filled just fine, burped at the end. no fuel in the bilge, no fuel smell. relieved and satisfied.
the boat ran great. with about 170 gallons, my wife, two small kids and our bags the engines hit 6k and we topped out at just over 52 mph. earlier, the wind kicked up a bit and we were getting some 1.5-2.0' waves at prob 2-3 seconds. i played around with just trimming the engines. i feel like these boats can achieve a good bit of negative trim with the engines and you can actually put the bow down a good bit without tabs. doing so knocked a about 1.5 mph off speed and gph went up a bit, but the ride definitely improved a good bit. family was comfortable. note, this was all around 30 mph, i assume closer to 20 mph, the tabs would definitely be needed.
got a great lunch and ice cream for the girls
the low notes:
so this is dumb-dumb me. i left the sea cocks open during the off season. we get on the boat and i put all our bags (clothes, towels, snacks) in the live well. let me tell you, the high speed pick up works great. everything was soaked when we went to get the wallet at the fuel dock. i hope i wont be making that mistake again
after fueling, i couldnt get the starboard motor to start. the port started but not super well. the starboard, just a series of clicks. pulled the cowling and the starter gear was still engaged in the flywheel. i was worried that it never retracted from the first start of the day and went bad from getting driven by the engine. i grabbed a wrench and tapped it back down. tried to start again and nothing. also didnt have enough power to tilt the motor out of the water. i ended up getting a hold of a mobile marine service company that is based 8 min from the fuel dock. they were able to send someone down right away. load tested the batteries - good. checked for loose connections - none found. turned out to be very minor surface corrosion on the negative cable end on the battery. he pulled went over them with a scrap piece of sand paper and everything was good. easy fix. i felt so stupid. this is the FIRST year that i have not sanded the cable eyes as part of my season prep process. i ve had boats for about 11 years now. this was the first year i stored the batteries in the boat, so i never disconnected them, therefore, never reconnected them. oh well. i wont make that mistake again.
slight sheen on the water when idling and smells like i am running rich. im not thinking bad spark plug since its running so strong. im thinking maybe an overly-ambitious injector. ill keep an eye on it and see how it goes. i plan on doing all 12 injectors next off season.
also, cut my feet up pretty good on a rogue rock while walking to shore in waste deep water carrying my kid. got sliced up pretty good, but kept the kid from going down, so maybe thats half low, half high point
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