Launch day, hopefully

[seasick]

I am on my way to my club to launch 'my other boat', the non Grady Hopefully that will go smoothly but stuff happens. Assuming all goes well, it should allow me to spend more time on the water and less ti,e posting! We all need a break!

The Grady is still in 'isolation' in another state and it may not see the water this year.

Updates later......

 

[trapper]

Trust all goes well, and as I am finding out, time on the water is a "Great Escape".....Enjoy!

 

[Sparkdog118]

That sounds great. Hope all goes well.

 

[seasick]

Well, the actual launching went well, no hiccups. I had the admiral lend a hand.
Motors started up and off we were for a shake down.
Port motor was running warmer than starboard but not so hot that I would consider it overheating. temps rose to 154.
On the way back port motor started smoking. I think it was steam. Engine display said CHECK ENGINE but gave no additional info.
The funny thing is that the same exact sequence happened last year at the start of the season and then went away.
Motors are 06 Optimax's and instrumentation is Smartcraft. Based on my monitoring of the water pressure I suspected the poppet valve and that was replaced last year. It may be sticking sometimes not closing completely and maybe sometimes not starting to close quickly enough.
I will take a general look under the cowling just to check for water and try another shake down soon. With any luck, the alarm and 'smoke' will go away. (wishful thinking)
One somewhat positive result: I had adjusted the toe out of the motors to get the motor wakes to meet as they should. Before the adjustment I couldn't see the wakes meet at all. Today they did meets about 6 to 10 feet out from the props. I will reduce the toe out a little bit to recheck. I want the wakes to meet no closer than 20 feet aft.

 

[RussGW270]

Very nice

 

[seasick]

I had an interesting phone chat with a fellow boater last night. He was out yesterday in the same waters I was and when the conversation turned to my engine smoking (steam I think) he said " Year I saw a lot of boat motors smoking yesterday. The weather was humid and there was dense fog rolling in. I am feeling better about the smoke since I think it was condensation related. Now I did wonder why one motor smoked a ton and the other didn't but the motor that didn't had coolant temps around 100 degrees while the smoking motor had temps around 145. I think the warmer water explains the difference in condensation in addition to the fact that the smoking water was dumping more water out of the idle boot drain(the up high water outlet).
Now I ask, why did one motor run hotter? Some water always spits out that drain but a lot indicates either a blockage in the drain water channels or a dump condition due to the pressure control valve, I have had this before and have replaced all the typical parts. I think that the pressure release valve sticks and is causing the temp fluctuation. Last year that problem cleared up all by itself after two or three runs.

I was also able to find a document that lists the possible causes for the Check Engine alarm. Many Optimax alarms trigger the horn and in different patterns for different conditions. Some alarms also switch the motor to Guardian mode similar to thee Yami safe/limp mode.
There are 6 alarms that will show the Check Engine alarm and not sound the horn or switch to limp mode. Three of them I can eliminate based on the motors performance. Two of them are sensor failures and I will test those sensors. The last is a high voltage or a medium low voltage(as opposed to a super low voltage).
The low voltage is a possibility since I did see the remaining gas level drop to just about zero for a minute or so and then back up to 35 gallons. I have seen incorrect gas level readings before, mainly after cranking the motor for a period of time without it starting. That cranking of course lowers the voltage at the motor and ECU. Hmmmmm.
Time to do some voltage and wiring checks. Now if the forecast would stop calling for rain, I might be able to get working on the boat.

 

[RussGW270]

Yea, most my mercs (not as much the 115 straight 6) smoked a little after sitting a bit. I never minded it much and usually went away.

The only time I had a real issue was a brand new opti. Took 9 months and a merc tech flew in to town to fix it. I knew what it was, but since under warranty, could not fix it myself. After 9 months got a free merc jacket, new prop, and called it fixed heh.

Solid engines, anyone with any engine could have an issue, is why I am new to yams.