Sidetracked again ( I now own a boat)

[mwilson]

I just want to add that this thread is not a "Neener, neener, I got a boat and you don't" kinda' thing....from the responses that I get people actually like to follow my various mis-adventures so I certainly didn't want to leave anybody out of this one....
Bought it cheap so I can kind of enjoy it and learn something new, like a floating classroom....

Figured some would enjoy my totally out of the blue foray into all things marine. I will tell you that some of this stuff is funky for sure.

I can say that having it tied up out front is a lot easier than owning one that has to be trailered somewhere for every little ride, and also it means that I am close to home in the event of a breakdown. We have lived on the lake for 15 years and up until now have only owned a 12' Montgomery Ward aluminum boat with a 6hp outboard and a paddleboat.
We do seem a lot more popular all of a sudden and it has become a challenge to keep food in the fridge...last night there were 13 people including the wife and I at the house for supper....kinda' fun....

I have learned to wheelbarrow the gas cans down front, a lot easier on my back. Pulling screaming kids on tubes seem to require a fair amount of fuel.

I even take my tools down to the dock in the wheelbarrow, like a service truck you push....

 

[mwilson]

Also learned the other night after running it out of gas that my wife really can paddle....she is an interior painter and does it all by hand. Upper body strength like a small gorilla for sure. She knelt in the front of the boat on the seat cushions and paddled us about a 1/4 mile back to the dock. 5 people and two dogs in it didn't even slow here down. We all offered to take turns but she continued to insist that she was fine. I stopped arguing after a bit and set down on the engine cover enjoying the night lights of the shore front while she paddled us home....those are adventures you remember....

We know everyone on the lake, people could hear us laughing and joking but when they looked out on the lake and saw running lights moving without any motor noise they came down to the lake shore as we went by and offered tows, fuel, booze, whatever we needed but we were good....told them I had 25 gallons of gas at the house, just didn't happen to have any in the boat at that particular moment......

 

[Wayne M.]

No, this is great reading. Always good around here!
The only regret I have was passing up a late '60's PennYan tunnel drive runabout with a 318 Chrysler in it. That was a cool boat, but I had other interests.
I have 5 years commercial marine mechanic experience with the City as we had a small floatilla of debris skimmers and support eq. That was something I didn't plan on doing, but enjoyed it!

 

[RVTRKN]

I always keep a cheap set of rafting paddles that can collapse to about 12"-18", just for that reason. Lost my ECM to a 85HP outboard that doubles as a alternator. Lucky for me it was just as we finished a 40 mile round trip on the Colorado River at Lake Havasu, however the motor stopped running just as we entered the Havasu Channel were the London Bridge (Yes, its the original London Bridge from London England) spans the channel. There was no where to beach/moor it for around a mile, those cheap paddles worked great.

 

[RVTRKN]

I would do the bellows and inspect the u-joins and bearings. Cheap insurance, as it is hard to "walk home". Get the Alpha One service manual, I believe it comes apart in pieces. My Volvo 280 was a 10-15 minute job to pull the top section.

Yup good advise there, however its moored in the water, if the bellows were leaking, it would be sunk. That is the major service I'm referring to, that mine needs, but its not that simple especially if you replace the Gimbal Bearing.

 

[BigPapa]

Good reading, Mike. Keep it up.

You will find if you leave it in the water you will get a lot of "growth" on anything below the water line, including the drive, that causes major performance issues and it's a MAJOR PAIN to clean off. If you plan to leave it in the water all season, I'd look into a lift or drive-on dock.

 

[mwilson]

Took it out last night for a quick ride, must have picked some more crap when I ran it out of gas. Carb will be coming back off tonight. I doubt it's a filter or supply issue as I would not have had the top end.

High end was fine but at low to medium throttle it was acting up, a fuel issue for sure....and yes, it's full of gas....

If the disassembly, inspection and cleaning tonight does not hold, then I'm done with it. I will order a brand new carb. I knew a rebuild was a crapshoot , it was a mess inside.

 

[SnoKing]

The cost of a new carb is going to knock you over. SnoKing

 

[BigPapa]

The cost of a new carb is going to knock you over. SnoKing

Afraid so. It's not the same as an automotive carb.

 

[mwilson]

The cost of a new carb is going to knock you over. SnoKing

I THINK I saw one for $345.00 the other night on e-bay or Amazon, need to dig into it deeper tonight if things look bad once I get the carb opened up.

 

[mwilson]

Side trip, had to fix the A/C in the Yukon last night....just before the boat ride..

https://www.turbodieselregister.com...-on-GM-Burbs-and-Yukons?p=2515829#post2515829

 

[mwilson]

Afraid so. It's not the same as an automotive carb.

Agreed, some funky stuff goes on there. No vacuum pull off for the choke, different throttle cable attachment, all kinds of stuff.......

 

[HPSimpson]

Sounds like that carb is toast since you need through cleaning, time for new one so you can take boat out an enjoy.

 

[mwilson]

It may simply need to be re-visited. I'm really thinking that some more guck from the tank got up in it....

My Honda EUI2000 generator had a head fit from bad gas (I treat all of my fuel but time got away from me and the Honda did not get started for 3 years!!!) and I had to tear that carb down three times before I got whatever speck of junk out of whatever it happened to be stuck in....

by the third time I was pretty fast at getting it disassembled and laid out on the bench....

 

[mwilson]

This afternoon I completed another tear down, flush and douche of the carb, more crap was in it.

Just now took it out and it runs great. Got the throttle cable adjusted so the idle screw on the carb is now touching as it should. Tach has been way off but read on the Bayliner forum that there is a selector screw on the back where you set how many cylinders 4, 6. or 8 and the crud will build up in there. Checked it out and mine is marked 1,2,3,4,6 and 8.
Was set on 1......I turned it and worked it back and forth, now it seems the most accurate on 8...
Before at 1/2 throttle it would show like 4,000 rpms.....no way.
I think it's pretty close right now.

Take it out again later for a longer ride and see how she runs...

 

[mwilson]

Now I'm going to install a new radio, one that in it was toast......have a couple spares in the garage so I can rig one of those up..

Ever looked up behind the dash of a boat???? Wow, not pretty....wiring is not bad but the fasteners and wood blocks make for a second look. I suppose that's fine, just not used to seeing it. I do believe it is in an un-molested state other than the key switch,,,,it must have went bad at some point and the replacement switch they used had threaded terminals, the factory one must have had spade terminals as there are little short conversion jumper wires to make the switch work...not real fussy about that and will re do it when I get time...

 

[BigPapa]

Ever looked up behind the dash of a boat???? Wow, not pretty....

Boat building's kind of like making sausage, it sure is good after it's made but you don't want to watch them making it.....

 

[mwilson]

Well, just came in from solid 1 1/2 hour run and I THINK I got it this time... much of the time just off idle which is where it ran the worst before. Now very smooth..

 

[RVTRKN]

There is a spin on fuel filter/water separator for Mercrusier. Here is a link as an example. https://www.walmart.com/ip/OEM-Merc...1965&wl11=online&wl12=669440833&wl13=&veh=sem Getting to that tank to flush it out is almost impossible without rebuilding the floor/deck of the boat. A little bit of rough seas and half a tank of fuel, with the fuel filter being changed every third tank over a season of boating will help. And it'll keep your carb clean if you run it out of fuel again.

 

[mwilson]

There is a spin on fuel filter/water separator for Mercrusier. Here is a link as an example. https://www.walmart.com/ip/OEM-Merc...1965&wl11=online&wl12=669440833&wl13=&veh=sem Getting to that tank to flush it out is almost impossible without rebuilding the floor/deck of the boat. A little bit of rough seas and half a tank of fuel, with the fuel filter being changed every third tank over a season of boating will help. And it'll keep your carb clean if you run it out of fuel again.

Thanks for that info, I'll look and see where I might be able to mount it the next time that I have the engine cover off.

I think that I missed a few chunks on the first rebuild, when I went back for the second round there was a very small flake of something hanging out of the end of a venturi tube so that may have been the low end culprit. I ran a bunch more carb cleaner and shop air through all of the passages, then used my torch tip cleaner to scour things some more. Runs really well now..
There was some sandy looking particles that the fuel filter / screen thingy trapped so there is more in the tank for sure. I'm considering adding a 3/8" inline chunk catcher filter for now, I think I have clear see through ones on hand upstairs. Gotta' go look today.
Only thing left is it still starts a little mean when warmed up, haven't got that quite figured out yet.

Sent the bent prop to a machinist up in Millinocket who will have it refurbed today. Around $60.00 so I'll have a usable spare now for not much money.