New boat owner looking for help

[Spence340]

Just bought a 21' Sea Ray 6.3 Mid Cabin and we love the boat but when I went for our first ride with the owner who is an older gentlemen who has owned it for 20 years it would barely run above idle and kept stalling. The only way we could get it started was with a shot of ether and if you gave it much throttle it would die. I threw out the anchor and changed the fuel filter which I had bought the day before and we just made it back to the loading ramp. He said he put sta-bil in the fuel tank last fall and the tank is nearly full but I have a feeling the gas is bad and there is probably a lot of crap in the tank. I am planning to take off the large filler hose going to the tank and syphoning out the gas and see what I get. I pulled the 30" rubber fuel line off tonight and man was it old, cracked and nearly falling apart, so much so I wonder if it was the original hose. The boat has a 2009 4.3L V6 that the owner bought brand new from top to bottom from merc and said he barely used the boat after his wife died six years ago so it has very low hours. The boat has always lived on a trailer and was used for day trips. Any thing I should be looking for besides bad gas?

 

[roscoe]

Plugged up carb or injectors. low compression. Water in the cylinders or oil. spark on all plugs.

But I would have looked for a different boat. Certainly would not have bought that one unless it was priced $5,000 under value.

 

[Spence340]

I will pull a spark plug and see how it looks and it has what looks to be a 2bbl carb on it and if I do find a lot of junk in the tank you are probably right about it being plugged. I looked at a bunch of boats starting last December and this boat is one of the better ones I saw for the money which was very low for what I got and when the boat died out the owner immediately offered a $800 refund which I was delighted with. When he replaced the complete engine he also installed a brand new out drive and they both look like new today.

 

[harleyman1975]

I am leaning twords a dirty carb, water in the fuel or weak fuel pump. start with the canister filter and dump in a jar and let it sit a while see if it seperates. water goes to bottom. start changing anything that looks suspect as when a boat breaks down you cannot just get out and walk home.

 

[frantically relaxing]

As old as the boat is and with what you think is the original fuel lines-- and even if they're reasonably new, I'm going to wager a whole dollar that ethanol has dissolved much of the inside of the fuel line and the remains are in the carb.

If the gas doesn't smell like varnish, chances are it's fine. But if you do siphon it out, mix it with good gas and use it in your cars or mowers or whatever...

 

[Sprig]

Drain the tank and put fresh fuel in with stabilizer additive. He may have put stabilizer in last year but some or all of the gas may be years old. Install new fuel filter. Replace all rubber fuel lines. Ethanol has likely deteriorated them. Clean and rebuild the carb or get a new one. There may be more problems with the carb than just a rebuild will fix. Your problem is fuel related but I would also check the spark plugs and the air filter on the carb. In fact I would just go ahead and replace the spark plugs. After you do all that take her out and run it. If there are still problems you can then address them.

 

[Spence340]

Thanks for all the good advice and I sure have been thinking about the difference between breaking down in a car and a boat. It's a little scary for sure particularly since I will be on the ocean. Since the boat is on a trailer I picked up 12' of clear 3/8 hose and hooked it up to the feed from the tank and tried to syphon the gas out. I can get it all the way down to the container but it won't flow. Maybe I am not low enough to get a good gravity feed to overcome the three or four feet I have to go up to get over the side of the boat. I would like to put it through the drain hole on the bilge but the tube where you drain the oil blocks you from doing that. I'm thinking of driving over to the edge of a hill where I can get the syphon line down several feet lower than the bottom of the tank.

 

[wahlejim]

Just a couple of other PM items to address, especially since you will be on the ocean and don't want a breakdown that can be prevented.

-If Bellows have not been done since the engine and outdrive swap, replace those at this time. I replace them every 3 years, you will be hard pressed to find anyone that says to wait any longer than 5. If they fail, you can sink the boat.

-Lower Unit Impeller, even if it 'looks' fine, change it out. You can't tell if they are pumping like they should by looking at it. It's a relatively cheap item. Don't want to overheat that low hour engine you have there.

-New Distributor Cap, Rotor, and wires with the new spark plugs you are putting in. Double check timing when you do this. This will also eliminate these items as causes for the issue you are having.

Every single one of these items isn't a "wait and see" item. They are all PM items that new boat owners should address and start keeping records of.

In regards to draining the fuel, I would just change the oil in the engine, after you drain the oil, remove the oil drain tube, and go through the drain plug in the boat.

 

[Spence340]

Great info and I did get the tube through the drain hole by pushing the oil drain tube in and sliding the clear tube in next to it. Hooked up the tube to the fuel nipple on the tank and proceeded to siphon the gas again knowing I should have plenty of gravity flow this time. Strangely enough I have the same problem even with the straight shot out the drain hole. The gas flows for a couple of seconds and then stops and while it flows you hear a kind of whistle from the tank like a kids tin horn. I am thinking maybe something is coming up and blocking the intake tube on the inside of the tank. There is a welded block on the top of the tank that has a threaded hole where the nipple screws in. What is on the inside of the tank? Is there a feed tube that leads to the bottom of the tank and if so does it have any kind of screen or float on it that might be blocking the flow of gas?

 

[Spence340]

Fixed the draining problem, I did not realize the nipple to the tank had a check ball inside of it although it makes perfect sense that it would. Guess I'm starting to learn the differences between cars and boats. Siphoned out about 10 gallons so far and put it in to my work van which was pretty low on gas so I will use that as a test vehicle and see what happens. Gas did not look or smell too bad except for a very yellow color to it.

 

[wahlejim]

That check ball is an anti-siphon valve designed to keep fuel in the lines. It is not uncommon for those to get stuck and cause the exact same issues you have been dealing with. I would change that out and see if it solves the problem before proceeding further and throwing money at a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[Spence340]

Yes, I was planning on changing it out anyway but I think I may have found my immediate problem. I pulled the cap tonight and man I have never seen anything so bad. The green corrosion was completely covering the six contact points inside the cap and the rotor was pretty bad looking also. Ordered the parts today and can't wait to get them installed along with the new fuel line and fresh gas.