New to boats, hair turning grey...

Hey All, New guy here Just picked up a 1977 Glastron v174 with a AQ130D and a 280 drive and need some advice. I am new to boats but not to engines, this is causing me some issues because I can't drop it in the lake to test it out every day. First I will tell you the work I have done so far. Needless to say I picked up this boat in less than perfect condition to say the least. When I got it there were a few issues that I needed to address right away, but I saw it run so knew that I could tackle them. First, there was a damn cheese cloth rag in place of the gas cap, so I had a tank full of crap, I completely drained the tank, and cleaned out the tank and all lines. I also rebuilt the fuel pump and installed a backup electric inline, and replaced the water seperator presently fuel flow is awesome, the bowls fill quickly. I also broke the solex 44PA carbs down to parade rest and did a complete cleaning, the gaskets were in good shape so I was able to reuse them. They both appear to function correctly from my experience with carbs. I also replaced the plugs, and checked the wires. The cap and rotor look less than desireable, a couple cracks in the cap but not too bad. The bosch distributor looks alot like a .009 used in old Porsches so i am very fimiliar with them, cleaned the points and checked the weights, seems to work fine. I have checked to make sure I have the plugs in the 1342 order correctly and they are. So to recap, I have gone through the fuel system and the ignition system, they both seem very basic to me, I am probably way off base by saying there isn't too much to miss on them. Now to the problem.
The boat starts beautifully in my yard, runs smooth with no popping or missing at all sounds perfect. I am pretty sure that the timing is damn near dead on without even dropping a light on it by the way it starts, it catches right off dependably, even when cold first thing in the morning. When I drop it in the lake, she starts up great and accelerates up to about 2000 rpm to get out of the no wake zone with zero issues, then the confounding part. If I have only 2 people in the boat it will eventually plane off at about 4000 rpm (31mph) it takes about 2 or 3 minutes to get there, there is a slight hesitation about 1/2 throttle but pushes through with no problem. If even one person is in the back of the boat, it will never accelerate over 2500 or maybe 3000 (10mph) and forget having more than 2 passengers and going over ferry speed. Once I had it briefly get up to 25mph with 3 people, but all of them had to be in the front half of the boat. I am no expert, but this is no 130 horses pushing this boat, I would say it is about 50 if that. I have not put a compression guage on it, but there are none of the signs of poor compression, and no sounds of valve slapping when it runs, so I am not convinced that the problem is deep in the engine.. any suggestions? Experience with this problem? Thanks in advance for your help

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

These little engines need to be in perfect tune.

Dwell to 62 degrees, timing spot on with a timing light and full advance checked.

What pitch prop are you running?

Should turn at least 5000 at WOT.

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

I have no idea what prop I have on it, I do know that the guy I got it from gave me another prop he said was better for power until they broke it. Is there usually a stamp on a prop telling the pitch? I have wondered for a while if this is a prop issue, she gets going pretty quick (31-34mph) with 2 people, but any more and she won't get up to plane. I will drop a light on it this weekend along with a dwell meter to see where she is at. Also forgot 2 things, I put in a new coil, nothing significant, but noticed my tach is slightly eratic. Could a faulty tach cause this kind of issue? If it was grounding it would cause a cut out right??

Just checked the prop, it is stamped 14 R 19, advice?

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

If you're gettin 31 at 4 grand you are probably way over propped.

You might also be carrying around some extra weight in the way of waterlogged foam. Is the floor solid?

I cary three props, 14X15, 14X17 and 16x17. I run the 16X17 when I'm alone and get 36 at 5200.

Make sure the tune is perfect and check your WOT RPM again.

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

Any suggestions on what prop would be best to carry 3-5 people at a decent speed? maybe pull a tube?

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

I'd drop to 17 pitch for sure and maybe 15 pitch cupped prop. I would imagine that they can cup a Volvo prop, they cup everything else. FYI cupping is where they give all or part of the trailing edge of a prop a little extra curve or cup. It helps hole shots and can act like adding one inch of pitch.
See if you can find a place that will let you try different props. Sometimes places will let you try a prop for a small fee, or free as long as it comes back in the same condition you took it.
A rule of thumb I've always known for propping is to put all the stuff you normally have in the boat when you go out, anchors, beer, gas, people, etc. If your propped correctly you should be able to run at WOT, 5200 in your case, fully trimmed with all that stuff in the boat. If you are by yourself you will likely over rev so you will need to throttle back a little to stay at 5200. This has usually worked very well for me.
If you can't obtain WOT with all the stuff you need to drop a pitch. Usually diameter of the prop will go up as pitch decreases.

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

Here's a good place to start: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=295070

I'd also say that you really don't have a good tuneup if you haven't replaced the cap and rotor or checked the dwell and timing. Tuneup parts for the distributor will be based on the distributor model number stamped in the side or on a brass plate on the distributor.

Adding an electric pump without the safety features is an explosion hazard and is asking for trouble. These engines work just fine with the mechanical pump. Keep checking the fuel filter to make sure it's not getting clogged and that you've got all the water out of the tank.

Would also be a good idea to weigh the boat. To give you an example, my 18 footer weighs in at about 1400 lbs. dry. With a 17p, 4 bladed prop, I top out at 5200 rpm and 30 mph. It sounds as though you're a bit overpropped and overweight (the boat - not you )!

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

Thanks for the advice, I plan on tackling each of these issues as I can get to them. I have to club the closest alligator to the boat first and I am now thinking from your guidance that I have a big prop problem (no pun intended). I do have another prop that was damaged, I am considering getting it repaired but I have no clue what size it is, any info would help me decide to repair or replace. The side of it is stamped with _1138_ the underscores are actually each a number 1. What I can still read on the end says Michigan SMC 574.

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

If you're going to concentrate on the prop, it's best to start a new thread over in that section. But I gotta tell ya, until you verify the dwell and timing and get a decent cap and rotor on there, I think you're efforts might be wasted.

Re: New to boats, hair turning grey...

OK, so heeding the advice from you all, I have the problem solved. I decided to ditch the points and go with an electronic ignition, and also order a new 16 pitch prop just like the damaged one I had. Got a new cap and rotor, if anyone is interested it is the same as a Porsche 914 distributor cap, save some money $14 for the set at your local Autozone. I checked the timing yesterday and as I suspected it was right on, but waited to put in the electronic stuff. Today I took it out to the lake with just the new prop being different, brought the electronics with me because that is a quick job to do if I needed to, but didn't need to. Turns out my problem was in the prop that came on the boat. 5 people in the boat and topped out at 4700 rpm/ 27 mph, not a world record but I'm good with it. Tomorrow I will put in the electronic ignition/ 3 ohm coil and start on the little crap that seems to plague evereyone on this site. Thanks for the advice!