Re: New to forum!!! please help!!!
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Sounds like you already bought the boat.
Hopefully, you did an "on water" test drive before buying. Many folks would NEVER buy a vehicle unless doing a little test drive first. Same applies to boat buying process as well. re: Drive it slow and fast to "feel" how it runs in all throttle ranges and within the corners. Also get a trusted boat mechanic to perform end/end inspection - to double check things out as well. re: Cylinder PSI, steering sloop, flooring, etc. etc.
A 19ft 4.3L is a heavy weight boat - compared to OB motor of equal length boat. Depending on your Tow Vehicle, do ensure the boat trailer has brakes. If pulling with a pickup, then brakes are probably optional. But if pulling with a little SUV or mini-van, then get brakes installed on the trailer. Don't follow braking laws for your area. Use Tow Vehicle weight / braking numbers to decide if boat trailer needs brakes. If wondering, I have full electric brakes on my boat trailer (hauling 17ft OB motor) and love my trailer brakes. We'll worth installing trailer brakes - for my Trailer/Boat and Tow Vehicle combo. If wondering, I use Tow Vehicle's onboard max "cargo capacity" as decision number. My vehicle has a rear cargo capacity of 1,500 lbs. If attached loaded trailer is > 1,500 lbs, then my attached trailer gets its own brakes. IMO, the current LAW of "one size fits all" 3,000 lbs number in my woods needs to be re-written. But, that's a topic for a different thread.
If all is "thumbs up" and you do buy this specific boat, do confirm prop sizes - based on your unique driving conditions. Being a used boat, the previous owner might have a prop with too high of pitch or too low of pitch. For example, they did lots of tubing where "hole shot" toque power was needed more. But you want faster cruising speed instead. Some folks love aluminum props (get 2 for the price of one) and some folks love SS (Stainless Steel) props better. Aluminum props are better for shallow waters (re: they break if hitting something too solid) and SS props tend to go faster speed. But if SS hits / catches something hard, there's very high risk of creating IO drive damage.
Talk about "fast" speed, never trust the boat's speedo-meter. Many of them are incorrect (by design or because their sensor is full of dirt). If wanting to get exact numbers of fast speed, use a GPS unit. When it comes to speed, MPH gauge isn't that important (to me). The dash gauge to focus on is engine RPM. My boat has WOT RPM of 5,200 but I find my boat cruises best at 4,000 RPMs. Its "sweet spot" where boat is on plane but its engine isn't sounding too loud. Your boat's engine will have its own RPM sweet spot. Just like automobiles, boat engine run best at their 75%-80% max RM range as well. Consistently at WOT (Wide Open Throttle) is hard on any engine.
A few mods / upgrades for your combo could be:
- LED lighting. If light assembly goes under water, then replace with LEDs.
- Trailer Tongue swivel jack
- Trailer Guides. They are mandatory when loading boat on a windy day.
- Have 2 x props. One geared for empty weight boat (for long distance cruising) and a lower pitch prop for tubing and/or being loaded down. Both props and wrench go with the boat and the other prop is onboard spare.
- Trailer brakes (depending on your Tow Vehicle size).
- Ski pole (instead of pulling from boat's transom hooks)
Hope this helps...
