First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the end)

BigMESA

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Jun 15, 2013
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So I just bought a nice used 1987 Procraft 1650v with a 115 Mercury Outboard. I bought it from a friend of a friend and was not able to test it out on the water before purchasing it but the guy is a cop and says if I have any problems with it just bring it on back. So I take it out to the lake today with my Dad because he's had many boats and I figure I will use him for a fountain of knowledge. We drop in, park the trailer, load up and start to head out but the boat revs up pretty high but will not plane out and go over 10MPH. Look back and the transom has about two inches of dry left, open the hatch to the battery compartments and my batteries are almost submerged from water!

Apparently we both assumed each other was smart enough to put the plug in. Nope.:facepalm:

We beach the boat as fast (really slow) as we can, drop the motor to brace the rear end up and turn the bilge on. It's not working!!! I can't find the plug either!!! He starts scooping water with a worm container left on the beach, I open up the other battery compartment and there is a set of alligator clips for something.....hook them up and the bilge starts pumping! Find 4 plugs in a compartment, jump out and shove a plug in bottom of rear of the hull, but my boat apparently has like 10 holes all over it that plugs can fit into and I don't have a clue what they all go to. I start shoving plugs in the holes till I run out, tear up my shirt and stuff it in the holes, and sit back for 30 minutes while the bilge dumps the water out like a hydrant! It had taken on so much water that the drain in the floor overflowed and put about 10 gallons in the floor of the boat. We got real lucky. After she was empty we turned around and headed straight for the dock (100 yards away) The boat was still only going 10 mph and nose way up. Loaded up on the trailer and pulled her out, removed the plug and it started pouring out of the hull. I don't know how much it was still holding but it was a lot more than I thought would be left in there.

Would that extra water make my boat so heavy that it could not go faster than 10mph and plane out even with me on the bow (220lbs)? At this point I'm concerned if I have a motor issue, was the boat just waterlogged, or what....:confused:

I checked the prop and hub to make sure it wasn't spun and it isn't...tach doesnt work so I don't know the RPM. This is all with the engine trimmed all the way down and WOT.

Any suggestions? I'm going to put it back in later on this week (with the plug!) and try it again.
 

oldjeep

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Yes, a bunch of water in the boat could certainly cause it to be slow and not plane. 8lbs per gallon all in the back of the boat. Try it out again.
 

roscoe

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

How exactly did you check the prop hub?

You have to mark it and run it in the lake to do it right.
You can't just try to turn it by hand, unless your hands can produce 115hp.

Start over, check out your equipment.
Get things wired up properly.
Plan out a launch procedure.
Do it the same way every time.

Go back to the lake.
 

BigMESA

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

When I got home I pulled the prop off. It's a brand new Hustler 13.25 x 19P I just put on and it has a separate hub that I removed and inspected closely. It looks like this....

708-501.jpg

There was no signs of damage at all to it. The prop that was on the motor when I got it was a 17P but he told me that the prop he used he took off and gave to his dad and just put that one on their. I went to a marina store and talked to the guy there who looked up online and said that the 19P would be good for me.
 

airshot

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Get a set of muffs and test your motor before going to the lake. Get your tach working and everything else in working order before splashin it again. Out in the lake is no place to find serious boat problems or we will be reading about you in the newspaper.

Airshot
 

oldjeep

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Get a set of muffs and test your motor before going to the lake. Get your tach working and everything else in working order before splashin it again. Out in the lake is no place to find serious boat problems or we will be reading about you in the newspaper.

Airshot

Not really any point of running it on the muffs - he knows it runs. Only putting a load on it in the lake (without a boat full of water) is going to tell him what he needs to know.
 

ricohman

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

You sound like my friend when he launched without the plug.
He came over to pick me up and by the time we went out the old 470 wouldn't take us above 10mph. Only one plug in his boat and he put it in in the middle of the lake.
 

crabby captain john

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Sounds like he had at least a couple hundred pounds of water at the stern-- sure could effect speed.
 

batman99

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

.... Apparently we both assumed each other was smart enough to put the plug in. Nope.:facepalm: Any suggestions? I'm going to put it back in later on this week (with the plug!) and try it again.

Funny you posted this today. Had my 17ft bayliner with 120 HP OB out today and did the exact same thing. re: Forgot to put its lower stern plug in as well. As we were slowly pulling away from the dock, my wife is at the back of the boat going "WOW - where's all the water coming from?". Luckily, I was able to flip on the bulge pump, turn around and wimp back to the dock. Slowly backing into shallow water (along the dock's side), I was able to jump in and put the plug in. And after 5 minutes, the bulge pump "finally" got all its water out. During these 5 minutes, I thought my boat spun a prop or its prop was loaded down with weeds as well. re: RPM at 4,000 and its was only doing max 8 mph. And yes, water is very heavy. Especially that large amount of water in its stern area (which makes its bow go high). With all water pumped out, my boat is now fine. The rest of our day went great. And, hard lesson learned as well....

With above in mind, simply drain the water out and give your boat another test drive. Worked great for my boat today.
 

BigMESA

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Well I drained the boat out and took it back in for a second go around. This time we had a hard time getting the motor cranked and when we did get it going and let it idle for a while it just died when we would put it in gear. It would just bog down real quick and shut off. The engine smells heavily of gas and there was a oily sheen on the water around the motor so I think we may have flooded the crap out of it. Pulled it back out of the water after having it in for only about 20 minutes, pulled the drain plug and had a lot of water come out of the drain hole. Not a cup or two but an estimated few gallons :eek:

Took it home and put the muffs on it and cranked it up, had a hard time getting it cranked again. Opened the engine up and inspected and saw no fuel leaks. My gas line is pretty worn from sun and weather so it may have a pinhole in it if that could cause the same symptoms. Pulled out a cup of gas and letting it sit in a jar overnight to see if I have water in the gas as well. Don't know where the water is coming from when I pull the plug but overall it's been a disheartening first day
 

oldjeep

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

You sure you have all the plugs in?

Next step is to put it in the water right by the dock and start looking for where the water is coming in.
 

spoilsofwar

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Don't know where the water is coming from when I pull the plug but overall it's been a disheartening first day

Most likely location is one of your thru-hulls or associated plumbing (based on the make/model I will assume there is a livewell). The cap/hull joint under the rubrail is also a possible spot, but doesnt seem as likely based on the fact that you weren't really moving anywhere and still got a bunch of water in the boat.

Also possible it was leftover water from your forgot-the-plug mishap. I know you said you drained it, but are you sure you drained it all?
 

batman99

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Within your first post, you wrote "the guy is a cop and says if I have any problems with it just bring it on back". As a suggestion, give the guy (cop) a call. He might have a few ideas to resolve. If sounds too complex and it needs to see a boat doctor, will this person pay for the doctor visit? Or, pay for 1/2 the cost? Or, can you simply return the boat to the cop?

For basic engine diagnoses, I'd also do cylinder compression test, change inline gas filter (in case its plugged) and do the primer bulb test as well. re: Is the primer bulb hard? If idling bad and you squeeze the primer bulb, does its RPM increase? If yes, it could be a bad fuel pump (or weak fuel pump diaphragm). Need a fuel pump kit installed. If coming out of winter storage, its carbs might need carb kits (and new float needle) installed as well. If wondering, my boat got 2 x carb kits and fuel pump kit installed this spring. Simple DIY task - following lots of You-Tube videos. My boat's engine now purrs evenly as a happy kitten (well, almost).

Hope these ideas help...
 

BigMESA

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Most likely location is one of your thru-hulls or associated plumbing (based on the make/model I will assume there is a livewell). The cap/hull joint under the rubrail is also a possible spot, but doesnt seem as likely based on the fact that you weren't really moving anywhere and still got a bunch of water in the boat.

Also possible it was leftover water from your forgot-the-plug mishap. I know you said you drained it, but are you sure you drained it all?

When I drained it I put the trailer tongue on a 3' 4x4 to pitch it really high and let it sit for about 4 hours. The boat has several holes in it, 10 to be exact. 2 in the upper transom, drain hole in the stern, livewell drain next to it, livewell intake next to it, bilge pump out on rear driver side, rear livewell overflows on each side in the rear, one overflow in the front and one livewell intake in the front. Cannot see any visible water anywhere in the boat when in the water or on the trailer but somehow water is filling up that drain :(
 

crabby captain john

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Not sure what "2 in the upper transom" are for. Seems they may be too high to take on water except a minimal amount launching. Drain hole is plugged.... bilge out flow should also be too high to take on water. Those go to the bottom of the potential problem list. I'd start by plugging all the other tru-hulls except the live well then open the others one at a time to see if the water is coming in one of those.
 

Home Cookin'

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

on the trailer, put in the plugs, fill it with a hose, watch for water coming out

check the hose connections for the through-hulls

here's a tip for those who forget the plug: instead of panicking, the first thing is stick a plastic bag across the plug hole. the water pressure will make a tight seal. then start bailing/pumping.
 

pikefisherman

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Just a tip: I put my plug in the lock at the ball if draining, then put it in when I load up.
 

oldjeep

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

Just a tip: I put my plug in the lock at the ball if draining, then put it in when I load up.

Unfortunately that is not legal everywhere. I used to only pull mine briefly when seeing if there was anything to drain, now it must be out when on the road.
 

BigMESA

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Re: First Post First Boat. Put it in the water and nightmare ensued (Question at the

on the trailer, put in the plugs, fill it with a hose, watch for water coming out

check the hose connections for the through-hulls

here's a tip for those who forget the plug: instead of panicking, the first thing is stick a plastic bag across the plug hole. the water pressure will make a tight seal. then start bailing/pumping.


When you say fill it with water are you saying to fill every compartment up to cover the level the holes are at?

My motor is still giving me fits too. I changed the sparkplugs today and put the muffs on. The primer bulb is going flat but I already pulled the tune in the gas tank to make sure it wasn't clogged, I'm suspecting the check valve in the bulb is getting stuck because if I slightly squeeze on it it regains fullness. The carbs are also dripping fuel off of them after about 5 minutes of running. I think I'm going to just bite the bullet and take it in to a mechanic to get the motor running right. I'm pretty confident that I can find the water leak and even if it's a crack in the hull I can repair that myself.
 
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