Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded :(

First time launching a boat yesterday, first time in my own boat - didn't screw the launch up, puttered up a long no wake zone (Occoquan River headed to Potomac) and noticed a lot of boats were sticking to the right side in one spot...I guess I didn't realize why and found myself in some seaweed/grass. Motor kept turning the same speed but I felt us slowing. Gave it some throttle to get out of there and it turned faster RPMs but stayed slow moving for a minute.

I could feel our speed slowing from around 3 to 2 mph, and once clear of the zone I put it in N, then reverse, then F and gave it some throttle to clear any seaweed. Seemed to work - I briefly got underway and hit around 2k+ RPM. I slowed down for something and then it returned to puttering and would not go any faster.

Symptoms: in N it idles fine, around 1100. In gear the RPMs drop to around 750 RPM and the boat is crawling slow. Does not matter how much throttle it gets - RPMs stay around 750. I crawled across a bay (Belmont for any locals), anchored, and jumped out to feel the prop for grass/anything hanging off. Nothing I could feel. Restarted and crawled back up the river. After a stressful and excruciatingly slow trip back, loaded up and went home. All I could see was some grass around the hub.

While on the water I checked the fuel bulb and the fuel lines that I could see. All looked OK. Gas ought to be fine. The PO of the boat lived on a lake and used the boat all the time. Fuel pump was recently rebuilt. Brand new battery.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Dave
Manassas

edit: sorry it's a '88 70hp

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

First of congrats on the boat . Next what is the boat size, engine. From what I hear you telling us I would say first off maybe the motor had a problem before you got it. I would do a compression check on the engine. If you got seaweed in the intake ports of the engine and did and your over heating buzzer never whent off then you could have fryed the motor. Was there water coming out the engine ? more info would help

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

16 ft GT160 clone, 70 HP 88 Merc, seems to pump water fine ( kept my eye ob it yesterday). I test drove the boat before I bought it and it ran fine. Never heard a buzzer and I don't know if it has one.

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Idle for that engine is (in gear) 650-700 rpm, so you are OK for the moment. You can tweak it later if necessary.

In this link:

Mercury, Mercruiser, Force, etc. - Fuel Pump - 70/75/80/90 HP (3 CYLINDER)

Pull the fuel filter, item 21 and see how it is. if it is OK, pump the bulb up firmly and pull line 33 off the carb and with a container to catch the fuel, have some one crank the engine to see if you get fuel pulsing out of the line. This will clear up a few of the minor things.

What is your engine s/n?

Gerry

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

If the fuel pump was recently rebuilt , it was rebuilt for a reason. Pershaps that reason isnt what the rebuilder thought it was. If carbs st for a long time with crappy gas in them theres a good chance sludge will form and plug jets and passages in the carb up. The first thing that gets blamed is the fuel pump.

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

carholme said:

Idle for that engine is (in gear) 650-700 rpm, so you are OK for the moment. You can tweak it later if necessary.

In this link:

Mercury, Mercruiser, Force, etc. - Fuel Pump - 70/75/80/90 HP (3 CYLINDER)

Pull the fuel filter, item 21 and see how it is. if it is OK, pump the bulb up firmly and pull line 33 off the carb and with a container to catch the fuel, have some one crank the engine to see if you get fuel pulsing out of the line. This will clear up a few of the minor things.

What is your engine s/n?

Gerry

Click to expand...

I will try to check this tonight. I don't have the S/N handy but I'll find it.

wired247 said:

If the fuel pump was recently rebuilt , it was rebuilt for a reason. Pershaps that reason isnt what the rebuilder thought it was. If carbs st for a long time with crappy gas in them theres a good chance sludge will form and plug jets and passages in the carb up. The first thing that gets blamed is the fuel pump.

Click to expand...

IIRC the PO did the carbs recently too. I am not as suspicious about bad gas because the boat was used frequently by the PO, but I suppose that is still no excuse.

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Update:

Fooling around with it today and was reading about spun props. I took my prop off, examined it, and carefully watched it while turning it in N and F. Does not appear to be spun prop.

The prop spins easily in N. It spins easily in F with an audible click. It does not spin easily in R and it takes an effort to turn it.

Ring any bells? :/

Thank you,

Dave

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded



how about a Mrs. Killington bikini bump for ideas

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Not meaning to rain on your party, but it could be serious. I had my O/B out and it did the same thing. I was running WOT and it sputtered and slowed and shut off (stalled). I didn't think too much of it and restarted. The idle was perfect and hummed along but full throttle she wouldn't get off plane although it sounded like she was running fine. I slowed back to idle and she ran along just fine. Once back on land, I flushed her (was in salt water) and she purred. I figured some bad fuel, a little clog or something. Shut her off and went home. It was 3 months before I started her again...well...tried to start her. According to my mechanic it was probably a carb problem where the fuel got starved which stopped lubrication to one cylinder and I now have a stuck piston. Check your plugs and compression and if good, get the carbs cleaned.

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Go yellow bikini !!!

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

I wonder if Mrs. Killington knows you put her picture on here?

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Buzz Killington said:

how about a Mrs. Killington bikini bump for ideas

Click to expand...

jimmbo said:

I wonder if Mrs. Killington knows you put her picture on here?

Click to expand...

My wife would kill me if I put her picture on here.

LK

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

Dave;

You haven't mentioned whether or not you tried the fuel pump test. Did you get the s/n yet?

You may not be able to visually see a spun prop. You need to put a marker line across the hub and then put it in the water, run it in gear with as much throttle as you can and see what happens. Remove the boat from the water and check the previously marked line and if there are any breaks in that line, it means the prop has spun in the hub.

To test the lower unit gearing, using finger pressure only:

Forward: Prop will turn (ratchet) CW but will not turn CCW
Neutral: Prop will turn freely in either direction
Reverse: Prop will not turn in either direction

Gerry

Re: Blew it on my first day out - barely moving/almost stranded

I hate it when people don't update their threads...so here goes:

It was a busted throttle cable. Replaced it and the shifter cable, threw a new prop on, and hit 47 mph yesterday

Thanks for your ideas