First post after lurking here for years. Used to have classic fiberglass boats with Mercury 1000 outboards. Thought I'd "upgrade" to a newer boat and have less problems... So i'm more accustomed to working on outboards that I/O so please bear with me.
Last weekend I had to work on the control box because the handle was coming lose. This is a 2000 Chris Craft 232 with the above mentioned VP gear (chevy block, btw). But they decided to use an OMC control box instead of a VP. I worked through that problem with some posts on this forum. When I went to start the boat before taking it to the lake yesterday it wouldn't start, I had the handle installed a few notches off and the neutral safety switch wasn't engaged. Fixed that and went to the lake.
We ran up and down the lake about 20 miles with no problems all day. On the way back to the dock we did some donuts, nothing too wild, probably 30ft diameter. After the last one I stopped to talk to the family (engine still running) and when we went under way it was fine until I hit about 5mph. The engine will rev to 4000 RPM but the boat would shake and only go to about 10 MPH, I can usually top out at around 40 MPH at 4000 RPM.
We idled back to the ramp and I thought I'd find a busted prop or something wrapped around the prop but it looked fine.
I have not gone out to work on the boat yet but am wondering if anyone has any ideas. Is it possible for the outdrive to not quite completely shift into gear, since I was messing with the controls? Where should I start?
Thanks!
Dan
Last weekend I had to work on the control box because the handle was coming lose. This is a 2000 Chris Craft 232 with the above mentioned VP gear (chevy block, btw). But they decided to use an OMC control box instead of a VP. I worked through that problem with some posts on this forum. When I went to start the boat before taking it to the lake yesterday it wouldn't start, I had the handle installed a few notches off and the neutral safety switch wasn't engaged. Fixed that and went to the lake.
We ran up and down the lake about 20 miles with no problems all day. On the way back to the dock we did some donuts, nothing too wild, probably 30ft diameter. After the last one I stopped to talk to the family (engine still running) and when we went under way it was fine until I hit about 5mph. The engine will rev to 4000 RPM but the boat would shake and only go to about 10 MPH, I can usually top out at around 40 MPH at 4000 RPM.
We idled back to the ramp and I thought I'd find a busted prop or something wrapped around the prop but it looked fine.
I have not gone out to work on the boat yet but am wondering if anyone has any ideas. Is it possible for the outdrive to not quite completely shift into gear, since I was messing with the controls? Where should I start?
Thanks!
Dan