Two Questions

[Silver Eagle]

I uised to have a 21 ft Bow rider with a 230 hp V8 I/O.Now I have a 24 ft Pontoon boat. Big differance. Now ,how do I know if my motor is giving me the proper angle in the water. .I can't see it. What I'm getting at is ,In my old boat I could change the out drive to make the boat plane out so I could get more speed out of it and burn less fuel. I know a pontoon boat won't hit 70 or 80 so how do I know when the boat is riding properly in the water.I put a leveling device on the side rail to check the level but I don't know what to look for. The boat is 24 ft long and powered by a 90 hp two stroke Merc. The other question is about the tach .I can be at a contant speed on flat water and the tach. is moving a 1,000 rpms. The motor sounds contant.Sometimes it's at 3,000 then I look and it's at 4,000 If I tap the glass it drops back to 3,000. Is it a bad guage. How does this thing work? Is it hooked up to the engine or what.? I usually run 13.5 to 15 at 3200 rpms. Max rpms is 5500 I never go past 4,000.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Two Questions

Welcome to the slower but no less awesome world of pontooning. When it comes to trimming your motor for performance, there's some but not a lot you can do. I'm sure you know barges don't plane, so forget the level and try to think of your motor as a lever, then just do whatever it takes to keep the fronts of the toons from digging into the water. The amount of adjustment required to accomplish that mainly depends on weight distribution. You'll be amazed what a difference it makes when everyone rides at the front or on one side. I have a 21' with a 90. Generally (but not always) I get my best performace when the top of the motor appears to be parallel with the water, but don't be afraid to experiment. What works for me may not for you since your barge is three feet longer. In other words, it's really just trial and error, grasshopper. Now, it does sound like you might have a flaky tach, but it's possible you could have engine and/or prop issues. When you say 13.5-15 are you referring to MPH? If so, is that what you're getting at WOT, and is that when you're getting the 3200 RPM reading? If that's the case, something is definitely off. WOT, properly propped with clean toons and proper engine performance I'd think you should be getting around 20 MPH @ 5200-55000 RPMS with a light load. Since they're not expensive, probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and replace the tachometer first so you can confirm whether you're in the correct RPM range and go from there. And, if you haven't already, go ahead and check the compression on the engine so you can rule out the obvious. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Two Questions

+1 for Incoop

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: Two Questions

Welcome to the slower but no less awesome world of pontooning. When it comes to trimming your motor for performance, there's some but not a lot you can do. I'm sure you know barges don't plane, so forget the level and try to think of your motor as a lever, then just do whatever it takes to keep the fronts of the toons from digging into the water. The amount of adjustment required to accomplish that mainly depends on weight distribution. You'll be amazed what a difference it makes when everyone rides at the front or on one side. I have a 21' with a 90. Generally (but not always) I get my best performace when the top of the motor appears to be parallel with the water, but don't be afraid to experiment. What works for me may not for you since your barge is three feet longer. In other words, it's really just trial and error, grasshopper. Now, it does sound like you might have a flaky tach, but it's possible you could have engine and/or prop issues. When you say 13.5-15 are you referring to MPH? If so, is that what you're getting at WOT, and is that when you're getting the 3200 RPM reading? If that's the case, something is definitely off. WOT, properly propped with clean toons and proper engine performance I'd think you should be getting around 20 MPH @ 5200-55000 RPMS with a light load. Since they're not expensive, probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and replace the tachometer first so you can confirm whether you're in the correct RPM range and go from there. And, if you haven't already, go ahead and check the compression on the engine so you can rule out the obvious. Good luck and let us know what you find.

I'm not having problems with the speed. I only go 13.5 to 15 until I can trust my Tach. It'll go faster.The motor will go up to 5500 rpm's but how can I trust my tach. Has anyone ever removed one. ?MY motor manual doesn't say anything about one connected to the engine so I need to find out how it is installed. The other problem is I can't tell if the boat is running level or with the front up.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Two Questions

As Incoop said, you should just change the tach. They aren't that expensive. There are four wires on the back of most tachs; hot, common, tach signal, and light. It is very easy to change.

The pontoon will never be level nor should it be. Observe other pontoons and experiment with your trim before getting too concerned about it being level.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Two Questions

The seat of your pants is the best indicator of proper trim. Think what happened when you got on plane with your bow rider. Things smoothed out and the rush from the water seemed to quiet considerably did it not??? Although less pronounced on a pontoon that same effect applies. Forget about your tach and make a wide open throttle run while experimenting with trim. If you have a speedometer, at some point you will see a 1 or 2 MPH speed increase and the boat will seem to smooth out a bit. That's optimum trim but only for the current load and speed. Trim is not a one size fits all. It varies depending on speed and and load. At 12 - 15 MPH you likely will not feel any difference regardless where trim is set. At those speeds the boat is likely plowing so setting trim so the motor is straight up and down is fine.

As for the tach, it requires +12 volts, ground, a light and a pulse signal from the engine in order to operate. I too feel you have a buggered tach. It is held in the panel with a "U" bracket. Remove the bracket, disconnect the four wires and pull it out the front. Tachs are generic so any outboard tach will do.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Two Questions

I have nothing to add except I think what Silvertip means is don't be afraid to run WOT for a while without an accurate RPM reading. Hope I'm not putting words in your mouth, Silvertip. You definitely want a tachometer you can trust because that's an integral tool for gauging proper performance. Sounds like you're confident the motor's doing its job, which is good news of course. It will take some time to become accustomed to the ways of your barge. It's a very different beast from your V8 bowrider. Just don't forget to chill. That's what pontoons do bestest. If you have XM, I recommend Radio Margaritaville. Channel 55 (31 on Sirius).

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: Two Questions

I have nothing to add except I think what Silvertip means is don't be afraid to run WOT for a while without an accurate RPM reading. Hope I'm not putting words in your mouth, Silvertip. You definitely want a tachometer you can trust because that's an integral tool for gauging proper performance. Sounds like you're confident the motor's doing its job, which is good news of course. It will take some time to become accustomed to the ways of your barge. It's a very different beast from your V8 bowrider. Just don't forget to chill. That's what pontoons do bestest. If you have XM, I recommend Radio Margaritaville. Channel 55 (31 on Sirius).

had to order one from Starcraft ,the standard ones have a different backing. Starcrafts has one slider that has four wires in it.I hope to have it in by Friday.