Crownline

[Aileen]

2009 19ss with merc 4.3l 190 hp alpha one. Boat weighs 3100 lbs. is the boat underpowered?
Thanks, Aileen

 

[airdvr1227]

Underpowered is a subjective term. I think the 4.3L fuel injected motor should be fine depending on what your intended use will be. If you want to ski with 5 people on board you might have a problem. For just cruising and tubing etc. you should be OK.

 

[Aileen]

Thanks. We are looking to replace an old Arriva with Merc alpha one 5L V8 230 hp. We mostly just run on our lake and pull tube with grandkids, so 3 teens and 3 normal sized adults at most. But mostly it's me and my husband and our dog. The engine wasn't fuel injected. I haven't been able to find a used boat from a private seller with fuel injection except a bigger Crownline 202 L px boat. We want to keep it to a single axle trailer. Maybe we are just being unrealistic?

 

[milehighjc]

A point of reference... I have a '97 182 with a carbureted 5.7L, Mercruiser Alpha 1 with 1.6 gear ratio driving a 19P SS prop. According to NADA, it is 2700lbs dry. I put SmartTabs on it this spring. I run it in Colorado (approx 5200 feet most of the time).

Not surprisingly, it has an incredible hole shot. Since putting the SmartTabs on it, not only will it pull tree stumps, but do it with very little bow rise. It rides very nice even in 1-2 chop.

It is NOT terribly fast with 4 adults. Top speed is in the 43mph range at WOT on smooth water. I believe the limiting factors are the prop pitch, and weight. The 5.7 is a lot of weight in the stern.

My son in law has a 21ft Rinker Captiva with a 4.3L driving an aluminum prop. A little longer, a little heavier with the 4.3. It is a good boat, but does suffer from being a LITTLE underpowered. With 3 Adults and a skier, there is a lot of bow rise, and it takes significantly longer to get on plane than my Crownie. I do think SmartTabs would help him a LOT... maybe to the point of making the power a non issue. The boat is great for cruising, tubing, sking (2 skis), and wakeboarding. Getting a slalom skier up from a deep water start is possible, but more challenging.

My thought is water test the Crownie with a full load. I bet it will do fine. Less motor weight than mine, and depending on the prop may still have a very good hole shot.

Hope that helps a little...

 

[Aileen]

We did a brief test drive on a narrow river, no more than 2 boats could pass each other at a time, with 4 adults normal size. That is the only time we drove the Crownline. I really liked the seats and amenities. They said they ran over debris in the river and had to get a new prop, replaced it with ss. The skegg got scraped too. We had to drive 3 hours to test the boat, so our mechanic could not check it out. He said to drive it "like we stole it" for about an hour and check the oil before and after. Southern boy! Look for the oil becoming milky looking after the test.

 

[jkust]

My 18 foot chaparral weighs that plus the 33 gallons of gas with the 190hp engine. The v6, as it turns out is a torque monster (even though we don't discuss torque in the marine world often). Some here would argue that the 190hp number is lower than reality as well. Of course the charts that I've seen confirm but whatever.
You aren't going to go mid 50 like the lightweight brands but on a good day with the wind, I've hit 51.2 on GPS by myself with an empty gas tank which is not usual. Normally fully loaded with people, gear and gas, I'm hitting 46gps right at the 4800-4850 max wot rpms for the 4.3 carbed boat. My boat had a 270hp v8 option available and in hindsight, I wished I had gotten it and today this many years on, I wouldn't ever consider a non-mpi boat again especially something so new as a 2009. I'm at the point of considering an upgrade to something a few feet bigger and anything carbed won't be making my list. Of course anything newer and a little larger will more than likely have MPI anyway. MPI was opted for on larger boats in the earlier days and not as common on the smaller boats even though it was offered given the upgrade cost to total cost of a smaller boat vs a much more expensive larger boat. I will say that by far and away, I see MPI in Crownlines even the early ones and the smaller ones than any other brand of small bowrider. I was surprised that your subject 2009 didn't have it.

 

[Aileen]

Our mechanic really wants us to get fuel injection also. I keep looking!

 

[Scott Danforth]

. We want to keep it to a single axle trailer. Maybe we are just being unrealistic?

A 3100# boat on a single axle trailer is pushing it. Adding fuel and gear and you would be over the limit of a single axle trailer.

 

[Aileen]

I got the weight off the NADA website when I was looking for a price so maybe it is not accurate. The boat was bought new and came with that trailer, has disc brakes.

 

[Aileen]

Another question, looking on Craigslist for used 20 ft or under bowrider, there is no option for fuel injection. If a Merc has MPI, is that fuel injection? On Volvo Penta does "I" stand for fuel injection.
Another question, how do you ask about single source drain? The blue knob on the top of the engine that acts sort of like the T shaped tool that you can cut off your home water out by the street.

 

[thumpar]

MPI is multi port fuel injection and is rated at 300hp on the 350 as apposed to the 260 rating with EFI. There are many 202br Crownlines that ride on a single axle trailer but tandem is preferred IMO.

My Crownline sits on a tandem and has a 5.7l EFI with Bravo 1 drive. They are out there. Most Crownlines were custom order.

 

[keith2k455]

To give you perspective, I have a 210 (about 2 ft longer) with the 5.0 and it is not under powered by any means. I think that 4.3 in a 19 footer would be fine, but 19 is the biggest boat I would go for with a v6. Just my opinion though.