72 Thunderbird Formula w/twin 165hp Mercs

[White90GT]

Where did you get this handrail/towhook bar? I like that and may consider adding something like that on the SeaRay if I ever finish it.

 

[Mark72233]

White90GT, I bought a donor boat for the engine and outdrive. I got lucky and found a guy that started a restoration on a 1990 Regal 18 foot bow rider and gave up on it after he torn the deck and stringers out of it. I got the boat, trailer, engine, stern drive and all the pieces and parts including the transom tow rail all for $200. Turned out the block and head were cracked but it was still a great deal.

 

[hogbare35]

Mark , glad to hear you got the boat running good . Believe you had a restriction in the fuel line .

 

[White90GT]

almost 4 weeks since a post, how's the boat running this summer? Any more issues? Need more pictures of florida boating areas LOL.

 

[sphelps]

Mark's prolly getting things tied down getting ready for this storm coming through ...

 

[mickyryan]

ugh this storm is gonna suck but luckily it will be gone by Saturday

 

[White90GT]

Yeah I didn't quite think about the storm coming, hopefully all is well. This is just a little tropical storm, thats nothing for Florida, just some heavy rain. Remember when they got pounded one hurricane after the next about 10-12 years ago? Pictures all over facebook and the internet with bandaids and plywood over the state of Florida on a map saying something like "No more!"

 

[sphelps]

Mark , hope y'all came through ok ... Hopefully you didn't get the storm surge to bad with it coming in to the east of you ... Give us a shout when you get things straightened out .. Praying for a quick recovery for the whole area over there !

 

[archbuilder]

Mark hope you guys rode out the storm without any damage!

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Hoping you faired the storm alright too... hopefully the reason you haven't checked in recently is from being out on the boat!

Edit: Err, not out in the storm of course lol. You know what I mean!

 

[Mark72233]

Wow, Aug 3rd was the last time I was on here. Been boating as much as possible and just haven't been on iboats lately. Now let me catch up on everything. First let me cover the storm, for those that have never been in a tropical storm or hurricane there is nothing really predictable about these things. We have had storms miss us by 100 miles and we still got heavy rains, winds and 50 plus tornados in just a few hours and other storms like Hermine came within 75 miles and we got less than an inch of rain, a few 20 mile an hour gusts and a slightly higher than normal tide so we faired the storm with no issues. In contrast about 1-2 days later we got torrential rains and horrendous thunderstorms. Cedar Key just 100 or so miles east of us and places around there got the high winds and the storm surge which is what really tears stuff up. Here is a pic of where I usually launch my boat from at the Panama City Marina. High tide is usually a foot or more below the dock. Picture was taken near high tide but as the storm pushed up and the tide should have been receding it just stayed right at this level and this was 12 hours before the storm actually made landfall. But again we suffered no real issues.

 

[Mark72233]

Now onto the boat. Last problem I had tackled was the overheating issue on the starboard engine and that both engines weren't running up to 4100 rpms. Well about 3 weeks ago I planned my first real fishing trip where I invited 3 friends for a day of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico trolling for King and Spanish Mackerel and maybe if it was flat enough doing a little bottom fishing. So Friday I think it was Aug 12th I get the boat and gear ready to depart at 6am Saturday morning. Everything looks good and Saturday morning I put the boat in the water and of course Murphy is along for the ride and the right engine turns over but wont crank and the battery seems a little weak. I get both engines started but notice that both volt gauges are reading barely 12 volts but I am going fishing and nothing is stopping me. Long story longer we het out to the gulf which is about 2-3 footers and I shut down the port engine and start trolling on the right engine and we troll out westward for about 2 hours so about 10 miles or so.

During this time I ran just the right engine. Well one of the guys who said he never gets sea sick (turns out he has never really been out in the open ocean either) gets sea sick and spends an hour chumming the waters. Well we finally felt sorry for him and pulled up the lines and headed back towards the beach. We did catch a decent size King and Bonita and had a few good hits so not a total loss. Anyway the port engine cranks up and we make the 10 mile run back to the beach. It lays down a little and we decide to snorkel a wreck in 15 feet of water just off the beach. After that I go to crank up the engines and the batteries are both dead and no matter what I did or how I did it the engines would not turn over and crank. Checked both with a volt meter and less than 12 volts on both batteries so dead in the water.

Luckily we are right off the beach near a state park where a friend works and we get another friend to buy a battery and deliver it to the state park friend and he runs it out to us on his work boat so no Tow boat bill and one of the guys needed a new battery anyway for a camping trailer so no money out of my pocket. We get one engine running and limp back to the marina where everyone said they had a great day and lets do it again, skipping the dead battery part of course.

Once I got home I pulled both batteries and put them on the charger and they both took a good charge so no battery issues. I pulled both the alternators which by the way were old alternators I did not have rebuilt and both tested bad at the local auto parts place. Hindsight I think one alternator went dead weeks ago and because I have the batteries wired in such a way that either engine can charge both batteries I didn't realize I was down to one alternator and that one alternator I don't think was working very well either and the load on it slowly killed it probably that morning. Anyway I broke down and bought 2 new marine alternators and wow what a difference that made. Right away I noted on the volt gauges that for the first time under load they were reading over 14 volts so this entire time I have been running with alternators that were barely charging the batteries. Anyway I have more info but I have to go to lunch so I will finish the story later

 

[archbuilder]

Hey Mark, good to hear from you! Glad you are enjoying her! You just reminded me that I need to have Fugglys alternator overhauled..... Looking at it I have a feeling it is in the same shape as yours! Glad you are getting the kinks worked out, seems like there are always some.

 

[sphelps]

Good to hear no problem storm related ... I guess you guys were on the backside of the storm surge ...

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

All in all not bad! Lucky you didn't get stranded 10 miles out!! Alternators are an easy fix, glad your enjoying yourself these days Mark.

 

[kcassells]

Well sounds like a fish story to me! At least ya caught some!! Unlike me!:blue:

 

[Mark72233]

Yep its amazing what new alternators can do for how the engines are running at least that's what I am going to credit for how the engines are running right now. Both engines are now running perfect and WOT at just about 4200 RPMs. Here are some recent pics.

My F.I.L. , daughter and wife sitting on Big Bubba rigged with an umbrella. F.I.L. is the mechanical guru that figured out my hydraulic issues. I figured I owed him a few boat rides and a Corona.


Me riding Big Bubba, it got boring just sitting on it.

My son, Drew snorkeling on the rocks at the jetties. If I let him he would do this all day.



A 26" Spanish Mac we caught this past Sunday.


Kids on the beach at sunset.


My wife and one of the mutts at sunset


A fishing trip a few weeks ago with a small King.

 

[kcassells]

Wow...good for you! Way overdue with all the hard work you did. LIFE IS GOOD!

 

[Mark72233]

[FONT=&quot]One more mechanical nightmare story on my starboard engine from two weeks ago. Ok a few months ago I spent good money and bought 2 electric fuel pumps and not long after that the wife wanted to help clean up the boat after one of our outing so she grabbed the hose and was washing everything down. I wasn't really watching what she was doing and then realized that she was spraying the instrument panel down with lots of high pressure water, I normally just give it a light rinse. Well sure enough the water got into something and the electric fuel pumps kicked on with the keys in the off position. Played with the keys and found that if I turned them both to auxiliary where nothing is hooked up the pumps shut off (Yes I need battery cutoff switches). Once it dried out this would quit. So after that whenever the boat sits at the house I just turn the keys to Aux during storage.

Anyway fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to turn keys to Aux and it poured down rain and because of the threat of high winds from Hermine I had taken down the Bimini top which keeps most of the rain off the switches. Well while I was gone from the house the wife calls me and tells me she just walked by the boat and can hear something running, turns out the starboard fuel pump is running and who knows for how long so I tell her how to turn key to Aux which she does and it turns off and I don't think anything more about it.

A couple days later Monday, Labor Day the weather is finally nice enough let?s take the boat out. So I jump in the boat and hook up the water hose and crank the port engine which fires right up and runs great. Switch hose over to starboard engine and it turns over but won?t start. Turn it over for a minute and still nothing it just won?t fire off. Sounds flooded so I push throttle to the wall to open up carb butterflies and get some air in there and give it a few before I try again and finally after a few it fires up but running rough and sounds like its running on 3 cylinders so I shut it off and lift open the dog box and immediately smell fuel and see fuel at the base of the carb. I pulled the flame arrestor off and tilt it and gas pours out of it. Now I am confused and look at the carb and as I see the fuel bowl over flow pipe that sticks out right in the middle of the carb throat I suddenly realize OMG the fuel pump must have over pumped the carb needle and fuel has pumped into the carb and into the engine and this must have happened when the fuel pump was on Saturday and OMG how much fuel pumped into the engine because I have about 40 gallons in the tank.

I pulled the oil dip stick and it?s covered in gas/oil mix. I can literally see gas fumes pumping out of the dip stick hole. I unscrew the oil fill cap on valve cover and its nothing but gas fumes. I have never experience this so now what. Have I done any damage to engine running it on oily gas? Why didn't this thing blow up like a big gas filled grenade? How much gas is in the crank case? So I dumped the oil and sure enough the gas and oil came out to be almost 10 quarts so almost 5 quarts of gas, WOW. I took off the oil filter and left the plug out and turned and left on the bilge fan and did the only thing I could think of, I took my leaf blower and pushed air down through the valve cover cap hole pushing massive amounts of air out the filter and drain plug holes for about 5 minutes. I than just let it sit there for an hour before I put on new filter and added new oil. I also put some STP type engine oil additive that looks like honey that would hopefully add a little protection for the bearings and such. I than crossed my fingers and cranked it up. It is running good now and I have put another 10 hours on the engine without issues and yes now I have a battery cutoff switch. [/FONT]

 

[sphelps]

I,m no mechanic but I think as long as you did not run it for a long time like that it should be ok .... This happened to my lawn mower all the time until I installed a fuel shut of valve in it ...
Fun days on the water for sure ! I can almost taste the salt water and the fish ! :joyous: