Re: '80 Sea Ray 270 Sedan Bridge
Well, a short update. I pulled the boat out to give her a good wash. There was an unbelievable amount of staining all over the topsides. I assume this was a combination of the freshly polished aluminum trim and being covered under a tarp. Long story short 7 hours to cut polish it off and re-wax the boat.
Before I started to wash and polish I thought that I would see if I could get her running again first, so out came the cooling lines and the fresh gas. She still cranked but not very hard , so I thought I would try a little gas in the carb to get her going and vroom to life she came. I was happy to say the least she might be stained but at least she was running.
So after washing her down and the staining not coming off I decided to make some room in the shop and start cut polishing. Since the batteries were still low and she didn't crank so well I decided that this would be a good time to plug in the battery charger.
The next morning after finishing the polishing job I came to a horrific discovery, the battery charger had malfunctioned and boiled both batteries dry. So off to find some new batteries and a new charger I went.
A few days later after getting the batteries and charger installed and the charger programed I thought it would be a good time to start her up again and see how well my new batteries would crank. Besides it was sunny outside and this beat going home and mowing the lawn.
Well she cranked, she started, she coughed ,sputtered and generally ran like a bag of hammers (until she died). Dismayed I turn from the controls and looked into the engine compartment , only to see gas running out of carb and all over the top of the engine. Now I might not be a mechanic but I know that this isn't good.
It seems that in my haste last year to get the boat running I had skipped putting a marine fuel filter in the carb. At the time I had ordered one withe my fuel water separators and other belts and such but the little carb filter was back ordered. I thought at the time that I would just use an automotive one until the marine version arrived. I guess along the way I forgot to swap it out, DOH as such I just got to rebuild my first Quadrajet carb. yay lucky me. oh well live and learn right?
So now that I have replaced the filter and rebuilt the carb She runs and we have had the chance to get her out on the water a few times now. I don't have to tell you that the smiles on my girls faces as we were fishing from the back makes all of the work worth it.
I will be tinkering with some small items for the rest of this summer and fall and hope to rebuild the swim grid and railings over the winter. But mostly for the rest of this year I think that we will just get out and use her as is.
