Absolute Noob seeking advice and knowledge.

[KodiakJack]

Hi all! I bought a boat!

It was a total whim purchase - I had no intention of becoming a boater, but the price seemed right so I pulled the trigger. Now I’ve got a boat in my driveway, and not a clue what to do next! <:-O

Background:
Me: Young family, looking to fish and maybe some water skiing. In Southern Ontario, Canada. Relatively handy, pretty familiar with navigation (pilot). Only experience on water is I’ve been canoeing my whole life. Never power boated.

The boat: 1985 Thundercraft Bowrider. 17’ 140 Johnson. Recently had all the flooring, and seats replaced.


I’ve yet to write my boaters exam (tomorrow).

There’s a million questions I have, I hardly know where to start!

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard, KodiakJack.

Complete this sentence - How __________________________________?

That's a start!

 

[robert graham]

Find a friend or family member who does boating and get them to explain all that's involved......there's a lot to it...

 

[KodiakJack]

Welcome aboard, KodiakJack.

Complete this sentence - How __________________________________?

That's a start!

Ok! Maybe I’ll start with some pics of things that I don’t know what they do...

On the throttle lever quadrant thing, there’s a second lever beside it that goes up and down. There’s a pictographs on it that would seem to suggest that I go read the owners manual before messing with it?

And then also, down below the key, there’s a black twisty knob...

Any ideas?

 

[KodiakJack]

There’s a gauge (bottom right in the pic). would this be to indicate the tilt of the engine? Or trim? (Is tilt and trim the same thing?) I always assumed this was more of a binary up/down thing. Would you make small adjustments to get better speed or performance based on the weight distribution of the day? Is there a rule of thumb, or do you just mess with it till you have the best speed to rpm ratio?

 

[KodiakJack]

Find a friend or family member who does boating and get them to explain all that's involved......there's a lot to it...

With all due respect, if I had a potential mentor, I wouldn’t have needed to join this forum. Nobody in my circle of friends or family are boaters.
The boating season has wrapped up here, and I’ve got all winter to slowly suck all the knowledge out of you fine folks ;-)

Hopefully by June, I’ll be ready to get out and start carefully practicing.

 

[KodiakJack]

I want to give the engine a bit of a going over. Maybe change the plugs... any sort of a basic “to do list” I should follow when getting the boat ready after it’s sat for a couple years?

 

[KodiakJack]

Any phone or tablet apps that I should have? Nav? Weather? Checklists? Etc?

 

[KodiakJack]

Tips for the boat launch? Unwritten rules I should be aware of?

is there any sort of resource for finding boat ramps? I’m used to just pulling off to the side of the road and tossing my canoe in anywhere.

 

[GA_Boater]

In the 1st photo post #4, the finger is pointing to the manual for using the warmup lever. It's to give a little extra gas to help starting and a higher idle to help warming up the motor.

In the 2nd photo, I think that is a tension adjustment for the throttle lever.

The 3rd photo about the gauge, it's usually called a trim gauge and trim means the same thing as elevator trim - Trim down to lift the tail or stern and trim up to lower the tail or stern. Trim raises and lowers the motor in relation to the stern and tilt raises the motor to as much as to horizontal.

Warning - Don't try to start the motor without supplying cooling water.

I suggest you look into taking a local in-person boating course. Just like pilot training except not as long and not as expensive at all. Also the instructors can answer a lot of questions.

 

[racerone]

Start with posting compression test numbers on the motor.-----Model # is ?----Your location in Ontario ?

 

[KodiakJack]

In the 1st photo post #4, the finger is pointing to the manual for using the warmup lever. It's to give a little extra gas to help starting and a higher idle to help warming up the motor.

In the 2nd photo, I think that is a tension adjustment for the throttle lever.

The 3rd photo about the gauge, it's usually called a trim gauge and trim means the same thing as elevator trim - Trim down to lift the tail or stern and trim up to lower the tail or stern. Trim raises and lowers the motor in relation to the stern and tilt raises the motor to as much as to horizontal.

Warning - Don't try to start the motor without supplying cooling water.

I suggest you look into taking a local in-person boating course. Just like pilot training except not as long and not as expensive at all. Also the instructors can answer a lot of questions.

So the warm up lever... That’s a means of throttling up the engine without putting it in gear? How much range of rpm does it give? The full spectrum, or just the lower end? Reason I ask, is I was reading the “waking up a sleeping engine” sticky, and how you set the carb’s h/s pin while running full throttle. Wondering if that can be done without having the prop spinning?

And as far as putting it in gear goes, I assume it’s just automatic as you move the throttle lever forwards and backwards?

Tension for throttle lever, ok thanks. Makes sense.

Trim gauge ok thanks, thought so. Is there a reference somewhere that goes into a little more detail about trimming technique? I assume this is to help transition to planing as smoothly as possible, and that it’s use would vary depending on how weight and passengers are distributed?

Starting the engine, yeah, thankfully that much I knew. I understand I need one of those double suction cup thingys you hook a garden hose to. When purchasing one of those, anything to look out for?

And along the same vein, I didn’t notice an engine temperature gauge... if the water cooling ports get blocked and it states to overheat, how does one know before causing damage?

thanks for all you info so far! This is great

 

[KodiakJack]

Start with posting compression test numbers on the motor.-----Model # is ?----Your location in Ontario ?

I don’t yet have a compression tester. I could never figure out where to attach it to my canoe ;-)

Before doing that, should I first go through the piston lubing procedures in the “waking a sleeping engine” sticky?

Anything I should know about buying a particular compression tester?

Model number attached in pic.

location is Norfolk county.

 

[racerone]

Go to Canadian Tire in Simcoe.----Get a compression tester at about $40.------What with the smart comment about the canoe ??-----Test compression and post your numbers before spending any coins on this motor.

 

[dwco5051]

There’s a gauge (bottom right in the pic). would this be to indicate the tilt of the engine? Or trim? (Is tilt and trim the same thing?) I always assumed this was more of a binary up/down thing. Would you make small adjustments to get better speed or performance based on the weight distribution of the day? Is there a rule of thumb, or do you just mess with it till you have the best speed to rpm ratio?

Tilt is to lift the motor all the way up for trailering, trim is actually trim the same as in a plane. When you trim up it moves slow for fine adjustments then at a certain point when lifting the motor which is higher than you would normally run it speeds up to full lift. Rules of the road should be easy for you since when airplanes were a new thing the rules were based on ships rules that had been around for hundreds of years, thus things like red and green nav lights. Since I am also a pilot you will find it to be true that the bolt you buy for your car will cost fifty cents, if it's for your boat two bucks and 10 dollars for the plane.

 

[KodiakJack]

Go to Canadian Tire in Simcoe.----Get a compression tester at about $40.------What with the smart comment about the canoe ??-----Test compression and post your numbers before spending any coins on this motor.

Thanks.

Re the canoe comment: I wasn’t trying to be “smart”, I was just trying to poke fun at myself, and how absolutely out of my element I am with all this. Didn’t mean to offend you. My irreverent personality can get me in trouble sometimes.

Pics of the motor for interest’s sake. Seems awfully clean for an 85. Makes me think a previous owner did some work to it.

 

[KodiakJack]

Tilt is to lift the motor all the way up for trailering, trim is actually trim the same as in a plane. When you trim up it moves slow for fine adjustments then at a certain point when lifting the motor which is higher than you would normally run it speeds up to full lift. Rules of the road should be easy for you since when airplanes were a new thing the rules were based on ships rules that had been around for hundreds of years, thus things like red and green nav lights. Since I am also a pilot you will find it to be true that the bolt you buy for your car will cost fifty cents, if it's for your boat two bucks and 10 dollars for the plane.

Re the bolt, yes, too true!

thanks for the explanation on the tilt/trim. I was looking for a separate control.

 

[racerone]

The automatic ( $1000 ) oil mixing pump has been bypassed with a simple pump.----Oil and gas mixed at 50:1 on this motor.----Curious why only 1 plug wire was changed ?

 

[KodiakJack]

The automatic ( $1000 ) oil mixing pump has been bypassed with a simple pump.----Oil and gas mixed at 50:1 on this motor.----Curious why only 1 plug wire was changed ?

Yes, the previous owner noted that to me (I should have mentioned that). Now, he said he was mixing at 45:1 to “err on the side of caution” instead of 50:1. But you think I should aim for 50:1 though, eh? More likely to foul plugs at 45:1 I’d expect?

Not sure about the plug wire. Looks like perhaps a heavier gauge too.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Thanks.

Re the canoe comment: I wasn’t trying to be “smart”, I was just trying to poke fun at myself, and how absolutely out of my element I am with all this. Didn’t mean to offend you. My irreverent personality can get me in trouble sometimes.

I thought your comment was funny... I started out with a kayak... I knew exactly what you meant! Luckily, you'll have ample opportunities to acquire new tools (and techniques) now that you own an old boat!