Possibly the dumbest question ever...

[Captain-Noob]

I ran my boat on muffs today for about five minutes between idle to 3000 R.P.M.
I then realized that I had the drive in gear and the prop was spinning. I had planned on disconnecting the throttle cable and operating throttle by hand so as not to run the drive in gear under a no load condition. My question is can you damage the outdrive running on muffs with the prop not submerged???. I hope i haven't done any damage in that short time. :redface:

'98 Volvo 3.0GS and SX drive. Thx. Mikey.

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

I have read numerous posts on the boards before to never run above 1,500rpm on muffs not including running it in gear which im sure is not good either. im sure the pros will chime in soon.

 

[Don S]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

My question is can you damage the outdrive running on muffs with the prop not submerged???. I hope i haven't done any damage in that short time.

I doubt you did any damage at 3000 rpm, IF you had the drive down. If you had it tilted full up, then you probably had damage, even at low rpm.

 

[Captain-Noob]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Drive was full down. I was just checking timing advance so I was spiking the throttle to maybe 3000 momentarily. I'll take the 1500 R.P.M. limit on muffs as good advice. Thanks for the replies and I'm hoping no damage was done, just didn't know if you could run in gear on muffs. :redface:

Mikey.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

the drive really doesnt care, the cooling system does.
the 1500 RPM limit is based on the ability of most water hoses to flow adaquate amonts of water.
thats why we cant run them on the dyno with muffs for long.
we simply cant keep it cool.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

A simple rule to follow is your rpm can be increased only to the point where the water flow cannot supply the engine with coolant.
Eg. 30psi city may get up to 1000 rpm, 60 psi city may go 1500 +rpm. Point is a very good pump will collapse the hose,shutting off the water untill the impeller burns out, then then flow returns . Max rpm = max flow of water.

 

[sea wolf]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Rule of thumb, always remove prop before starting engine on muffs. Nice way to kill or maim somebody, especially if there are kids running around. Your question wasen't dumb, but that stunt was. Sheesh.

 

[thrasher]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

No one suggested it, but you said you wanted to rev up the engine by disconnecting the throttle so the drive wouldn't go in gear. Most throttle controls allow you to pull the throttle lever out and then you can play with the throttle without having the boat go in gear. I would have a look at your throttle control and see if it has this feature. It's really usefull when starting the engine when cold, you can set the idle a bit higher whilst the engine warms up without having the boat in gear.

As the others said, you don't ever want that prop spinning out of the water, terrible accidents can occur. As Don said, as long as the drive was down, you probably didn't do any harm.

Learn all the features of your boat and you can do pretty much anything you want safely..

Gary

 

[Matthew_B]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

I doubt you did any damage at 3000 rpm, IF you had the drive down. If you had it tilted full up, then you probably had damage, even at low rpm.

Just to add, it doesn't matter whether the drive is in gear or not. Don't start the engine with the drive up. The shaft is spinning whenever the engine rolls. The clutches are at the bottom of the drive.

Rule of thumb, always remove prop before starting engine on muffs. Nice way to kill or maim somebody, especially if there are kids running around. Your question wasen't dumb, but that stunt was. Sheesh.

Yep, never engage the prop out of the water. No need to pull the prop, just make sure it's out of gear when running it.

I just don't see the need to be hard on the guy. Lots of more stupid things out there he could have done.

 

[Don S]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Yep, never engage the prop out of the water. No need to pull the prop, just make sure it's out of gear when running it.

Just pull the prop and go ahead and shift it in and out of gear. Then you will know if the shift works before heading to the water and finding out the cable is stiff and kills the engine when you try to put it into gear.

 

[Hoss 350]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Rule of thumb, always remove prop before starting engine on muffs. Nice way to kill or maim somebody, especially if there are kids running around. Your question wasen't dumb, but that stunt was. Sheesh.

Easy fella, we all learn by doing and making mistakes. He didn't know, it wasn't like he was doing it on purpose.

That said, removing the prop is totally unnecessary. Your boat will go into neutral so you can rev it without spinning the prop. There are many ways that this works, depending on your controls. On some, the entire throttle lever assembly comes out towards the driver, and then you can rev the engine without the prop spinning. On others, there is a button at the fulcrum on the throttle lever that you push while engaging the throttle to ensure the propr stays disengaged. Still others have a smallish lever behind the throttle lever that allows you to disengage the drive while revving. Just go play with it for a while, you'll figure it out. It's a sight easier than disconnecting a bunch of stuff.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

You can easily run your engine with the prop installed and you can run it in gear if you like.

I have done it more than once. I just do it like I run my airplane. I ALWAYS make sure the area near the prop is, and will stay, CLEAR. I do that by making sure that everyone knows what I'm going to do and they they ensure that the critters stay in the house or tied up.

Regards,

Rick

 

[Maclin]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Well, Capt-Noob has had since last September to think about it

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Possibly the dumbest question ever...

Yes! caught by ANOTHER somewhat OLD thread.....It's a little more embarrassing when they're 3 or 4 years old.....less than a year is nothing!