The well traveled 1979 Starcraft 18' V5 SS

[Watermann]

So I got the new Turning Point Hustler prop this morning and installed it, well sort of. This prop has a very aggressive rake so much so it was clipping my trim tab. So off came the tab and it got ground and sanded down to fit the new prop giving at least 1/4" - 3/8" wiggle room as the blades pass. Torqued the prop nut to 55 Ft lbs, tab locks bent down and now I just need some water under it. :happy:

I think the new shape of the once boring tab is kinda curvy and appealing to eye now. :eyebrows:

 

[Candutch]

Nice work on that trim tab Rob. I don't know what brand my prop is because it came with my boat as a spare without packaging.

 

[Watermann]

Nice work on that trim tab Rob. I don't know what brand my prop is because it came with my boat as a spare without packaging.

Check the prop over for a part number, it should have one that you can find a reference to online.

 

[Candutch]

Good thinking, I remember one on there so I will look it up when I get home.

 

[MD28]

Nicely done with the trim tab. It looks very sexy. That new prop is going to make it a

 

[Candutch]

So the prop model number on mine is 176215, it is a 14 x 19 prop and my search online just says evinrude/johnson omc.

 

[Patfromny]

There you go Rob. I take a few days off and all kinds of cool stuff is going on. I hope the new one puts you into the rpm pocket. I have a question for you. What does the extreme rake do for prop performance? I am still in search of the right prop (it doesn't exist for my set up) and I am at the point of having custom props made. Not so much for every last MPH anymore but just to get the engine in the pocket. Wondering if a raked prop might add another dimension to my search.

 

[Watermann]

Well I'm not a big fan of vented props and there was an odd plastic ring that came with the prop to put around the base where it goes into the gear case. I didn't put the ring on as the first sentence of the instructions said for V4 gear cases and I stopped reading there. That was a mistake I think because when as I ran the vented prop it had no issues and lots of pull form the hole twice then the 3rd time the prop lost it grab causing the motor to make some ugly sounds so I backed off the throttle and had to just ease into it After that for some reason the motor started idling rough on me for no reason really but ran fine at speed.

The lake had a bit of boat traffic and some pretty good wakes but I was able to get the motor trimmed up to run about 5400 rpms at WOT before I stopped trimming running at 44 - 45 MPH. On some slick water I should be able to get the trim set right and turn the 19p prop up to 5800. This motor is pretty cool how you can just bury the throttle and then start trimming out until you hit the rpms and then stop. I'll get it figured out but it seemed to really like cruising at 4k around 35 mph.

Not sure I like this TP prop for my Merc, kind of wished I would've got the QS black diamond or max. The venting and plastic ring are the main reasons.

 

[Patfromny]

That sucks Rob. So many little differences with these new props. I found it exhausting finding the right one.

 

[Candutch]

That's too bad Rob. Maybe you can recover your costs selling it on CL if you decide not to use it. I've had some success doing that with some of the boat parts I bought and didn't use.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah CL, I've had about enough of the goofs on there for this past week with the ad for my SN. I did strike a deal to sell it for full asking with a super nice guy that I know but haven't seen for years. He's a boat guy so I feel comfortable that he'll take good care of her oh and my iboats resto thread helped seal the deal, he found it on his own and read up.

So I'm doing something I should've done before but didn't in my haste to get on the water. I got some new gaskets and pulled the carbs off the Merc to clean, chem dip and replace gaskets. Also there's a tube that connects all the intake ports in the powerhead that I didn't replace, I'm sure it's original to 1979. Doing it right so I hope t see some benefit to the work with maybe a better idle after I adjust the carbs again. So far the toughest part is the gasket material on the intake port, it's brutally adhered to the head but not the carbs and crystallized into rock.

 

[Watermann]

On another brighter note the SS will not only catch bass, walleye are not safe either! We stuffed a bakers dozen in the livewell and a fat perch on her first trip to big wally dog water.

 

[Pusher]

Nice take! Do you charter!?!

 

[Patfromny]

I used to smear a tiny bit of Vaseline on the new gaskets to prevent the sticking in the future. Holley carbs were notorious for that. The bowl side had a channel in it as well so it made scraping that much harder.

 

[Watermann]

Nice take! Do you charter!?!

I was thinking maybe you had some spots down around the potholes or Moses hole... kind of in between us. We could show each other our fishing spots, Banks Lk and the Columbia river are my favorite haunts.

I used to smear a tiny bit of Vaseline on the new gaskets to prevent the sticking in the future. Holley carbs were notorious for that. The bowl side had a channel in it as well so it made scraping that much harder.

Good thinking, I use my QS 2-4-C or extreme grease on my outdrive gaskets so they come off since it's a common occurrence to remove the drive and having stuck gaskets all the time is a huge pain. Think maybe I'll try that on the carb gaskets too.

 

[Decker83]

On another brighter note the SS will not only catch bass, walleye are not safe either! We stuffed a bakers dozen in the livewell and a fat perch on her first trip to big wally dog water.

Very Nice Catch..:applause:

 

[Pusher]

I was thinking maybe you had some spots down around the potholes or Moses hole... kind of in between us. We could show each other our fishing spots, Banks Lk and the Columbia river are my favorite haunts.



Good thinking, I use my QS 2-4-C or extreme grease on my outdrive gaskets so they come off since it's a common occurrence to remove the drive and having stuck gaskets all the time is a huge pain. Think maybe I'll try that on the carb gaskets too.

But alas, I have no spots!
Moving over here has been killing me until I got my boat splash. It's tough being land locked.

There is a catch and release lake by Quincy that's pretty awesome actually.

 

[Candutch]

On another brighter note the SS will not only catch bass, walleye are not safe either! We stuffed a bakers dozen in the livewell and a fat perch on her first trip to big wally dog water.

Yummy! My favorite fish to eat by far.

 

[Watermann]

Got the Merc carbs put back on and they are spotless inside and out. I hope the new gaskets did the trick. I also found something I didn't know about, a balance tube that needed 3 fittings into the intake sealed up and the hose replaced, that could help with what I think was a vacuum leak causing my idle to be high no matter what I did.

Sold the SN on Friday for full asking after we went on a sea trial run. The new owner has himself a great little boat.

 

[jbcurt00]

Congrats on the sale.

Hope the carb work does the trick