Top Speed Of Our Boat?

[LuvBoating]

I fill it only because its easer to fill it than empty it and... you have a full tank to start the boasting season. At the end of the day its what ever works for you.

This thread has gone on and on, lol. The OP's question was is my boat running to slow. Short answer is yes but don't ask the question if your not ready for the answers, lol.

Oh, wife and I already knew what kind of answers we'd get, or could get, but that's a forum. Most likely, if I would have known what I know now, in part from this thread, would have never done the thread.

But, there are those that have to understand us and that we aren't nearly as "physical" at doing some things as others in this forum are. When it comes to either our boat or our vehicle, we'd rather have many mechanical things done by mechanics and pay for it. We trust what a marine service center tells us. We wouldn't have anyone who is not a certified mechanic work on either our boat or our vehicle.

We do appreciate all of the recommendations given in this thread, but, it seems, when recommendations aren't followed, those that give the recommendations get upset. Recommendations and advice are just that........recommendations and advice. Some will do all of them and others will do some or none at all. It's all up the the person receiving these recommendations and advice what they want to do with them.

 

[JimS123]

The "kind" of recommendations you got were all honest, logical, time-tested and perfect. Every single one of them. The other "answers" you got that you didn't like were because you pooh-poohed the recommendations and itemized plans that made no sense and would make matters worse.

The fact that you can't, won't or don't want to do things is of no consequence. The root cause of the problem is that you simply don't believe what you are being told. You still think your gas is OK because your boat runs OK, and you refuse to understand that your boat's running is far from OK.

In the past I have personally asked questions and got answers I didn't like. I simply respond "OK, thanks" and then go do what I want anyway, without arguing with the well-intentioned helper.

 

[tpenfield]

It may be confusing to some responders when a recommendation is discarded or refuted, in that they may not be sure if the OP is looking for an alternate recommendation when none may exist.

Like as an example - "I can't get rid of the old gas . . ." So, some respondents may take that as "what else can I do?" . . . Or "How can I make the old gas work better?" It is hard to say how people interpret a refuted recommendation.

Thus the challenge of written interaction . . . maybe we should have live interaction via online meetings, like Zoom or something

Anyway, I find Internet forum advice to be about '50-50' in terms of suggestions that help resolve an issue vs. ones that are not helpful or may not apply. However, it is in your best interest to take it all in and decide which recommendations seem like the best to go with. All too often we get tunnel vision when looking at our own situations, and different perspectives can help keep 'eyes wide open'.

 

[ahicks]

Oh, wife and I already knew what kind of answers we'd get, or could get, but that's a forum. Most likely, if I would have known what I know now, in part from this thread, would have never done the thread.

But, there are those that have to understand us and that we aren't nearly as "physical" at doing some things as others in this forum are. When it comes to either our boat or our vehicle, we'd rather have many mechanical things done by mechanics and pay for it. We trust what a marine service center tells us. We wouldn't have anyone who is not a certified mechanic work on either our boat or our vehicle.

We do appreciate all of the recommendations given in this thread, but, it seems, when recommendations aren't followed, those that give the recommendations get upset. Recommendations and advice are just that........recommendations and advice. Some will do all of them and others will do some or none at all. It's all up the the person receiving these recommendations and advice what they want to do with them.

I find it comical, in a weird sort of way, that you would still trust people, who you still refer to as certified mechanics, when it's clear they have screwed you over with bad or incorrect information so many times.

It seems to me like you ask the same questions over and over again, until you find something that agrees with what you thought originally.Why waste your/our time. Just go ahead with what you're going to do anyway....

 

[LuvBoating]

Well, yesterday I talked to a friend of ours who has been boating for years upon years, both on the intracoastal of Daytona and at a lake in central Michigan where he has a ski boat. He has a cuddy, ski, sail and a jet ski at his house in Michigan. He kept the cuddy in dry storage for years in Daytona.

When I told him about this thread, he told me, just as he's told me before, "3 year old gas isn't that old at all. I've used both fresh and 3 yr., and older, in all of my boats. Absolutely no problems".

Until we are able to get rid of more of the 3-yr old gas we have, by running around on the water, and then fill the rest of the tank with new, PLUS get a new prop and have carb adjusted, we won't get the power we should have.

We have said many, many times, on this thread, the only way we can semi-empty the gas tank is by using up the gas on the water. It may be hard to believe, but we have absolutely no way to completely empty out the tank. As stated before, a local marine service will do it, but we have to supply the containers and find somewhere to put the gas..........and into our vehicle is NOT a place (for us). Many of you can do the physical work involved in emptying out the tank, whereas we just won't. Just plainly too much work for us! Sure wish folks on this forum could understand that.

We have said "thanks" a number of times to recommendations on this forum, but, for some reason, we still get ridiculed for not 100% following the suggestions. Many of you do your own boat/mechanic work.........we can't and won't. Plain and simple.

But, again, thanks.

 

[LuvBoating]

I find it comical, in a weird sort of way, that you would still trust people, who you still refer to as certified mechanics, when it's clear they have screwed you over with bad or incorrect information so many times.

It seems to me like you ask the same questions over and over again, until you find something that agrees with what you thought originally.Why waste your/our time. Just go ahead with what you're going to do anyway....

Only one mechanic has screwed us over and that was only due to him not putting the cockpit cover on our boat when it rained. His work on our boat was fine!

Now, what I want to know is, just where have I stated that certified mechanics have screwed us over with bad or incorrect information many times???? The marine mechanics, here where we live now, winterized and summerized our boat perfectly. The marine mechanic we had in Jacksonville, never once screwed us over or anything else!

 

[ahicks]

Can I just start with the fact he said you had the "right prop"?

I'm done. Have a happy life.

 

[JimS123]

"Summarizing" means checking to see how bad the guy that winterized it screwed up. I find it humorous that mechanics actually charge money to fix the mistakes that they caused in the first place. "Spring Commissioning" merely means running the engine with the doghouse off and checking for leaks in the plumbing. Als that is needed is a screwdriver.

The expert in FL that validated 3 year old gas basically concluded the thread. The problem is solved.

Please don't be mad at us guys, and please come back. Tell us how well the boat runs in the Spring and what your WOT RPM is with the new prop.

 

[tpenfield]

You know, the nice thing about the Internet and asking a bunch of people in general, is that you will find a variety of opinions. Of course this could also be a double edged sword - which ones to follow . . . :noidea:

My expectations, if I asked about my boat's power and/or top speed being seemingly low, and if I stated that I was running on 3 year old fuel and at 5,000 feet altitude, would be to get recommendations that included purging the old fuel, cleaning the fuel system, and making the appropriate adjustments for altitude. Those are the most obvious things that stick out from what I (hypothetically) presented. Would they fix the problem :noidea: . . . no one knows, but they are the obvious things . . . old fuel, low usage, high altitude.

I could argue any one of those points and find collaborative tales, but those would probably be the recommendations I would get. I could decide to pursue some of them, all of them, or none of them. What would matter to me, all said and done, is if I remedied the issue that I originally posted.

What is most important? Getting the engine fixed or what fixes the engine?

Also, I would not be surprised if the OP addresses the recommendations and still has an engine problem. It may point back to the short block work done in 2012. That would be quite the can of worms, if we find ourselves down that road . . .

It seems like the boat should do about 50 mph at WOT. Let's say that the old fuel gets purged, the fuel system gets cleaned, adjustments are made for altitude, and you get a whopping 32 mph out of the boat. An improvement no doubt, but still the engine has a problem. Then it would be onto other things, like throttle linkage, ignition timing, compression, spark advance, etc.. Eliminating the easier stuff first, checking for effect, and then moving on as needed.

I wonder if you left your boat with the mechanic and said "my boat only goes 28 mph, it should go about 50 mph. See what's wrong and fix it" . . .

I assume the mechanic would do the things that have been discussed and keep going until the engine issues were solved. After all was said & done, you'd have a boat that goes up to its full potential and know what the problem was. Not sure what the cost would be because no one knows at this point exactly what the problem is . . .

 

[LuvBoating]

Can I just start with the fact he said you had the "right prop"?

I'm done. Have a happy life.

We had the right prop in Florida! Other than changing the outdrive anodes to freshwater ones, the mechanic that has worked on our boat for the last number of years has really no idea what boating in Colorado is like. How could he? He doesn't work on boats that go to Colorado from Florida, because none do. We found out real fast that people who live in Florida, with or without a boat, basically know nothing about Colorado or any surrounding states. They have absolutely no idea why anyone living in Florida would want to live anywhere else.

 

[LuvBoating]

"Summarizing" means checking to see how bad the guy that winterized it screwed up. I find it humorous that mechanics actually charge money to fix the mistakes that they caused in the first place. "Spring Commissioning" merely means running the engine with the doghouse off and checking for leaks in the plumbing. Als that is needed is a screwdriver.

The expert in FL that validated 3 year old gas basically concluded the thread. The problem is solved.

Please don't be mad at us guys, and please come back. Tell us how well the boat runs in the Spring and what your WOT RPM is with the new prop.

Summerizing here is: putting all of the hose clamps back on hoses that were taken off for winterizing. When our boat was winterized, the mechanic did nothing wrong. We never ask him if we had the correct prop and how we he ever know how old the gas was in the tank? To us, he done an excellent job!

And, the "expert" in Florida is our friend and we know him very, very well. And, on top of that, everyone who owns a boat, like he does, doesn't have the same opinion about old gas like some others do.

 

[JimS123]

Summerizing here is: putting all of the hose clamps back on hoses that were taken off for winterizing. When our boat was winterized, the mechanic did nothing wrong. We never ask him if we had the correct prop and how we he ever know how old the gas was in the tank? To us, he done an excellent job!

And, the "expert" in Florida is our friend and we know him very, very well. And, on top of that, everyone who owns a boat, like he does, doesn't have the same opinion about old gas like some others do.

Aye, and there's the rub...

I really don't know nuthin. I simply go by the Owner's Manual and the Shop Manual that I bought for every boat I ever owned.

Winterizing by the book means putting everything back to normal after the job is done. Otherwise, if the boat got sold or the owner forgot he would have a disaster. Then in Spring all you need to do is put her back in the water.

If a mechanic left hoses off then he did everything wrong. Likely his motive was purely to price gouge an unsuspecting customer. Read the shop manual for a set-by-step process. Just like the Mercury Marine web site, it tells you what to do in the winter. Its only 1 paragraph, so not hard to read. We have those guys here that double charge as well. They are the ones we avoid.

I got my first OB from my Grandpa. It was a 1955 and came with the owner's manual. Gas stabilizer was well known even back then, and the manual was very clear about how long to keep the gas. Today's fuels are even more susceptible. Your friend is quite a guy....you should follow his directions.

 

[LuvBoating]

Ok, let me explain "winterizing" and how it's done here in northern Colorado compared to our last marine service in Jacksonville, Florida. I didn't know there is a difference, but the marine service here does do it somewhat differently than the one in Florida did.

In Florida, no hoses clamps were taken off. Only a regular "winterizing" done, that included draining the block/putting plugs back in, fogging, changing oil/filter, changing fuel/water filter, checking drive oil (and changing if necessary) and adding storage treatment to the gas tank.

Here, all of the above (in Florida) is done, but hose clamps are taken off and hoses drained of any water. The hose clamps and block plugs are then put into a qt. baggie and tapped to the steering wheel. The marine service here told us "if you want to reconnect the hose clamps and put the block plugs back in, that's up to you. If not, you can bring the boat back to us and we will do it and whatever else you might need done." The marine service here calls reconnecting the hoses and re-inserting the block plugs "summerizing" aka getting the boat ready for it's first summer day on the water. We paid the labor/parts to have our boat winterized and summerized by this Colorado marine service and they done a great job!

The marine service here didn't price gouge us because this is how they winterize and summerize all boats that come to them. You did read what I just said..........the marine service does this to ALL boats!

This marine service is extremely popular here and many, many boaters bring their new, old and even older boats to them. I really don't know how many times I have to say that in this thread.

Anyway, I really do think, as well as some of you do, that this thread has come to its end. Thanks so much for all of the replies.

Bye!

 

[Scott Danforth]

yet you take all our advice here as your own and use it on another forum. I dont understand

https://www.thehulltruth.com/14087201-post14.html

 

[JimS123]

hose clamps are taken off and hoses drained of any water. The hose clamps and block plugs are then put into a qt. baggie and tapped to the steering wheel.

Once again, Mercury Marine's manuals are the authority. Certainly, hoses are removed in a northern climate. Not to drain water, but to enable filling the block with anti-freeze. That's their "optional" step.

Not universally accepted, but many of us prefer to have the block filled with rust preventative (AF), rather than leaving it open to the air, particularly if the block has seen salt water usage.

 

[LuvBoating]

yet you take all our advice here as your own and use it on another forum. I dont understand

https://www.thehulltruth.com/14087201-post14.html

That was only a post, NOT asking for any advice. That post was in someone else's thread! There is a difference between doing a post, as a response to someone else's thread, and doing a post in response to your own thread.

 

[Scott Danforth]

actually, in this thread on iBoats you stated you cant drain the fuel multiple times, you cant burn the fuel prior to winterization and you wont change the prop because its what was put on the boat by your mechanic.

in the THT thread you state you are going to burn the fuel, add a fuel system cleaner and maybe change props.

hence my confusion.

 

[LuvBoating]

Once again, Mercury Marine's manuals are the authority. Certainly, hoses are removed in a northern climate. Not to drain water, but to enable filling the block with anti-freeze. That's their "optional" step.

Not universally accepted, but many of us prefer to have the block filled with rust preventative (AF), rather than leaving it open to the air, particularly if the block has seen salt water usage.

We LIVE in the north, as in northern Colorado! Have never known our block to have AF put into it. From what we know, there was no AF put into the block of our old Invader Bowrider we had when we lived in Colorado before.

As far as leaving the block open (plugs out), this is just the way that the marine service does it to ALL boats here that are taken to them. When I called and asked our last Florida marine mechanic about leaving the block plugs out, he said "that's ok". Well, sure didn't hurt the block this last winter.

Apparently some things are done differently in the north, for winterizing, than in the south or some other areas of the U.S.. Heck, there are a lot of boats in northeastern Florida that don't even get winterized..........and it does get cold there! On Christmas 2010, it snowed in our apartment complex and I got video of that. The snow didn't stick, but it did snow. Our Florida mechanic told us, "there is always a couple of frozen blocks we have to deal with here after a winter."

 

[LuvBoating]

actually, in this thread on iBoats you stated you cant drain the fuel multiple times, you cant burn the fuel prior to winterization and you wont change the prop because its what was put on the boat by your mechanic.

in the THT thread you state you are going to burn the fuel, add a fuel system cleaner and maybe change props.

hence my confusion.

Ok, I'm old (71) and can't remember threads/posts I've done. LOL

I've got it written down to change the prop, after we find out the RPM's, next Spring.

But, from what you are mentioning, we just didn't know how many more days of "boating weather" we were going to have, since we got 2 inches of snow on the 8th of Sept.. Today, Wed. Sept 30th, we were going to burn some more old gas on the lake and do a little rainbow trout fishing, but there is very heavy wildfire smoke smell in the air. No way we can take out the boat with that smell going on. Just checked for the smell (9:42AM MT) and the smoke is still there. Thankfully, we have next Monday or Tuesday to take it out. We have a "cold front" coming in and it will be too cold to take it out until then. Next Monday/Tuesday, daytime temp 80.

IOW, I've learned things from you guys that I didn't know when I done the THT posts.

 

[JimS123]

We LIVE in the north, as in northern Colorado! Have never known our block to have AF put into it. From what we know, there was no AF put into the block of our old Invader Bowrider we had when we lived in Colorado before.

As far as leaving the block open (plugs out), this is just the way that the marine service does it to ALL boats here that are taken to them. When I called and asked our last Florida marine mechanic about leaving the block plugs out, he said "that's ok". Well, sure didn't hurt the block this last winter.

I merely follow the instructions in my Mercruiser manual. They say AF for added protection, so I put in AF. I really don't know what marinas do for I/Os since I wouldn't trust one to do something as simple as winterizing.

Anywhoot, now that I'm in my 70's I don't do any of that crap. We switched to MPI outboards in 2017 and winterizing is non-existent.