Dave Brick
Seaman
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2010
- Messages
- 63
Due to poor weather, and mostly too much work, finally got the wife and kids out on the boat for the seasonal maiden voyage yesterday. Started fine, ran beautifully, 3/4 to full throttle for a good 20 minutes. Made a wide 180 deg turn at half throttle, headed back, soon after, the RPMs cut way down. Did not want to shut the motor down, and be potentially stranded with 3 kids and wife in the upper Niagara River. The motor still sounded fine, not the "thumping" sound of the SLOW system kicking in...just putted along at about 5 mph. Tried loosening the top of the gas tank, tried pumping the ball, no change.
When we were within sight of the boat launch, suddenly, the motor "kicked in" again, and ran great. Buzzed around fast for another 15-20 minutes, shut it off to fish awhile. Started easily, but again, would not go to normal RPMs. Shifted back to neutral, lifted the throttle, VROOM!. Let the RPMs go back to idle, shifted crisply back to forward, and the boat ran perfectly the rest of the day, no further bogging down at all.
Most of the gas in the tank (50:1 pre-mix, no more VRO) was from May or June, and I have periodically run the motor on muffs in the driveway. Topped off the 6 gal tank with ~ 2 gallons of fresh 87 octane and the appropriate amount of TC3-W, and a couple ounces of Seafoam. ( I know that adding fresh gas will not make bad gas good, but I don't know the existing gas was "bad")
Maybe debris in the gas tank?
BTW, what do you guys do with older 50:1 pre-mix? I hate to just use it for starting campfires.
When we were within sight of the boat launch, suddenly, the motor "kicked in" again, and ran great. Buzzed around fast for another 15-20 minutes, shut it off to fish awhile. Started easily, but again, would not go to normal RPMs. Shifted back to neutral, lifted the throttle, VROOM!. Let the RPMs go back to idle, shifted crisply back to forward, and the boat ran perfectly the rest of the day, no further bogging down at all.
Most of the gas in the tank (50:1 pre-mix, no more VRO) was from May or June, and I have periodically run the motor on muffs in the driveway. Topped off the 6 gal tank with ~ 2 gallons of fresh 87 octane and the appropriate amount of TC3-W, and a couple ounces of Seafoam. ( I know that adding fresh gas will not make bad gas good, but I don't know the existing gas was "bad")
Maybe debris in the gas tank?
BTW, what do you guys do with older 50:1 pre-mix? I hate to just use it for starting campfires.