Maiden Voyage out of Holland

[mriversinco]

Well, after a week of sitting around waiting for the weather with the new boat, I tool the maiden voyage sat. night. Didn't even make it out to the pierheads. Going across Lake Macatawa the main motor idled fine and went no wake fine fine but the minute I tried to drop the hammer it sputtered and stuttered and wouldn't get up to rpm. Tried the front tank for gas and no change. Thought the choke was stuck on because it felt like too much gas instead of not enough.

In the middle of the lake decided to try the kicker motor thinking we'd let the big one cool off and see if it truly was choke problems. The 9.9 did the same exact thing. Didn't matter which gas hose went to which motor, they both barely ran at all. Popped the access to the tanks and found something weird. Don't know if it had anything to do with it but both tanks have a fill hose right next to a vent hose in them. At the other part of the tank there's two fittings for hoses. On the back tank there's a hose fixed to each fitting, on the front tank there's only one hose and the other fitting looks wide open. Also noticed a gas smell near there and thinking about it have noticed a gas smell in the cuddy when it's buttoned up. Originally thought water in the gas but could this be something???

So, in short, the maiden voyage wasn't very good and I'm heartbroken cause I'm missing this awesome fishing and now I'm stuck with a boat problem and no idea how to fix it.

If you happen to know motors,and or gas lines, please chirp in.

Thanks

Mike

[sjk984]

the last 2 boats I have looked at had the fill and vent next to each other. These were on older starcraft. So I don't think thats the prblem. Was it new gas in the tanks? What kind of engine are we dealing with I/O or OB.

I would try an external tank with new gas and some sea foam or something similar.

[mriversinco]

Sorry, should've put more details. Big motor 96 mercury 200hp 2 stroke. Little motor 96 mercury 9.9hp 4 stroke.

Both engines ran fine a week ago in the test run. I added 10 gallons into the back tank on the trip over to the lake.

[sjk984]

If you have an external tank that would be my first step. That will take alot of guessing out of the game. Either it's the feul supply of engine. Was you primer ball staying firm? and are both engines run off the same feul line?

[mriversinco]

Good idea about the external tank, I have a 5 gallon one that I can hook up and try to get the boat out to a launch somewhere close.

Balls were staying hard on both lines. Main engine line can be switched to either front or back tank, while kicker is hooked to front only.

[sjk984]

Run some cleaner in it to. I have used sea foam twice a yaer on all of our boats. It seams to work well.

Did the last owner run the boat last year or has it been sitting?

Also you should be able to see the chokes openong and closing when the air cover is off?

Is this an Optimax of an EFI on the big motor?

[Grant Sadler]

Mike, Just a thought check the vent on the side of the boat that its not plugged with something like mud dobber, had that happen to me when I left the boat over on the west side for a week, then maybe try a new pc. on gas line to the engine coupler, I have seen a hose colapes and restrick the flow, hopefully it something simple:thumb:

Good luck Mike:cool: I've been in that same gig before.

[mriversinco]

Ran it several times this year so I don't think the fuel is bad but that's probably the first thing I'll do. I just can't figure out that other outlet on the front tank and why it wouldn't have anything hooked up to it or why it's not closed off.

[sjk984]

Now on to the feul tank draws.

Your kicker is probably the second line on the bank tank.

Can you reach down to see if there is a loose hose by the other fitting in the front tank? If not I would go get a plastic plug at west marine,

[mriversinco]

Thanks for the help. Looked all over and couldn't find another hose and will get a plug tomorrow. Was told the kicker only went off the front tank. Just went out and looked again and the front tank hose has a T in it about a foot down. Figure one goes to the switch for the big motor and the other goes to the kicker. Now what the heck does the other line go to from the back tank....

It would be so nice to just be able to pull up the boards of the floor but that looks like a whole nother beast.

[sjk984]

If you have been running it this year already Its probably not the gas, The ext tank will check for the colapsed line or bad seal on the couplers.

[IRon]

Sorry to hear that Mike. By running it this year, do you mean actually out on the water or just idling on the trailer with a water source? If you have fuel delivery issues it might not necessarily show up until you get out at full throttle.

The first time I ran mine several times on the trailer it ran like a top and idled just fine. Went out on the lake and ran about 4 miles, perfect. Then the problems started.

It would start, go up on plane then die down suddenly. Was able to get back to the launch, but something wasn't right. To make a long story short what happened was, although the fuel was fine and it had a brand new filter on, the filter had plugged already. I went through the whole nine yards with checking vent, fuel pick up screen in tank, replaced all lines, but when I checked the brand new filter with less than 30 minutes on it, it was full of brown gunk.

When I re-did the floor on mine I made sure I had easy access to the tank so I could look down into the tank at the pick up and there was brown stuff (varnish) floating all over the bottom. So I drew all the fuel out I could and took a kerosene siphon and brought out a bunch of crap from the bottom. I added a gallon and repeated until it came out clean.

What happened with mine was, being a mid-90's motor/fuel system it was actually designed for regular gas. If you take an older boat that has sat around a lot then add some of todays 10% ethanol fuel to it, the ethanol acts like a solvent. The newer fuel splashes around in the tank cuts all that old varnish out and fuel system problems ensue. And the water problems already mentioned start showing up since, being a boat, it's in a high moisture environment.

I won't say yours is having the same problem as mine since I haven't seen yours, but since they're nearly identical, it's something you'll want to keep in mind for future reference.

All of the fuel systems on outboards you see today have changed somewhat because they have water separators and spin off canister fuel filters. Mine just had a little in line. So I'm installing one on mine right now and hopefully I can change the spin off filter out periodically for awhile and keep the gunk out of my carbs etc..

But also like mentioned a remote tank hooked up will help you isolate the problem. I did it with mine. good luck....

[IRon]

PS, you've also got to keep in mind the remote tank won't help isolate the problem if the in-line filter is plugged at the motor. I complicated things with mine by putting on a remote tank, but assumed (you know what assume does) the filter was fine since it was brand new. DUH!!! Made myself a bunch of extra work!!!

[IRon]

Sent you a PM hope you got it.