There is no substitute for testing in real world condition. With the boat put back together and running better, its time to take it to the lake and see if the time and money spent was worth it.
My original plan was to take the boat to the lake alone to make sure it was safe and ready for the family. However, once the daughter heard I was going to the lake she asked the most wonderful question “Can we go fishing?”
You bet we can little girl.
I felt pretty confident the boat would run pretty well, so I figured it would be ok to take her. We just needed to spend a little time making sure the boat was good before we could fish. She agree with that and off we went the next morning.
The plan was to leave the house at 9:00AM to give the early birds a chance to fish and then exit the lake. Last minute checks revealed low tire pressure on the boat trailer, so that took a few minutes to sort out. It also took a little while to load the equipment into the truck. Off we went at 10:00AM
First stop was the gas station. Yes, I know that stuff has ethanol and that’s not super great, but I had replaced the parts that would have problems with it. I also wanted to put 89 Octane gas in it, rather than the 87 Octane available at the boat dock. Call it boating lore, but many suggested the slightly higher Octane as insurance for smooth running. Looking back, perhaps it really didn’t matter. I mean the cylinders are only producing 80 PSI, rather than 120 PSI that they should be. This isn’t a high compression engine. I doubt it would be doing any pre-ignition (pinging).
I added the marine 2-cycle oil and some fuel enzymes first, then topped with 10 gallons of fuel. I figured it would mix a little in the tank as I added it, and slosh around while we drove to the lake. There was about 5 gallons of headspace in the tank.
When we got there, I was concerned we might not be doing this that day. We had not had any measurable rain in over a month and the lake was way down. I had to go in and pay the launch fee, so I asked the people at the marina how the lake was doing. One of them mentioned the lake was low and to not take the trailer too far into the lake or it would fall off the end of ramp. OK, good advice.
I transferred everything over to the boat, including the daughter. I got the drain plugs put in the bottom and undid the hold-down straps. I tied a rope between the trailer and the boat, just in case it got away from me. Then I unplugged the trailer lights and headed for the ramp.
At the ramp, I eased things down carefully and got the boat floating. I left it attached to the trailer in case I needed to pull it back out right away. I wasn’t sure if the motor was going to run properly once it was submerged.
I climbed up in and gave the fuel bulb a few squeezes to get the gas up to the carbs, then sat down at the controls. With the throttle set a little higher than idle, I pushed in to choke the motor and turned the key. It sputtered a bit, then started. I gave it about 30 seconds to warm up and dropped the throttle back to idle. It died.
I restarted it again and let it run a little more with some throttle. Finally, I got it warmed up enough to run at idle, so I put it into gear to see what it would do.
It died.
That wasn’t totally unexpected, but was a bit disappointing. I raised the motor up and climbed out of the boat. I got in the truck and eased everything back out of the water and over to the parking area. The daughter made her unhappiness known, but I explained to her that we were here to get the boat running, then we could fish. The boat wasn’t running yet.
I did bring some tools along, so I adjusted the idle set point to let it idle a little higher. I had set it to idle lower when I installed the carbs. I also turned the carburetor idle mixtures out a turn to see if that helped.
Back down the ramp we went. Only this time, it started and idled! It even idled in forward gear!
I disconnected the boat from the trailer and moved over to the loading/unloading dock. It did pretty well on the way over. I tied up and turned it off as I went to move the truck and trailer off the ramp and up to the parking area.
A quick walk back to the boat and we were ready for the next step. I started the motor and it was running in a blink. I’m not sure it did a whole revolution with the starter before it lit. That was a very good sign.
There was some tuning to do, so we motored out of the loading/unloading area to the fuel dock. Nobody was there, and I didn’t think they would mind if we occupied it for a few minutes. I tied the boat securely to the dock and put it in forward idle. This meant the prop was engaged, but the motor was idling. In effect, we were pushing the dock with the boat. Just a little bit.
From this position, I adjusted the idle mixture screws again, as the manual instructed. It was halfway between sputtering when rich and sputtering when lean. I also adjusted the idle speed to 900 rpm, which the manual instructed. I did get it down to 800 rpm, but it died. Fine, back to 900 it went.
Time to see how it runs on the top end!
I put the metal cover back on the motor and undocked. We headed over to the longest and widest part of the lake. The daughter again made it known that we should be fishing, and could we just go do that? I told her we needed to do some tests first, and she crossed her arms and pouted.
Once we got past the no-wake zone, I opened it up a little. The motor responded like it should. No bogging down or sputtering. I got us up to about 10 mph, which is a difficult position to drive as the nose of the boat is way up high. I trimmed it a bit, but that didn’t help. Ok, back down to 5 mph until we got to a spot that was safe and non-disruptive to others.
I gunned it. Full forward throttle! The motor didn’t mind it at all. The power just rolled on. As it accelerated, I trimmed the angle of the motor to lift more boat out of the water. As I did so, the motor turned faster until it reached 4800 rpm. According to Waze (the phone app), we were travelling at 38 mph. The speedometer said 35 mph. Close enough.
The high speed limit needs to be adjusted a little. The motor can safely turn at 5000 rpm today. When new, it could do 5500 rpm, but I don’t feel that would be safe for it these days. Perhaps I could set it 5200 rpm.
What we have learned here is that this boat is propped to run at about 40 mph at full throttle. I’m curious if a more aggressive prop would increase that speed. Then again, I’m not sure it is developing enough horsepower and torque to properly spin one. If I find a cheap prop maybe I’ll find out.
Anyway. We made a pass down the lake, turned around and made a pass back. It ran great.
OK, let’s go fishing.
I found one of the coves we had previously fished, but I couldn’t get up into it. The fish finder said that we were in 2 foot of water at the mouth and it went down to 1 foot in about 10 feet further in. The trolling motor was stirring up mud. Nope, have to find another spot.
She was disappointed, but I assured her we would find another area on the upper part of the lake, so off we went. It took a bit to get there, since quite a bit of the lake is a no wake zone. The motor puttered along just fine. Not much smoke from it as we went. I’d say it was an appropriate amount.
The lake was seriously shallow. All the coves I had fished before were either empty or we would get stuck in them. Finally I found a spot on the main channel that had some shade, and some cover for the fish. Out went the anchor.
We took a few minutes to each lunch, then time to fish.
I got her pole set up with a bobber and a fresh hook and asked her if she wanted to bait it. She said no. I said, “But a real fisherman baits his own hook”. She thought about it. As she was thinking, I reached for the red worms. These are more like your average earthworm, much smaller than a night crawler. I said “You have touched earthworms before, right? ” She nodded yes. “Well, look what I have here.” She was good with it. She even pinched one in half.
It took a little work, but I taught her how to get the worm on the hook and how to make sure it stays on there. She picked up on it right away. I did like how she had respect for the sharpness of the hook, but wasn’t afraid of it. She wormed her own hook the rest of the day.
I’ve got to say that’s a proud Daddy moment.
Next trip and we will work on rigging up the line with bobber, sinker, and hook.
We fished for a few hours. She caught a 1 foot long catfish, a fingerling large mouth bass, and an assortment of bluegill. It was about 7 fish total. I tried some things out in the deeper water, but had no luck. I was hoping to get a saugeye, which is a unique hybrid between a sauger and a walleye. Eventually, I gave up on that and fished for bluegill, catching a few.
All in all, I’d call it a disappointing day fishing. My daughter, on the other hand, had a great time. And really, she’s the correct one. It was a great time to be together and hang out and talk.
Once it got to about 4:30PM, it was time to head back. My gut wasn’t sure how this motor would work. After all, every other time it had failed on me at this moment. Would it start? If it did start, would it stay running? We were out quite a ways from the marina, and nobody was around. I was a tad anxious.
We stowed everything and moved out away from shore to the deeper water using the trolling motor. I pulled it up and sat down at the controls. I cranked it over…..and……it didn’t start. IT DIDN’T START!!!
Ok, Ok, regroup. What does it need? Let’s start at the basics. Fuel. Does it have fuel? A couple of squeezes on the fuel bulb and AH HA! it had no fuel in the carbs. I primed up the carbs with fuel.
Back at the controls. Crank Crank Crank. Sputter, Sputter. Dead.
Try it again, with a little throttle and some choke. VROOOOM! I put it to low throttle and it stayed running. Now for the real test, will it go into gear?
Yes it did. I goosed the throttle and it was back to normal. I turned to my girl and said “You ready?” She grinned and nodded. I said “hold on to your hat” and off we went at full throttle.
The trip back to the marina wasn’t bad. Nobody was on the lake, so I kept us up on the plane and moving fast. The motor ran good and we got to the marina in no time. I docked at the load/unload area and got the truck and trailer.
For the very first time, I was able to get my boat on the trailer using the boat’s main engine. I’ve got to say, that’s a very good feeling compared to how it went the previous times. I latched the boat to the trailer, and turned off the motor and raised it up a bit out of the water. There is nothing worse than hearing a motor dragging on the concrete on the way up the ramp.
Then we did got the drain plugs out and the transom saver installed. The boat strapped down to the trailer and all the stuff that could blow away put into the back of the truck. It was an easy drive home, and the girl slept most of the way.
All in all, I’d say it was a good day. Unfortunately, we have not been able to repeat it. The lake we were at has declared the ramp is closed. The other lakes in the area are also facing low water levels and ramp closures. It might be next year before we go out again.
If so, I’ll see if I can do some video while winterizing this thing.
Very nice story. I’m glad everything went well.