I'm new to boat ownership, and recently picked up a boat with an Evinrude 50HP outboard, its blue and has a part number of E50BELCOB. The first time I took it out, it fired right up, idled a little rough, but warmed up. Got it out, on plane, and suddenly lost power. Debris in the carb was the culprit.
After having the carbs cleaned, I took it out today. Again the engine fired right up, warmed up, and ran fine. I accelerated the boat to half throttle and it started to move, I then pushed the lever to full throttle, and you could almost feel the prop disengage as if the clutch on a manual car transmission had been pushed in. The engine revved, but no power. As I eased back on the throttle, you could feel the prop engage the water; again, much like letting out the clutch on a manual car transmission. If I attempted to accelerate to quickly the same thing would happen. For fear that there was something damaged, I eased up, and just putted around the lake at low throttle. The boat is new to me, I was burning personal time from work, and I wasn't leaving just yet!
So, once on the lake, I shut the boat off and drifted a while. I finally decided to go in, and I started putting back. I figured, why not try one more time and see what happens. So I accelerated very slowly. Low and behold, it got on plane, and was running wide open. No matter how hard I turned the boat, I couldn't get the "slip" to repeat itself. So I slowed back down. I then pushed the throttle to wide open, and again it "slipped". If I eased into it, it would accelerate.
We took the prop off, and the gears and shaft look fine. If you turn the prop, the engine will turn over. Its a factory prop. My mechanic thought it was a shear pin, but could locate no such object when he removed the prop. Is there some sort of clutch/protection mechanism on this motor/lower unit that can be adjusted or tuned. Its not the end of the world if thats how this engine behaves, however, there is no possible way to get someone on skis out of the water if its behaving like this. The boat does not have a motorized trim, and the motor was set in a low position. Would a lower unit gear oil change have anything to do with it?
Thoughts? Solutions? My mechanic's uncle has the same motor on a pontoon boat, and he stated his exhibits the same behavior... Coincidence or characteristic of that motor? One thing we did notice, is there is about 1/8 turn of play in the prop before it engages the engine when turn the prop from forward to reverse by hand.
After having the carbs cleaned, I took it out today. Again the engine fired right up, warmed up, and ran fine. I accelerated the boat to half throttle and it started to move, I then pushed the lever to full throttle, and you could almost feel the prop disengage as if the clutch on a manual car transmission had been pushed in. The engine revved, but no power. As I eased back on the throttle, you could feel the prop engage the water; again, much like letting out the clutch on a manual car transmission. If I attempted to accelerate to quickly the same thing would happen. For fear that there was something damaged, I eased up, and just putted around the lake at low throttle. The boat is new to me, I was burning personal time from work, and I wasn't leaving just yet!
So, once on the lake, I shut the boat off and drifted a while. I finally decided to go in, and I started putting back. I figured, why not try one more time and see what happens. So I accelerated very slowly. Low and behold, it got on plane, and was running wide open. No matter how hard I turned the boat, I couldn't get the "slip" to repeat itself. So I slowed back down. I then pushed the throttle to wide open, and again it "slipped". If I eased into it, it would accelerate.
We took the prop off, and the gears and shaft look fine. If you turn the prop, the engine will turn over. Its a factory prop. My mechanic thought it was a shear pin, but could locate no such object when he removed the prop. Is there some sort of clutch/protection mechanism on this motor/lower unit that can be adjusted or tuned. Its not the end of the world if thats how this engine behaves, however, there is no possible way to get someone on skis out of the water if its behaving like this. The boat does not have a motorized trim, and the motor was set in a low position. Would a lower unit gear oil change have anything to do with it?
Thoughts? Solutions? My mechanic's uncle has the same motor on a pontoon boat, and he stated his exhibits the same behavior... Coincidence or characteristic of that motor? One thing we did notice, is there is about 1/8 turn of play in the prop before it engages the engine when turn the prop from forward to reverse by hand.
